QuickBooks 2010: Should You Buy It Now?

It’s that time of year again, when many QuickBooks users are faced with the decision about whether to upgrade or stick with what they have—at least for now.

First time buyers are often tempted to buy last year’s software at great closeout prices as retailers clear their shelves to make way for the latest greatest release.

So, what’s a buyer to do? What’s the smartest decision to make THIS year?

Well, that depends on your particular situation. Some of the most important considerations are your budget, your data format, and your individual work style.

Here are some of the key differences between your options:

QuickBooks Pro 2009

• You’ll probably save money buying last year’s version. Shop your local office supply stores and membership clubs and don’t forget to check online at Ebay, Amazon, and Buy.com.

• Since the software has been out for a year, it has been through several releases and many bugs have been fixed.

• Since it has been widely used for about a year, most of its unfixed problems are at least known and documented.

• Intuit has a “sunset” policy where they only provide technical support for their three latest versions. They’ve been releasing new versions every year for about the past ten and if they continue this way, that means they’ll support QB 2009 only until they release 2012. So basically you’ll only have support for two years instead of the normal three.

• Note:I’m only addressing the availability of support from Intuit; the three years are NOT included with any of the software purchases, but require an additional fee.

• Since it’s been in widespread use for about a year, the user community and consultants are generally pretty knowledgeable about it.

• If you already have (or think you might buy) QuickBooks training and reference materials that were produced using the 2009 version, everything should match perfectly.

QuickBooks Pro 2010

• This version has several new features that might be big time-savers for you. In my opinion, the most important one is how easy it is now to import from Microsoft Excel. If you’ve been using a spreadsheet to keep track of your inventory items or your customer list AND you have a lot of entries, this new feature will speed up your set up considerably and could be the critical factor in your decision.

• Since the software is brand new, it’s likely to be buggy (as most new software is).

• Since it has not yet been widely used, many of its problems are as yet unknown and undocumented.

• Since it’s new, you’d be able to take advantage of three full years of support before the product falls under Intuit’s sunset policy.

• There may be slight differences in the way the screens appear in the new version compared to the older version, but the accounting and transaction processing is pretty much the same. But if you already own QuickBooks training and reference materials that were produced using the 2009 version, you’ll notice some changes. If you’re the type of person who has difficulty following instructions that are not absolutely identical to what you see on your screen, be aware of this (and honest with yourself) and choose your software accordingly.

If you have questions, please leave a comment below.