Review: QuickBooks 2014 for Mac / In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. QuickBooks can't help with the former, but it can make the latter a little more tolerable.

Jason D. O'Grady for ZDnet writes:  It's the time of the year to start thinking about filing your annual tax return (unless you've already filed, you overachiever!). Whether you're an independent consultant, sole proprietor or small business owner you're probably pulling together your financial records in preparation for filing your annual tax return. The best way to get your business finances in order is with Intuit's QuickBooks for Mac ($179.95) which was just updated for 2014. 

As the big brother to Intuit's popular Quicken personal finance software, QuickBooks 2014 allows business owners, controllers and bookkeepers to create invoices, track sales, bill time, expenses and payroll. QuickBooks allows you to manage all of your business accounting in one integrated app.

New features in QuickBooks 2014 for Mac include:

The new Left Hand Toolbar (above) provides one-click access to your data and transactions. You can drag-and-drop items to customize numerous shortcuts that make navigating QuickBooks quicker.

The New Home Page (above) offers access to a complete overview of your company financials and business insights. The redesigned experience provides a dashboard view of end-to-end company performance.

The new Income Tracker (above) has been updated to display all your income-producing transactions in one location, including overdue invoices so you can remind customers to pay up.

The improved Customer Center (above) is fully customizable so that you can keep important customer (and vendor and transaction) information at your fingertips.

If you're new to QuickBooks or coming from QuickBooks for Windows an improved set up features simplifies the process by providing a recommended set of key activities to get you up-and-running quickly.

I've been using QuickBooks for Mac for years and I couldn't imagine running my own business without it. I especially like its ability to connect to all of my online banking accounts and easily download all of my transactions with one click. From there its easy to match transactions with renaming rules and batch entry. This alone saves hours of time every month if you make a lot of purchases for your company with a credit card. 

QuickBooks for Mac 2014 is great at tax time too because it saves you from the drudgery of doing your own taxes or preparing all your records for your accountant. It's an indispensable indispensable tool for any business owner tasked with keeping the books.

The normal one-user price is $249, but QuickBooks for Mac 2014 is available for a limited time for $179.95 from Intuit.om, Apple retail stores, Apple.com, Amazon, Best Buy, Costco.com, Fry’s, MacZones, Office Depot, OfficeMax and Staples. QuickBooks Online starts at $12.95/month and includes free mobile apps for iPad, iPhone and Android.