manufacturing friendly accounting software... Quickbooks Premier?

[InspirationTool]

So last year I used Quickbooks Pro. I didn't understand when I bought it that it doesn't handle assemblies. You can only buy and sell the same thing, not put things together to sell as one item.... So I need to upgrade.

There is Quickbooks Premier for Manufacturing, and that does handle assemblies, but according to thier webpage, not "raw materials". I'm going to get them on the phone on Monday and see how that works (or doesn't).

Does anyone have a package they like for manufacturing accounting?

Thanks!

-Jeff

PS: I know this is the "wrong" forum, but should there be a forum for CNC business issues?

[mxtras]

I am watching......

Please post results.

Scott

[Al_The_Man]

'Simply Accounting' has an assembly module within it, for manufacturing items from inventory components.
Al.

[InspirationTool]

Okay, I got a good answer on this... Quickbooks doesn't understand different units, but it *will* handle decimal numbers in assemblies. This means you have to keep track in your head or with notes about what units you are using and stick with that unit. You can keep track of plywood inventory in "sheets" and you can use .25 of a sheet in a product, but you can't say another product uses 8 square feet, you have to be internally consistant with your units.

For steel it might make the most sense to keep the unit as lbs. Remember you can create an extra item attribute that YOU call "unit of measurement" to keep track of this, but quickbooks never looks at it.

I'm gonna call this a "non-issue" for me.

The Manufacturing Premier version is $399 for one user and you can get a $80 rebate if you currently have QB Basic.

However, if you are a job shop my understanding is that it doesn't like to handle custom items. There are add on packages for that however.

-Jeff

[JavaDog]

Are you really looking for Accounting or more for Invoicing/Inventory and Job Management?

[InspirationTool]

I need the accounting and inventory/invoicing. I don't do too many custom jobs. I buy stuff, make stuff, modify stuff, assemble stuff, wholesale stuff, and sell stuff on my website, turning stuff into money

-Jeff

[HuFlungDung]

Who needs money? Just gimme more stuff!

[JavaDog]

Originally Posted by InspirationTool I need the accounting and inventory/invoicing. I don't do too many custom jobs. I buy stuff, make stuff, modify stuff, assemble stuff, wholesale stuff, and sell stuff on my website, turning stuff into money -Jeff

Well, generally accounting and invoicing/inventory would be two seperate applications.

Good POS front-end software will work with you back-end accounting software. Not sure how advanced you want to get though...

Informatics makes a nice package called Quickstore POS (also does Inventory). The PRO version would, I think, be a good fit for most small businesses doing the type of work we all do.

Not dirt-cheap at $899 (for PRO) - but it does a lot and it is really nice software. Well designed too.

[InspirationTool]

As I do 95% of my sales on the web, I don't really need POS software. I can download my shopping cart totals into Quickbooks.

If I were doing retails sales, your suggestion would be spot-on.

For craft/trade shows I've been doing paper. I may need to come up with a better way for that, but not for $900.

-Jeff

[Al_The_Man]

You can buy 'Simply' on ebay for cheap. I have used it ever since the original DOS version. I also use it for manuf. assembly and sales.
Al.

[InspirationTool]

By the way... for those of you who haven't learned about accounting, but want to learn just enough to be dangerous I have written an article about double entry accounting from the perspective of an engineer. By engineer, I mean someone who thinks in basic math. It translates accountant-speak to basic algebra.

Check it out here:

http://www.jeffalbro.net/business/do...ry-accounting/

-Jeff

[txcowdog]

Quickbooks Premier Enterprise Solutions is what I use and it handles assemblies very well. Although priced at $3000 for a 5 seat license, I find it provides more power to dollar ratio than any accounting software to be found.You would have to move to Great Plains for $7500 to find a comparable package. The support for Quickbooks is second to none and when you buy the Enterprise package, you get a dedicated support engineer, not just someone on the help desk. I have been manufacturing for 27 years and after two other accounting packages, I finally setteled on Quickbooks Enterprise and it was the best decision I ever made in the accounting arena.