15 Reasons Why QuickBooks is the Worst Place for Your Data, Xero is the Best

Here are 15 reasons why the desktop QuickBooks is the worst place for your data: 

1. Like most of us, you are probably a computer amateur
2. Your did not select a computer system for security and reliability
3. Your system may be slightly incompatible and unreliable
4. If one part of your system fails, everything stops
5. If one electrical or internet source fails, everything stops
6. If air conditioning fails, computers can burn out
7. Many somewhat error prone and incompatible programs
8. Rare intermittent updates, without checking for known bugs
9. No regular backups, much less continuous backups
10. No 24/7 professional computer monitoring ($9.95/month)
11. You do not use the best virus, malware and firewall checkers
12. Your office is not secure (no bank-type locks, construction, guards)
13. You risk operator error and possible employee misconduct
14. Fire, theft and man-made or natural disasters (no data insurance)
15. Internal Revenue often demands QuickBooks files for audit

You now have 15 reasons why the desktop QuickBooks is the worst place for your data.  QuickBooks also is not easy to master. QuickBooks professionals spend much of their time correcting the many improper entries most users make. It requires web access for registration and updates, which opens you to web attacks. Besides, all your banks and other financial institutions already have all your finacial data on the web.

QuickBooks Online only helps with some of this. However, despite Intuit promises, QuickBooks Online often fails for extended periods. It also is far too weak for 80%+ of QuickBooks users. I would rather spend an hour at the dentist than use QuickBooks Online. Therefore, all versions of QuickBooks are the worst place for your data. Most companies that lose data soon go out of business.

Here is how you can save lots of money, while avoiding all these problems.

1. Computer professionals manage your accounting program
2. Computer systems selected for security and reliability
3. Nothing incompatible or unreliable (PC, Mac, Linux, phone) 
4. If your system fails, use everything from other systems
5. Data is on multiple redundant computers, at different locations
6. Multiple electrical and internet connections
7. Multiple redundant air conditioners, with temperature monitoring
8. Use any compatible program without losing anything
9. Automatically regular, near continuous and offsite backups
10. Continuous on-site and remote 24/7 computer monitoring
11. The best virus, malware and firewall checks
12. Secure facilities (bank-level locks, construction, guards)
13. Less risk of operator error or employee misconduct
14. No fire, theft and man-made or natural disaster risk due to multiple sites
15. No accounting data file for Internal Revenue audit
16. No one can steal money from read-only data

You get all this FREE, with total safety, because it comes from Yodlee. They provide the software that more than half of the largest banks use to give 35 million people their bank balances online. Bank of America invested $20 million in Yodlee, in addition to paying it for software. Yodlee provides read-only encrypted entries from 12,000+ banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions. They use hidden encrypted tokens to get these entries, so they never retain your login information. The data comes with only your bank name and the last four digits of your account number. There is no way anyone can steal from a read-only feed with this limited information. Remember your 15 reasons why QuickBooks is the worst place for your data.

You can get a free Yodlee account, for all your financial institutions, because you are testing the latest version of Yodlee for their bank customers. The only problem with Yodlee is that it is not a complete accounting system. For complete accounting, you need Xero, Zoho Books and a few other revolutionary programs from well-established companies. They use Yodlee read-only feeds, to save you a fortune in time and money. All of your bank, credit card and other financial institution data will automatically download into your accounting records nightly. You can see all the balances and entries in one place, without ever learning anything about accounting.

Xero is an amazing program. The first time we saw it we said, OMG! Xero is the future of accounting! We even bought the http://futureofacounting.com/ domain to link to this. Xero starts at $12 a month, which is all most users need. This is half the price of Zoho Books, but Xero is only available for this price through Xero Partners like us. The List View of the lined Xero Partner page has us second because we are now #2 in terms of Xero clients in the U.S.

We have the fastest, easiest and least expensive way to set up Xero and the rules that can accurately classify more than 90% of downloaded entries. We also provide daily, weekly and monthly Xero reports, with completely current data. For those needing more than Xero, we help select among the many advanced programs linking to it, or provide custom links.

Xero runs in a highly secure cloud. It is properly configured and professionally run, using multiple REDUNDANT COMPUTERS, at different highly secure locations, with near continuous backup. U.S. host Rackspace is especially noted for security, reliability and expandability,. This makes Xero the safest place for your accounting data by far.

After 28 years as prominent QuickBooks and Quicken experts, most of our clients still use QuickBooks. We are glad to help, but know that Xero and our very inexpensive CPAs can do much more than help then and you avoid using QuickBooks, the worst place for your data.