Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software
QuickBooks Accounting 2009 for Mac
Accounting is a lot less exciting than watching paint dry, but it's a necessity for companies. Intuit's QuickBooks products for Mac don't get a lot of respect, since Intuit seems to treat Mac owners as second-class citizens. They're still working on improving their products, however, and have just announced QuickBooks Accounting 2009 for Mac. The new version of QuickBooks is a Leopard-only product, and won't be available for a few more weeks, but it appears to be a solid improvement over its predecessor -- QuickBooks 2007 for Mac. The application, which will retail for US$199.95, features a much-improved interface.
Designed for small businesses, QuickBooks now has a Home Page showing how different business tasks fit together. There are Customer, Transaction, Report, and Vendor centers that organize your entries into single-page views, keeping you from having to switch between dozens of windows as in previous versions. Online banking now expands to over 3,000 institutions and the product integrates with XSilva's LightSpeed Point-of-sale software.
However, there's still no multi-user version, and early reports mention that the application still doesn't have full file compatibility with the Windows version -- something that is critical when sending files to accountants for review.
The Intuit website has not yet been updated with information about QuickBooks Accounting 2009 for Mac.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
fishbert said 2:21PM on 9-20-2008
Meh. I'm waiting to see if the re-written Quicken Financial Life 2009 is any good. All I use my windows VM for is quicken, and I'm hoping that Quicken Financial Life will be heading in a direction (i.e., away from excessive bugginess) that helps me get rid of windows.
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dagamer34 said 2:49PM on 9-20-2008
Where is Quicken Financial Life for Mac?? =/
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Mark Holo said 3:58PM on 9-20-2008
At least there is some kind of update for American Mac users. The Canadian Intuit has given up any pretense over supporting Mac. I can think of a few words to describe what I think of them.
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Bryan said 6:55PM on 9-20-2008
I always take every opportunity to tell people about how awful my experience has been with Intuit, both software and customer support. I'd never buy another one of their products, even if I had no other options (which thankfully I do).
Anon said 10:23PM on 9-20-2008
Ditto. They REALLY don't care about Canadian Mac users. I've been blatantly lied to by them in the past when asking why they had delays in QuickTax Mac (now discontinued). Lame excuses and blatant lies such as "We have to rewrite the entire programme (QuickBooks Mac) from the ground up for Canada". Yeah. Riiiiiiiiight. Localize, yes. Rewrite, absolutely not. That's precisely the nature of internationalized software. Write once, localize and deploy everywhere. Even if we did return to the Mac in Canada, my local Mac dealer would not carry it. Too much bad blood.
G said 6:13PM on 9-20-2008
Hey, look at the new Intuit logo. It's like they care about people or something. You know, like their customers and stuff. Awwww. It's too late, but awwww.
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Fred said 7:19PM on 9-20-2008
I'm sorry I wouldn't use one of their products after they used their name for those loans. I imagine it was licensed or something, but they seemed really shady and I wouldn't do business with a company that would allow their good name to be exploited in that way.
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eric f. said 1:10PM on 9-21-2008
FWIW, those Quicken loans or whatever they were always stated that they were affiliated in no way with the Intuit company.
Hamilton International Productions said 8:55PM on 9-20-2008
Quickbooks for Mac is a joke. The last version is STILL full of bugs and has major conflict issues with syncing and instead of fixing any of those bugs, intuit just issues another "pay" version upgrade. This is such an overpriced accounting program for what you get on a Mac. Its not worth it, trust me. Check Macupdate, or versiontracker, or one of the other sites to find better accounting software that is designed to run natively in Mac OSX.
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rob said 8:58PM on 9-20-2008
so what's a good quicken alternative that will read all the data files and be able to link with banks for sending checks out and getting data, etc. ?
yep, i am new-ish to mac and i don't know all the ropes yet. thanks for any info!
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Dave Barnes said 10:19PM on 9-20-2008
My OLD Windows version of QB had something called "QBTimer" that you could use to record your labor hours and automatically import into QB. It was a very nice/important feature as it was automated data entry as opposed to asking my wife to do it.
QB 2007 Mac disposed of this feature. Very annoying. I can only hope (10% probability) that Intuit will bring this back into QB2009.
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Nick Schoeneberger said 9:10AM on 11-01-2008
QB Pro Mac has lagged behind QB Pro for Windows for some time now. What was said about lagging fixes for bugs has to improve as well. That said, you can go to http://proadvisor.intuit.com/product/whatsnew/byproduct.jsp and scroll down to see the new Mac version has been redesigned for Leopard with some nice features. For one, the product has FINALLY gained the visual "workflow" home screen that Windows users really adore. If you look at the screens and integration with Apple apps, I think you have to give them some credit for making this product a real Mac-interface product and not something that feels like a Windows release that was ported with no consideration for Apple's HIG. And regarding the file compatibility - the Pro 2007 version already has an "export copy for accountant" and "export windows format" feature so that's pretty much a non-issue.
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Jim said 12:39AM on 12-19-2008
Yes there are improvements, but from an awful lot of postings QB 2009 for the Mac is still very buggy with key features missing. And for this we have the priviledge of paying full purchase price to upgrade.
I use QB under Windows and would love to have something on the Mac instead. It's just that every time I see the name Intuit my wallet moans in pain. I'll stick with my old Windows version until I can fin something reasonable for the Mac.
I guess the most appropriate quote is "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!"
Ben said 11:15AM on 9-22-2008
Looks like there is an open beta for the new Quicken Financial Life for Mac.
https://quicken.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/quicken.cfg/php/enduser/sign_up.php
It can't be worse then the current version, which is the worst Mac software in existence.
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J said 11:23AM on 9-22-2008
For an award winning alternative check out Xero:
www.xero.com
It doesn't do multiple currencies yet though, but other than that in terms of accounting software without the steep learning curve it's a winner.
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Spencer said 8:25AM on 10-02-2008
I am about to upgrade to QB 09 for mac. My accountant runs QB 08 for PC.
Do you think the 09 windows back up from mac's QB 09 will be something he can open on his PC?
Or should I just consider getting a PC to run my books on to avoid all the hassle?
Thanks! Spence
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Reggie said 3:24PM on 10-02-2008
Yea it'll work fine. I'm stuck on QuickBooks because it works so well with my PC based accountant. I run it on the mac side because I dont want to clutter my HD with Windows and I don't want ANOTHER computer just to run QB. That said. 09 is a nice leap ahead. Much more organized. However it looks like a lot of simple things that should have been fixed YEARS ago are still CRAP!
i.e. No multi-line descriptions on invoices and estimates! ??!! C'mon intuit do you obviously spent a lot of time and money on this version, could someone not rub two brain cells together and touch up this KNOWN issue!???
Irene said 4:21PM on 10-02-2008
Is payroll still not integrated within QB? And what about progress invoicing? Still missing too? Makes it not handy for contractors at all.
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jamaica said 3:46PM on 10-03-2008
HELP!.. my accountant just told me I should get quickbooks ... I have a very small business... but it is a partnership.... which apparently requires way more documentation than a sole proprietorship (which I am used to doing, using my good old fashioned "shoe box" system!)
a friend of mine who uses the pc QB was going to help me set it up..
From what I have read here & other places.. it seems that maybe since I have not experienced the joy of pc based QB.. basically I will not know what I am missing?
my accountant uses QB (obviously on a pc), REALLY wants me to, & seems to think it will make it all easier... (for him maybe?)
remember... I have a VERY small business (renting equipment)
do you think I should go w/ the quick books OR what would y'all recommend?.... that is SUPER easy to figure out... I am good w/ #'s but still have a STEEP learning curve to go on the computer.... & have no "real" book-keeping experience...
BTW I HAVE to get 2007's info ON the computer before the looming deadline (10/15)... so will probably use my friends PC quick books for that! unless y'all think it is worth it to run out & get the mac 2009 QB??
thank you for any advice!
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David Medina said 4:35PM on 10-07-2008
Get AccountEdge from MYOB. Way better than Quickbooks.
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