We at Perth-Bookkeeping.com, are often asked which version of software we would recommend, MYOB or Quickbooks.

It should be worth noting that both of these softwares have their place, and in the hands of a competent bookkeeper, both provide adequate functionality and report capabilities to effectively manage your accounts. Clients should be wary of changing to the other software, simply because they have heard it is better. Many bookkeepers have a personal preference, usually based on which one they learned first and use most often, however it is simply that, a personal preference.

Each of these systems has advantages and disadvantages, and your choice will really depend on what you want to do with the system;

• Operating System - MYOB offers a product that works on the Apple Mac platform. Quickbooks only offers Windows products in Australia, however it is possible to run Quickbooks inside a virtual machine on a mac.

• Credit Cards - Quickbooks has a separately identifiable menu option for entering and reconciling credit cards. MYOB requires you to use the banking menu and manually change the bank account to the credit card account.

• General Journals - The general journal menu option in Quickbooks lies in the Banking menu. It also lacks the ability for you to enter GST inclusive amounts which can be problematic if you need to use a journal for something like entering an expense claim form.

• Inventory - MYOB Enterprise offers the ability to have multiple locations for inventory. Quickbooks is unable to handle multiple locations.

• Credit Notes- When receiving a credit note from a supplier, Quickbooks has a specific menu option  and form for entering credit notes. In MYOB you are required to enter a negative invoice.

• Multiple Company Files- Quickbooks only allows you to have one company file open at a time. MYOB allows multiple company files to be open.

• Multiple Windows Open - MYOB only allows you to have a maximum of 9 windows open within one company file, whereas Quickbooks allows unlimited windows open within one file.

• Year End Procedures- The year end rollover in MYOB is cumbersome and potentially catastrophic for an inexperienced bookkeeper. Quickbooks does not require a "hard close" of the payroll and financial year, making it much easier to manage the year end processes.

• Support – As MYOB has historically had more support in Australia, it can be easier to find MYOB trained professionals to assist and support than Quickbooks. However, this is changing, as the Quickbooks partner program expands its’ network.

• Navigation – one comment made by many of our users is that the more recent versions of Quickbooks have improved navigation, and can be simpler to use, whereas MYOB’s navigation has remained essentially unchanged for the last few versions of MYOB.

• Reporting – while both systems have comparable report suites, the Quickbooks reports are more easily customisable without specialist training.

• Add-ons and Extensions – both systems offer a range of add on modules and extensions, to suit a range of industries and applications.

Information Sourced from whirlpool forums