In Search of Better Startup Accounting Packages

 Bob Neelbauer for SocialMatchBox.com writes: Every single founder that I talk to about their accounting and bookkeeping software tells me the same thing: they are in search of better startup accounting packages. They also start complaining loudly about having to put up with QuickBooks. I literally had this conversation a day ago and today I am the one complaining loudly.

So why is this happening? Most startup founders ask their CPA which accounting software they should use. Others just go with the default option from before. The CPA in nearly every case says QuickBooks or Peachtree (which is now Sage 50). It is easy for the CPA to get everyone using the same software, but this model is really bad for founders.

It isn’t that QuickBooks doesn’t get the job done or that it can’t. It is that QuickBooks is like a 1980′s Lincoln Town Car in today’s fast pace business climate and it needs to be sent to the junk yard. Accounting for startups should not have to be this hard.

Just today I had to set up a new workstation with QuickBooks in order to invoice a client. It took me nearly 50 minutes and two phone calls after I figured out that QuickBooks was crashing when I clicked on the link to register my copy because of a well known bug in the software.

Intuit is not a small company. If you have ever been to Google’s main campus in Mountain View, CA (I have) you may have noticed that Intel has around 8 buildings next door. On top of that they have what seems like an endless supply of offshore call centers.

My experience today:

Round 1 of Trying To Register QuickBooks

Ring, Ring…

Enter your phone number. 0# …

Automated help:
Enter your phone number using your phone keypad. Done.

Are you ready to enter your product number? Beep Boop Beep Bop…Done.

Enter your really long product number using your phone keypad. Beep Boop Beep Bop…Done.

20-30 minutes into the black hole with lousy hold music.

Offshore call center live person:

I am sorry for your really long delay.

Tell me your phone number. Ok, 202-555-1212. (What I want to say: WTF? I just did that.)

Tell me your really long product number using your phone keypad. Ok, 12345678910toinfinity. (What I want to say: WTF? I just did that.)

Dropped call (not an iPhone Call Failed message for a change).

Round 2 of Trying To Register QuickBooks  (Deja Vu)

Ring, Ring…

Enter your phone number. 0# … 0# … 0#… Someone will be right with you.

15-20 minutes into the black hole with lousy hold music.  At least I didn’t have to enter that really long product code again.

Sorry for the long delay.

I do apologize for the inconvenience of your really long hold, but anyway. By the way tell your name.

Tell me your phone number. Ok, 202-555-1212.

Tell me your really long product number using your phone keypad. Ok, 12345678910toinfinity. (What I am thinking: shouldn’t your software be working so I don’t have to lose close to an hour of my life?)

Ok, please hold…5 minutes go by…Ok, please keep holding…another 2-5 minutes.  Ok, here is your code.

Ok, thanks, I just tried it and it works now so thanks and have a nice day. Bye.

Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200
The worst part of this experience is that I just needed to generate an invoice and now I had to spend an hour of my time which is not billable.  I will not be upgrading my copy of QuickBooks this year.  The only other thing I use it for is entering receipts and bank transactions and tagging them with codes.  I could do this with a spreadsheet.

I really do not need a complex one sized fits all web based SaaS accounting product to get this job done and most startup founders do not either.  So upgrading to the web version of QuickBooks or a software package like FreshBooks or Xero or LessAccounting or Outright or others  is not altogether appealing either. I would rather spend the extra cash on something else – date night, targeted ads that bring in revenue, or beers with friends.

This seems like a really good opportunity.  Someone should write a light weight basic accounting and bookkeeping app for Mac OS and Windows and Linux to solve this headache once and for all.  There should be an output that your CPA can work with, but other than that about the only thing it might need is the ability to sync with your sales or recruiting CRM package.

In the mean time, I will try to use QuickBooks as infrequently as possible and hope that I can squirrel away some time to hunt down a better startup accounting package that already exists so I don’t get tempted to build one.