Which Version of QuickBooks Is Appropriate?

There is a lot of confusion regarding the many flavors of QuickBooks Intuit is offering for the 2002 incarnation.

There have long been the Pro and Basic versions. This year, they have added the Premier and Accountant’s versions. Both are much more expensive than the Basic and Pro.

For almost everyone, the Basic program is all that is needed. I have yet to see a big benefit for the Pro unless you are a contractor and want to prepare estimates through QuickBooks.

The issue of the remote access feature is tricky. If you look at the Intuit side by side comparison of the different versions of the 2002 program, it looks like only the Premier version has that capability. This is only partially true.

To do a remote access of the QB program, there are two persons involved and connecting over the web. The person who will be taking over the other person’s QB program (normally the Accountant) does need to have the Premier version of QB 2002, while the person being controlled (normally the Client), can have any 2002 version of QB, even the Basic.

So if you are looking to buy the 2002 QuickBooks program and your use of the Remote access feature will most likely be with your Accountant taking over your computer to show you something, you can get by with the very inexpensive Basic version. If you will be using it to control the QB programs of other people, you will need to get the Premier version, which costs about four times as much.

KMK