QuickBooks Enterprise 2019 Review

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Pros

• Numerous features
• Numerous integrations
• Double-entry accounting
• Good customer support
• Strong permissions

Cons

• Expensive yearly cost
• Unsuited for small businesses
• Learning curve
• PC-only

Overview

QuickBooks Enterprise. Their mission? To go where no accounting software has gone before. Reaching for a final frontier, this powerful iteration of QuickBooks is said to deliver “6x the capacity of other QuickBooks products.”

Intuit launched the enterprise version of QuickBooks in 2002 and has been updating the software on a yearly basis ever since. There are seven different versions of QuickBooks Enterprise. You can buy either the Standard Edition or one of six industry-specific editions: Contractor, Manufacturing & Wholesale, Nonprofit, Retail, Professional Services, and Accountant.

QuickBooks Enterprise provides one of the most comprehensive accounting feature sets you can get without transitioning to a full ERP solution. The Platinum plan comes with incredibly advanced inventory features, and all subscription plans but Silver come with built-in payroll support. Compared to most QuickBooks products, QuickBooks Enterprise has surprisingly decent customer service and many support resources (though the phone wait time can be a doozy).

It’s possible to add up to 30 users, which is a step up from the other QuickBooks products. However, the software can be expensive and the company has recently increased prices. For such expensive software, I was also expecting QuickBooks Enterprise to have much stronger invoicing, project management, time tracking, and importing features. Where these capabilities are concerned, this program still has a long way to go.

Continue reading to see if the pros outweigh the cons for your growing business.

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Pricing

QuickBooks Enterprise is locally-installed software. Payments are made annually to maintain the software license. There are three pricing plans. The cost of each plan varies significantly depending on the number of users you have. The prices listed below are for a single user; be sure to check Intuit’s site directly to calculate how much your QuickBooks Enterprise software would cost. (To give you an idea of how much this price fluctuates, the smallest plan with only one user is $1,100, but a plan with 30 users would cost upwards of $7,000.)

QuickBooks often offers discounts to new users, so be sure to check for current promotions and take advantage of these money-saving deals. There is a free product tour available for each QuickBooks Enterprise plan. No credit card information is required.

Silver

• Starts at $1,155/year
• Invoicing
• Contact management
• Lead management
• Expense tracking
• Chart of accounts
• Accounts payable
• Inventory
• Time tracking
• Project management
• Budgeting and planning
• 140+ reports
• 200+ integrations
• Multi-currency support
• Tax support
• Automatic data backups
• Automatic upgrades

Gold

• Starts at $1,502/year
• Invoicing
• Contact management
• Lead management
• Expense tracking
• Chart of accounts
• Accounts payable
• Time tracking
• Project management
• Budgeting and planning
• 140+ reports
• 200+ integrations
• Multi-currency support
• Tax support
• Automatic data backups
• Automatic upgrades
• Payroll

Platinum

• Starts at $1,848/year
• Invoicing
• Contact management
• Lead management
• Expense tracking
• Chart of accounts
• Accounts payable
• Time tracking
• Project management
• Budgeting and planning
• 140+ reports
• 200+ integrations
• Multi-currency support
• Tax support
• Automatic data backups
• Automatic upgrades
• Payroll
• Advanced inventory
• Advanced item pricing

Extra Costs

There are a few extra add-ons for QuickBooks Enterprise:

• Intuit Field Service Management: With your QuickBooks Enterprise purchase, you receive a free Intuit Field Management subscription for a single user.
• Hosting: QuickBooks hosting allows you to access your data from anywhere. Contact QuickBooks directly for pricing.

Cloud-Based Or Locally-Installed

QuickBooks Enterprise is a locally-installed program, although internet access is required for certain functions (like payroll). You can purchase QuickBooks cloud-hosting at an additional cost or utilize the Remote Desktop Services to host the software on your own server.

Hardware & Software Requirements

QuickBooks Enterprise is only compatible with Windows, with versions including Windows 7 SP1, 8.1, or 10, and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 or SP2, 2012 R2, and 2016.

Other hardware requirements include:

• 2.4 GHz processor (minimum)
• 4 GB RAM (minimum), 8 GB RAM (recommended)
• 4x DVD-ROM drive required for CD installs
• 1280 x 1024 screen resolution

QuickBooks Enterprise can be used across multiple monitors. Some features require the use of Microsoft Office or a compatible email. Refer to QuickBooks Enterprise’s full list of system requirements for more details.

There is also a separate set of system requirements for users in need of QB Hosting. Be sure to check these requirements before purchasing.

Specific Size Of Business

Despite the name, QuickBooks Enterprise is ideal for medium to large businesses that need advanced inventory, complex accounting, and more than five users. The software is also ideal for the following industries: contractor, manufacturing & wholesale, nonprofit, retail, professional services, and accounting. While the software can be used for enterprise-sized businesses, many users find the program to be too expensive and not developed enough for true enterprises. For these businesses, I’d recommend jumping straight to an ERP solution like Odoo.

QuickBooks Enterprise is a good in-between solution if your company is too big for QuickBooks Pro or Premier, but not big enough yet for a full ERP system. QuickBooks puts it this way:

If you need a software solution that is more robust than your current accounting package, that addresses the specific needs of a growing business, and provides an end-to-end management solution in a familiar setting — but you would under-utilize a full ERP system — then you are a good candidate for Enterprise.

QuickBooks Enterprise supports 30 users with advanced user permission and 14 different user roles. You can also manage multiple companies with QuickBooks Enterprise and can even have two company files open at once.

Accounting Method

Both accrual and cash-basis accounting.

Ease Of Use

QuickBooks Enterprise is generally well-organized, but such a complex software comes with a steep learning curve. The setup process can also be quite time-consuming, so be prepared to spend a good chunk of time setting up your business and getting your account ready to go. While it also takes a long while to get acquainted with the software, QuickBooks Enterprise tries to ease the process by making the software consistent (for example, the invoice, sales orders, purchase orders, and estimates screens all look incredibly similar).

For a QuickBooks product, QBE has a surprising amount of resources to help you learn the software, including a learn and support center with dozens of how-to articles in case you need some extra help.

Features

QuickBooks Enterprise has an incredibly robust feature set. Below, you’ll find the key features of the Standard Edition of QuickBooks Enterprise. Each industry-specific edition of the software offers other features which we cover in our Quick Guide to the 6 Industry-Specific Editions of QuickBooks Enterprise.

• Home: QuickBooks Enterprise is organized a bit differently than your typical cloud-based accounting program, but will look familiar to QuickBooks Pro or Premier users. The homepage is divided into sections for Vendors, Customers, Employees, Banking, and Company. Icons and arrows mark important features and help show users the proper flow of accounting. The left-hand side showcases shortcuts to help you quickly access features, as well as an option to easily view your balances, favorite reports, and any windows you have open. The side menu is customizable with 30 different shortcuts, and while the bulk of the features you’ll need are on the homepage, you’ll find a ton of features in the top menu bar as well.

• Dashboard:  In QuickBooks Enterprise, your home screen won’t be a typical dashboard like you would expect with cloud-based software. Instead, you can use the Insights tab to the same effect. It features graphs and charts to illustrate your Profit & Loss, Income, and Expenses.

• Invoicing: QuickBooks Enterprise provides 10 customizable invoice templates. The templates themselves aren’t anything special, but you can customize the font, color theme, and all of the information shown. You can send invoices by email as a link or pdf, or you can print them to be sent in the mail. You can also batch send and batch-print invoices. The Layout Designer is available for advanced customization. The program supports discounts, refunds, and customer credits. You can also send sales receipts to all of your customers. You can now add “past due” stamps to all your invoices as well. Another new addition allows users to track the status of your invoices. A major drawback is that there are no recurring invoices.

• Quotes: You can send quotes as well with three different templates. QuickBooks Enterprise makes it easy to convert quotes into invoices, sales orders, or purchase orders, and you can create quotes directly from projects. It’s easy to add attachments to quotes as well.
• Contact Management: QuickBooks Enterprise allows you to record detailed information including contact information, separate shipping and billing addresses, default payment settings, credit card information, default tax settings, and a number of custom fields. You can also attach a specific sales representative to your customers and select a customer type (advertisement, referral, retail, etc.). When you add a customer address, QuickBooks Enterprise will automatically add a map with directions to the contact information screen as well. As an added bonus, you can run customer reports straight from the Customer Center. You can also manage vendors with the same level of detail.

• Lead Management: One of the best parts about QuickBooks Enterprise is that not only can you manage contacts and vendors, you can also manage leads (a feature which very few accounting programs offer). On top of the expected contact information, it’s possible to add a status to each lead marking them as “hot,” “warm,” or “cold.” You can also create to-do tasks to help you seal the deal.
• Expense Tracking: Enter expenses manually, opt for live bank feeds, or import your bank statements into the program. QuickBooks makes it easy to categorize your expenses and create custom bank rules.
• Bank Reconciliation: You can easily reconcile bank accounts in QuickBooks Enterprise. You can also close the books and password-protect them so those past reconciliations can’t be messed with.

• Chart Of Accounts: QuickBooks Enterprise provides a default chart of accounts that is completely customizable, or you can create or import a brand new chart of accounts as well.
• Fixed Asset Management: The fixed asset manager allows you to record your fixed assets and set a default depreciation method. While this feature is thorough, the interface design for this feature is incredibly outdated compared to the rest of QuickBooks Enterprise.

• Accounts Payable: You can manage your bills directly in QuickBooks. There is also an appealing Bill Tracker that allows you to easily view unbilled purchase orders, unpaid bills, and paid bills.
• Checks: You can write and print checks directly from QuickBooks Enterprise. You can also set reminders to reorder checks. 
• Inventory: One of the biggest selling points of QuickBooks Enterprise is how advanced the inventory feature is. You can add detailed item information, build item assemblies, and set inventory reorder points. You can also add images to your inventory. When you add an item’s price, QuickBooks will automatically show the markup and margin for that item. With the Platinum plan, you also get Advanced Inventory (which provides serial numbers, mobile barcode scanning, multiple inventory locations, and more) and Advanced Pricing (which allows you to adjust item pricing with ease).

• Project Management: Weirdly enough, you’ll find this feature located under Customers. Each job must be tied with a specific customer, which is a bit annoying, but the feature is easy enough to use. You can add the job title, description, start date, payment settings, and a job status (None, Pending, Awarded, In Progress, Closed, or Not Awarded). You can’t set project tasks, which even the most basic accounting programs often allow. There also is no job costing feature unless you use the Contractor edition of QuickBooks Enterprise.

• Time Tracking: QuickBooks Enterprise offers basic time tracking. Employees can record their hours and update timesheets. You can also attach time to projects and bill hours as invoices.
• Payroll (Gold & Platinum):  The Gold and Platinum plan comes with built-in payroll. From the Payroll Center, you can create paychecks, view recent payroll, access payroll guides, and run reports. QuickBooks support direct deposit and allows you to set up payroll liabilities, employee deduction, and company contributions like health insurance and retirement plans.

• Reports: QuickBooks Enterprise has over 140 reports. And if that’s not enough, you can use the custom report writer to create all the reports your heart desires.
• Budgeting: You can create yearly budgets using your existing QuickBooks Enterprise data. Add additional criteria for a more advanced budget and/or run side by side comparisons of the yearly budget and actual Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet.
• Journal Entries: You can create journal entries if you are using the Accountant edition of QuickBooks Enterprise, or if you have accountant user permissions.
• Sales Orders: You can create sales orders with your choice of five different templates. You can attach files and send sales via email or traditional mail. QBE also offers a Sales Order Fulfillment Worksheet.
• Purchase Orders: There is a single purchase order template and a Purchase Orders Management Worksheet to help you keep track of which items you’re still waiting on.

• Class Tracking: This unique feature lets you sort transactions, estimates, and billable hours by specific classes or departments. You can also run Profit and Loss reports based on these classes for added insight.
• Default Email Templates: You can create default email templates to automate your business processes and save time.
• Letter Templates: You can also create letters using one of QBE’s 12 templates, or you can create a new, custom template.
• Cash Flow Projector: There is a cash flow projector that can help your business anticipate its cash on hand, incoming cash, accounts payable, and expenses.
• Price Levels: QBE has the unique ability to create multiple custom price levels so you can easily charge different prices to different customers.
• Business Plan Tool: You can write a full business plan and 5-year financial projection based on your company’s information, income, and expenses. QuickBooks Business Planner walks you through every step of creating a custom business plan.

• Loan Manager: QuickBooks Enterprise provides a loan manager where you can apply for loans, view your payment schedule, set up payments, and run reports.
• To-Do List & Calendar: One of my favorite QuickBooks Enterprise features is the to-do list. You can create tasks with details, due dates, and priority levels. You can also set reminders and view them in your calendar. The calendar shows any upcoming tasks, plus the number of transactions you’ve entered each day and the number that are due.

• Sales Tax: You can manually create sales tax rates or connect your account to Avalara, an automated tax service (which costs extra).
• Tax Forms & Support: QuickBooks Enterprise supports the following forms: W-2s, 1099s, and 940s, and 941s. You can e-file your tax forms directly.
• Deductions: You can easily track your mileage for multiple vehicles using QuickBooks Enterprise. You can also attach mileage to specific jobs and mark miles as billable.
• Multiple Currencies: QuickBooks Enterprise does provide multi-currency support, but enabling multiple currencies means you can no longer use the Insight, Income Tracker, or Bill Tracker features and you can no longer create batch invoices or batch delete and void transactions.
• Importing & Exporting: You can import files via .xls and .iff., and export lists via .iff. Most reports and transactions can be downloaded and printed as well; however, the importing and exporting capabilities are still quite limited.

Customer Service & Support

Ordinarily, QuickBooks products have poor customer support. However, unlike other Intuit products, QuickBooks Enterprise has generally well-informed support representatives and provides an impressive number of support resources. I imagine this is because each QuickBooks Enterprise plan comes with the QuickBooks Priority Circle support program.

That being said, Intuit still has some work to do when it comes to support. There’s no email support at all, and wait times to actually speak to a representative are often long. Once you get through to a representative, things aren’t so bad, but I’d like to see Intuit address these issues in the future. For now, there are plenty of other helpful support options:

• Phone: Contact phone support Monday through Friday between 4 am and 7 pm PST.
• Chat: There is a chat feature available for quick answers Monday through Friday between 5 am and 5 pm PST.
• In-Software Help: The in-software help button can help you locate features and connects you with the QuickBooks Help Center when you need extra guidance.
• Customer Resource Center: The QuickBooks Enterprise Customer Resource Center is where almost all of the support resources for QuickBooks Enterprise can be found. Here you can find a Getting Started Guide, guides for updating from QuickBooks Pro and Premier, Installation FAQs, the latest QuickBooks Enterprise features, training videos, a link to QuickBooks support, and a link to chat support. There are also several white papers available.
• Help Center: QuickBooks has a QuickBooks Desktop Learn & Support help center where you can find dozens of articles that teach you how to use and troubleshoot the software with step by step instructions. You can also view top FAQs and announcements from Intuit. You’ll also find questions from other QB users, and if you can’t find an answer to your question, you can ask the QuickBooks Community.
• Training Videos: There are several training videos available for QuickBooks Enterprise users.
• Demos: You can sign up for demos of QuickBooks Enterprise and the Intuit Field Service Management scheduling add-on.
• Tips & Tricks: QuickBooks provides a collection of tips and tricks for Enterprise users. Advice topics range from managing multiple company files to reconciling bank accounts to utilizing custom reporting and more.
• Around The Web: Intuit put together a collection of good QuickBooks Enterprise resources from around the web which was really cool to see.
• New Business Checklist: This is a really nice, unique support feature. QuickBooks Enterprise provides a New Business Checklist which helps make sure new businesses have thought of everything. This feature can be found under the Help tab within the actual software.
• Training: You can take classes on QuickBooks Desktop (meaning QuickBooks Pro, Premier, and Enterprise) for an additional cost.
• Local Help: Intuit Resellers can help walk you through purchasing, installing, and using the program (for an additional cost).
• QuickBooks Blog: QuickBooks has a blog. Finding articles focused specifically on QuickBooks Enterprise is fairly difficult. Articles mostly consist of recent updates and ongoing giveaways.
• Social Media: QuickBooks has a Facebook page where they post updates and helpful advice articles. Customer comments are generally responded to within 24 hours. There is also a Twitter profile for all QuickBooks products. You can find a few QuickBooks Enterprise videos on Intuit’s YouTube channel, but most revolve around QuickBooks Online.

User Reviews

Negative Reviews & Complaints

The last time we reviewed QBE, it was difficult to find reviews of the software. Now, customers aren’t afraid to let their voices be heard about this software. For the most part, customers reviews are positive, but there are several recurring complaints. As a whole, Intuit receives 1.2/5 stars on Consumer Affairs; however, hardly any of these comments pertain to QuickBooks Enterprise directly.

Here are the issues users have with QuickBooks Enterprise:

• Too Expensive: This is by far the most common complaint. Many users find that the program is extremely expensive.
• Steep Learning Curve: Several users find the software complicated and difficult to learn. Many recommend going through training to ensure you really know how to use QuickBooks Enterprise.
• Too Flexible: While many users love QuickBooks Enterprise’s flexibility and how easy it is to fix past mistakes, some customers express concern about just how easy it is for anyone to adjust past transactions.
• Poor Customer Service: Quite a few users complain about poor customer service, particularly about long wait times. However, I was expecting to see far more customer service complaints. More than any other QuickBooks product I’ve researched, QuickBooks Enterprise seems to have the least customer service complaints and the most positive feedback.
• Glitches & Crashes: Users report occasional bugs and glitches and quite a few people say the software randomly crashes or kicks them off their account. Several users also say the software runs slowly. (In my own experience, the program lagged and crashed on me several times.)

Positive Reviews & Testimonials

For the most part, QuickBooks Enterprise reviews are positive. The program receives 4.2/5 stars on G2Crowd (based on over 500 ratings) and 4.5/5 stars on Software Advice (based on over 14,000 ratings). There is also a testimonials page where you can see what real businesses have to say about QuickBooks Enterprise and how these businesses are utilizing the software.

Here’s what users love about the software:

• Easy To Use: Despite the complaints above, many QuickBooks users find the software easy to use.
• Good Feature Set: Across the board, users comment on the features they love in QuickBooks Enterprise. The favorites seem to be inventory tracking, job costing, and custom reporting.
• Great Customer Service: Many users mention the great experiences they had with QuickBooks customer service.
• Strong Integrations: Several people praise the software for offering ample integration options.

Here’s what a few users are saying about QuickBooks Enterprise:

We are able to manage all of our business finances and sales using QBE and are very happy with the results.

The incredible functionality of the software makes running every aspect of our business so much easier. There are a lot of ins and outs to QB Enterprise but we use most of them in our day to day operations of our small business.

Quickbooks Enterprise is a huge step up from Premiere, and most important for our company was the ability to have inventory management for multiple warehouse locations without the need for third-party add-ons. Intuit support staff has been incredible, and support is truly there with the Enterprise edition.

Integrations & Add-Ons

QuickBooks Enterprise integrates with nearly 200 third-party apps; however, very few of these are payment gateways.

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Security

Because it is a locally-installed program, security is primarily up to you. QuickBooks does provide automatic data backups for Enterprise users, but that’s about it (unless you are using QuickBooks hosting). Read our How to Keep Your Locally Installed Accounting Software Secure post to learn more about protecting your data.

Final Verdict

QuickBooks Enterprise has an incredible number of features. Unique touches like business plans, cash flow projections, a loan manager, and advanced inventory set the software apart. While setup and use of the software can be a bit daunting, most users find the software reasonably intuitive and appreciate its capabilities. The customer support for this product is also some of the best you’ll receive from QuickBooks.

Despite Enterprise’s great features, I can’t help feeling that the name of the program is misleading. This software is really best suited for medium to large-sized businesses that need multiple users, not enterprises that would be better off with a full ERP solution. Additionally, the software is expensive. At such a steep price, I would expect better invoicing automations (especially recurring invoices at the very least), more developed project management, and advanced time tracking options. The software does have ample integrations to make up for these drawbacks, but taking advantage of the integrations makes an already expensive solution that much more costly.

That said, the additional features you receive with the industry-specific modules could definitely make the investment worthwhile for some businesses. I recommend taking advantage of QuickBooks Enterprise’s free product demo before buying to make sure this software works for you.

If after reading this review, you realize QBE isn’t for you or you want to explore other, cheaper options, take a look at our other top-rated accounting solutions.

Read Our Quick Guide to the Industry Editions of QuickBooks Enterprise

Read Our QuickBooks Online Review

Read Our QuickBooks Pro Review