Is AccountEdge Worth Considering as a QuickBooks Alternative?

[Rosco]

I’ve been seeing more clients who need to move to QuickBooks Online, as QuickBooks Desktop is being phased out for their use case. A few have switched and like it, but others try it for a month or two, then go back to what they know. I explain the risks of running outdated accounting software, but some owners remain determined to stay with it.

This week, I encountered a new one for me: AccountEdge. It seemed straightforward, and their support add-on cost about $10 a month. Support was also genuinely helpful in addressing a minor issue we encountered on-site.

For those of you who support small business accounting setups, do any of you see AccountEdge as a solid alternative to QuickBooks long term? If not, what other accounting platforms are you recommending and are supporting these days?

 

[lan101]

Certainly a money saver for small businesses that want to stop getting extorted by Intuit lol. Most of my small business clients are very small. Maybe 2-4 computers in most cases that need to access quickbooks. Looks like this may be a good recommendation for an alternative.

To be honest though when I have this conversation with any of them...I think they just want to grumble to me about it and then they just keep what they know lol. Intuit knows people don't like change so they want to extort as much money as they can get away with.

 

[HCHTech]

I explain the risks of running outdated accounting software

which are.....?

Seriously, once they shut off bank feeds and payroll (as soon as your versiosn is 3 years old), and you get used to just entering each transaction, I can't imagine what risks there are.

 

[Rosco]

which are.....?

Seriously, once they shut off bank feeds and payroll (as soon as your versiosn is 3 years old), and you get used to just entering each transaction, I can't imagine what risks there are.

Are you saying it's safe to run an outdated version of QuickBooks as long as the bank feeds are removed?

 

[britechguy]

which are.....?

You can't be serious, can you?

The biggest one is if anything breaks (and things will) in such a way that a fix is required, you can't and won't get it. I also can't imagine that those nefarious actors looking for attack surfaces won't be able to find a number of them in out-of-date QuickBooks.

I can't ever elaborate the specific list of risks involved from running any given piece of outdated software. I also can't imagine what these might be most of the time, but long experience with "what has happened before" tells me that these risks exist, and should not be undertaken willingly. But what I do know, after being in this business since the 1980s, that they are considerable, from multiple angles, and no IT professional should ever encourage anyone to be running out-of-date software other than in exceptional circumstances. Accounting software is not an exceptional circumstance.

 

[lan101]

You can't be serious, can you?

The biggest one is if anything breaks (and things will) in such a way that a fix is required, you can't and won't get it. I also can't imagine that those nefarious actors looking for attack surfaces won't be able to find a number of them in out-of-date QuickBooks.

I can't ever elaborate the specific list of risks involved from running any given piece of outdated software. I also can't imagine what these might be most of the time, but long experience with "what has happened before" tells me that these risks exist, and should not be undertaken willingly. But what I do know, after being in this business since the 1980s, that they are considerable, from multiple angles, and no IT professional should ever encourage anyone to be running out-of-date software other than in exceptional circumstances. Accounting software is not an exceptional circumstance.

I pretty much agree but I've given up on trying to convince people of updating it...if what they use works it's like nearly impossible to break the barrier on people until something bad happens which then you can do the "I told you so"

Maybe I'm just not a good salesman too but I can't get people to spend money most of the time if what they have "works" in their eyes there's nothing wrong with running an ancient quickbooks or office.

Some will just not use that computer on the internet which is definitely advisable...but yeah lol.

A lot of my "older" clients I just let them go on updates of programs unless it's really necessary because that's just another can of worms to open and then it'll be my fault that somethings different than their old version lol.

 

[lan101]

which are.....?

Seriously, once they shut off bank feeds and payroll (as soon as your versiosn is 3 years old), and you get used to just entering each transaction, I can't imagine what risks there are.

The biggest risk is the nut behind the wheel AKA the person using the computer lol.

 

[Rosco]

I pretty much agree but I've given up on trying to convince people of updating it...if what they use works it's like nearly impossible to break the barrier on people until something bad happens which then you can do the "I told you so"

Maybe I'm just not a good salesman too but I can't get people to spend money most of the time if what they have "works" in their eyes there's nothing wrong with running an ancient quickbooks or office.

Some will just not use that computer on the internet which is definitely advisable...but yeah lol.

A lot of my "older" clients I just let them go on updates of programs unless it's really necessary because that's just another can of worms to open and then it'll be my fault that somethings different than their old version lol.

i tottally get this. It's just with QuickBooks, and business seems like a recipe for disaster. With a lot of my senior clients, I will let some stuff slide.

 

[britechguy]

I hasten to add, and didn't think this was necessary, that telling people that they need to stay up to date if for nothing other than security considerations does not persuade many of them.

I cannot prevent clients from being obstinate and making bone-headed decisions. But what I can do is present accurate information and best practice guidance and let them do with that what they will.

My main point is that no one here is likely to be able to enumerate the actual risks posed by using any given out-of-support piece of software. Yet, we all know from the historical record that these do exist, and it's not exaggeration to say that they do and can sometimes have catastrophic consequences if exploited. What shocked me was that @HCHTech seemed to be implying that if you cannot enumerate specific risks that should change the advice. I can't; it shouldn't.

 

[lan101]

I hasten to add, and didn't think this was necessary, that telling people that they need to stay up to date if for nothing other than security considerations does not persuade many of them.

I cannot prevent clients from being obstinate and making bone-headed decisions. But what I can do is present accurate information and best practice guidance and let them do with that what they will.

My main point is that no one here is likely to be able to enumerate the actual risks posed by using any given out-of-support piece of software. Yet, we all know from the historical record that these do exist, and it's not exaggeration to say that they do and can sometimes have catastrophic consequences if exploited. What shocked me was that @HCHTech seemed to be implying that if you cannot enumerate specific risks that should change the advice. I can't; it shouldn't.

Yeah my advice generally always stays the same...or I advise the updated software as it's "wise in the long run" but that doesn't mean they will follow that advice. I'm generally fine with that but certain things I won't let slide like any business computer not doing any kind of image backup for me is just a no go. I'm not gonna spend an ungodly amount of hours recreating their system when an image can save all that headache and BS. Honestly not having backups would actually make me more money lol but that's not what I want in those situations. I just want fair compensation and a good outcome. Everybody wins.

 

[britechguy]

I just want fair compensation and a good outcome. Everybody wins.

Yep. And that's why I have fired clients, too. When I client insists on a course of action that has an incredibly high probability of ultimately causing pain and suffering for them, and for me, it's a red line. Particularly when they're likely to try to place blame on anyone but themselves.

I am blessed, though, with having a client base that will listen to reason almost without fail. They seem to take the approach that you hire a subject matter expert for their expertise, not to question it and push back against it.

 

[HCHTech]

You can't be serious, can you?

I might well be naive, but yes, I was serious. This opinion is not based on a wild "no one would attack accounting software" opinion, but on years of negative information. Quickbooks has been around a LONG time (early 90s?), and I have been in this industry for most of that time. I have never heard of Quickbooks desktop being "in the crosshairs' as it were. This discussion only applies to the desktop product since by definition, the online product is always up to date and if you don't pay it doesn't work.

When I decided not to upgrade my desktop version when they went to subscription only, I turned off updates in the software, made some registry changes to prevent that, and built firewall rules to stop traffic to intuit's servers. I've been happily using that version since. It wouldn't surprise me if some Windows changes might eventually break it, but I have daily backups and will build a static VM if I have to to keep it going until I'm out of the game in a few years.

Contrast this with, say Excel. If I wanted to keep using Excel 2007 for some reason, it probably wouldn't install on Win11, but even if it did, I commonly get spreadsheets from other sources over which I have no control. This presents a giant risk that just doesn't exist wiith Quickbooks. I don't get external files I import into Quickbooks. Every bit of data was created locally and stays there. As I said, this might be naive, but that's where I've landed.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Keeps baffling me how some business owners refuse to maintain the most important piece of software in their business.