QuickBooks (for self-employed)

[citoyen]

Any self-employed types use QuickBooks to keep track of their personal finances for tax purposes?

I do all my own paperwork, using Excel spreadsheets to keep track of everything. QuickBooks looks like it does much the same job in a more organised fashion.

I'm a bit wary of connecting my bank accounts to my QuickBooks account though. Should I be? Is it secure?

Any other personal accounting apps worth considering?

[psyclist]

Take a look at Xero ... https://www.xero.com/uk/

I've not used it myself, but I hear good things whenever discussing accounting packages.

[citoyen]

Thanks, will have a look at it. 

[L CC]

I used Quickbooks in a previous job. We could have done it all on spreadsheets- but the Accountant preferred the QB.
I did bank recs and suchlike and the QB was not directly connected to the bank- I don't think it *has* to.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Bit late to discover this today. Well, still 24 hours to go!

[citoyen]

Heh. 2016-17 is sorted. This enquiry is actually more about making it less painful in future.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Yeah, I meant me!

[citoyen]

QB was not directly connected to the bank- I don't think it *has* to.

Yeah, connecting to the bank is optional. On the one hand, it would be good because I'm useless at keeping track of my work receipts for expenses and connecting to my bank account might make it easier. On the other hand... security.

QB also has an auto-tracking feature that logs car journeys, which is potentially useful - again, I'm useless at remembering to log my mileage, but the phone app just tracks all your journeys and then you just have to tick off which ones are personal and which ones are business trips. I've used it this evening and it seems to work very well. Though again, I have some concerns about allowing that level of surveillance of my movements.

Hmmmm.

[citoyen]

Yeah, I meant me!

Not too late yet.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Just done it! It always works out easier than I expect/fear. Apart from the paying, of course.

[citoyen]

 

[Cudzoziemiec]

What always pisses me off is having to get a new password, cos of course I can't remember it a year later and there doesn't seem any way to change it to something memorable. And for some reason when they send a new one it doesn't work till the next day. That and having so many different numbers: NI, UTR, GG...

[citoyen]

I remembered to keep a note of my login details.

And yet I'm still concerned about the security implications of giving QB my bank details. 

[JulesP]

If you're not currently using any cloudy accounting, check out FreeAgent – it's awesome.

[Valiant]

Hate QuickBooks, Love Freeagent and Xero

[telstarbox]

What always pisses me off is having to get a new password, cos of course I can't remember it a year later and there doesn't seem any way to change it to something memorable. And for some reason when they send a new one it doesn't work till the next day. That and having so many different numbers: NI, UTR, GG...

For work I use several web services infrequently which often require unmemorable usernames or passwords. I have found it useful to have a password manager (KeePass) to write them all down. You need one master password to open KeePass then you can copy and paste the other passwords when you need them.

[citoyen]

If you're not currently using any cloudy accounting, check out FreeAgent – it's awesome.

Thanks. Looks good.

Only thing that puts me off both FreeAgent and Xero is the price - they're both considerably more expensive than QuickBooks, for a lot of features that I have no use for. QB seems to be the only one that offers a scaled-down version for sole traders like me who only have very basic accounting needs.

Main thing I need is to be able to track my expenses and mileage, and generate invoices, and the only real advantage to using an app is that it will keep everything much better organised and up to date than I can manage using a spreadsheet. I don't need payroll services or stock control or anything like that.

[JulesP]

Only thing that puts me off both FreeAgent and Xero is the price - they're both considerably more expensive than QuickBooks, for a lot of features that I have no use for. QB seems to be the only one that offers a scaled-down version for sole traders like me who only have very basic accounting needs.

Main thing I need is to be able to track my expenses and mileage, and generate invoices, and the only real advantage to using an app is that it will keep everything much better organised and up to date than I can manage using a spreadsheet. I don't need payroll services or stock control or anything like that.

When I was sole trading (?), I just used an offline invoice app (Billings for Mac) and an elaborate spreadsheet for tracking expenses, with categories aligned to those on SA103F. It all worked very well , though there were no clever reporting features (not that I needed any).

I'd probably use something like FreshBooks ($15) under similar circumstances today, but I now use an accountant for my Ltd and FreeAgent is bundled with that fee. Happy to share that spreadsheet, if you're interested, btw.