Head to head: QuickBooks vs MYOB

It might seem unfair comparing MYOB’s best selling single user product with Quicken’s multi-user small business accounting package, but the key difference between the two is number of licences and not the functionality.

Both have the same core functions – business management, integrated payroll, time billing, reports, inventory tracking, GST tracking and BAS preparation; and integration with Microsoft Word and Excel. The major differences for the purposes of working out value for money are that QuickBooks Premier provides five separate licences and a choice of either a full version or a 12 month subscription while MYOB Accounting Plus comes with a single licence.

QuickBooks has no restriction on the number of companies you can use the software with and users can select from a variety of customised versions to suit their particular business, while MYOB restricts the user to five individual company files, however it allows 30 days free access before having to register the product compared with QuickBooks’ six uses.

Both programs take into account the changes to Superannuation Legislation that come into effect from 1 July.

MYOB is one of the great Australian IT success stories. Craig Winkler co-founded the company back in 1991 before most people had even thought about the potential market for localised accounting software for small to medium businesses.

The fact that this is the 15th version of its cornerstone software is testament to its success, which along with its foreign owned arch rival, QuickBooks, now dominates the Australian and New Zealand markets.

Accounting Plus is MYOB’s cornerstone product – a single licence accounting suite designed for the small business that has employees. It provides everything from invoices, quotes and payment advices to full accounts control and reconciliation, GST and BAS preparation and business banking.

Version 15 consists more of a series of tweaks and fine tuning than a major upgrade, so many owners of the previous version may find little reason to rush out and upgrade.

However, as many companies only upgrade on a two or three year cycle it should be looked at in conjunction with the changes made to the previous two versions.

Perhaps the most important improvements for the majority of users relate to company file auditing. MYOB has added a new company file audit assistant that allows the user to check that everything is going where it should. For example it will reconcile invoices with linked receivable accounts; ensure that you have the right tax codes allocated and highlight changes that have been made to transactions, accounts, tax codes, account numbers and a variety of other items.

For those who use the payroll functions of Accounting Plus, MYOB has provided a Process Payroll assistant for setting up employees pay and the old Pay Employee window is now incorporated within the assistant. The new assistant provides a lot more flexibility in the way businesses can handle wages and allows users to enter default recurring paycheque details as well as setting up a choice of payment methods – cash, cheque or electronic.

While it is easy enough to use, the one drawback for anyone using earlier versions in which they already have their employee pay details entered is that they will have to re-enter them as they are not automatically converted.

Accounting Plus has improved a lot in recent years and many users will tell you – justifiably – that it has several advantages over QuickBooks, not the least being the increased customisation that is available compared to its rival.

Both companies push their value-added online services, which of course come at an additional cost. In the case of MYOB they consist of a range of invoice, superannuation, payment, bank statement and ‘Money Controller’ services through links with the Commonwealth and Macquarie Banks. The money controller is a particularly nice feature, even if you don’t use it in conjunction with the M-Services.

It will instantly tell you your tax position in relation to GST and whether you have enough money set aside to cover your liability. It also gives you an instant update on your cash position and advise you when you have cash available for investment.

MYOB is becoming simpler to use with every version and the inclusion of video walkthroughs of new features makes it even more user friendly. While some of the interfaces remain bland and a little cluttered it is hard to fault them.

Not everybody will find the need to upgrade to v15, but if you are on an upgrade cycle or looking for a new accounting program you won’t be disappointed either in terms of functionality or value for money.

Like MYOB, QuickBooks has tweaked rather than upgraded and most of the improvements relate to the payroll functions. All of the improvements have – where applicable – been applied to the entire QuickBooks range so they are not exclusive to Premier.

Employees can now not only be paid by direct credit into their bank account, but their pay can be divided and paid into multiple bank accounts by simply adding additional account numbers to the employee’s banking details.

Improvements have been made to the way leave is handled and there are more options for deductions and employer contributions.

There is even greater emphasis than in previous editions on doing banking and paying employees online, and Quicken offers a payroll service at an extra cost.

However, users can organise payroll payments through their own bank if it is set up to handle QuickBooks files. If it is, they also can import bank statements as QBO or QIF files and match them with your QuickBooks accounts.

The good news for anyone upgrading from earlier versions is that they no longer have to reset their BAS settings because their existing details will be imported during the upgrade.

While credit card payments can now be processed through Premier and there is a new ability to refer bad debts directly to a collection agency, users have to subscribe to Quicken’s online services for them to happen.

While information about the changes and how to take advantage of them are contained in the Help menu, unlike MYOB the video tutorial doesn’t cover payroll nor any of the changes.

The QuickBooks interface hasn’t been changed and it still has a more polished look and better working area than MYOB, but it comes at a cost – you have to have at least twice the RAM and a much more powerful processor to run it.

While the improvements add to what has long been a polished package they are not compelling enough to say this is an essential ‘must have’ upgrade.However, the biggest negative for QuickBooks is the $300 price increase since the 2004 edition which seems difficult to justify.

QuickBooks Premier 2005/2006
Price: $1699

Labs Verdict: An excellent package but the few improvements don’t warrant the price hike.
Supplier: Quicken Australia 1300 784 253
www.quicken.com.au

Requirements:
Processor: 350 MHz Intel Pentium (1GHz Intel Pentium IV recommended); 128MB RAM (256MB recommended); Windows 98/ME/2000/XP (Windows 2000/XP recommended); 425MB of disk space; Internet Explorer 6.0 ; online features and services require at least a 56Kb/s modem. Multi-user mode optimised for Windows 2000 Server or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 clientserver and Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP peer-to-peer networks.

Overall: 4/6

MYOB Accounting Plus V15
Price: $559