According to Google, I am apparently the only person in the world who likes Simply Accounting more than QuickBooks.

I've been using a version of Simply that was written in 2001 and started getting the vague idea that it was time for an upgrade.  I'd been hearing all kinds of great things about Quickbooks and picked up a copy to try.  I eventually chose the latest version of Simply, and here's why.



The main reason I selected Simply Accounting was due to cost.  Simply has a payroll service option that automatically calculates deductions.  If you don't subscribe to this, you can use the free TOD and enter in the values manually.  QuickBooks, however, has no payroll functionality right out of the box.  None.  At all.  If you want to write paycheques, even if you want to calculate deductions on your own, you have to subscribe to their service.  (I heard rumors that this is only the case for Canadian versions of Quickbooks, but don't have an American version to test this.) I note that QuickBooks added to my confusion by helpfully walking me through adding employees, even though there was no way to pay them.  Cost of Simply Accounting: $75.  Cost of QuickBooks Pro: $180.  Cost of QuickBooks Pro with a year of Payroll: $400.

I noticed a few nifty features in Simply Accounting 2008 that those of us stuck nearly in the last millennium will enjoy:

• A fancy new interface displays useful information on the home screen such as lists of vendors, employees, commonly printed reports, customizable shortcuts, etc.
• Templates are included that conform to the new cheque specifications.
• Talking of templates, the form designer is nothing short of coolness.  Those of us who are too cheap to spend the extra $20 to have their logo printed on cheques can now do it for free!
• When doing account reconciliation, you can enter a (theoretically) unlimited number of expense and income transactions.
• Backups can apparently be scheduled to run automatically, and delete as they age.  I haven't yet played with this feature, but it sounds useful.
• You can set up pop-up messages to appear when you select a vendor to use in a transaction.
• There is a module that allows you to easily remit payroll deductions.
• You can actually customize tab order for super-fast data entry!
• Adjustment transactions can now be hidden to make your books look just as pretty as you please.
• You can order reports by date and search through them!!!!  You can even use the "Quick search" feature to search all available data.

In writing this article, I also discovered a few features in Simply that have always existed, but I was never taught.  These will definitely be useful.

• One can use the "Pay Expenses" or "Make Other Payment" (they're the same) features to pay a vendor without entering an invoice.  This works better than the "Pay Now" feature in the Invoices module as the cheque number is used for account reconciliation.
• You can create templates of invoices or other payments using the "Recurring Transaction" feature.  You can even edit the transaction after you recall it in case a vendor charges you random amounts for stuff.  I note that it took me six mouse clicks to do a similar task in QuickBooks, while it only took four in Simply Accounting.  Simply also won't let you recall another module's recurring transactions by accident.

The only thing that I've found that really should be improved with Simply is the technique used to select accounts when paying bills and making other journal entries.  You can bring up a window that lets you search for an account, but the default is set to search by account number.  This is silly, because if I knew the number, I would have just entered it in without opening the search window.  (I note it is relatively simple to type ALT+M to switch search modes.) The problem with the search, is it only matches what you've typed against the beginning of the account name, so if I have an account called "Photocopy expense" and I search for "Copy" it won't find it.  QuickBooks' technique is slightly easier, which allows for searching directly from the transaction window, however, it also only matches the first part of the account name.

I thought of a few other, less important features that are not essential, but would be no less handy.

• I can't figure out how to make Payroll Remittances a recurring transaction.  If anyone knows, please let me know.
• Inactive employees and vendors should not appear in their modules' pages.  I get around this by adding "ZZ" to the beginning of their name, which makes them drop to the bottom of their list.
• When doing an account reconciliation, if you've scrolled part way down the list of transactions, go to another window, and go back, Simply scrolls you up to the top of the transactions.  If you click to mark a transaction as cleared, it clears whatever one happens to be under your mouse after it scrolls up.  This is incredibly annoying.
• When importing transactions from online banking for account reconciliation, it does not clear cheque number 000123 if you have entered simply 123.
• There should be an option in the Daily Business Manager to hide "Random" recurring transactions.  Wait...I just now (really) found out that there IS!!!  Forget this one.

This is not intended to be an exhaustive summary of the differences between Simply Accounting and Quickbooks, as I have never used some of their features.  For example, I only use our customer management software for doing Accounts Receivable, and let it export a file of its transactions to Simply.  But I hope it encourages some of you to consider your options when selecting accounting software.

Next, I'll post my technique for making the Session Date default to today's date.