Lifesaver and Bookkeeping Programs

Val

PFG, Picture Framing God
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Posts
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Loc
Carson City, Nevada
I've decided to go with Lifesaver. My DSL modem is on the way as I write this, and I will start the POS process immediately. I have not yet started a computerized bookkeeping program, as in Quicken, Quick Books, etc. I have someone who will come in and do that for me as soon as I'm ready.
Does Lifesaver have that capacity with it or do I need to have a separate bookkeeping program, as in the ones I stated above? If separate, who has which bookkeeping programs and why are you happy with them? Or unhappy with them?
 
You need a separate system. They do different jobs.

I use Quickbooks.

Ask your accountant! My CPA uses Quickbooks and all I do at the end of the year is give her a CD with my file on it, she makes a list of end-of-year journal entries and gives me back a paper and my filing forms. It's simple. Again, ask your accountant which they prefer.
 
I'm bringing this back up because I would like more input, and thanks Cliff.
The woman who will set up my bookkeeping in the computer says she believes Quicken will be easier for me than Quickbooks. I'm not computer illiterate or bookkeeping illiterate, so what I need will be whatever will be the best partnered with Lifesaver. The accountant isn't famliar with framing POS systems, so I'd like you framers' input..
What's been others' experience here? C'mon, give me some input please? It's happening fast and I'd like to have it in place before I embark on "Val's Greatest Hip Adventure".
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Val,

I use Lifesaver and Quickbooks but they are used independently since there is no connection between the two. I am a small operation so I may not be representative of the most efficient way to do things.

I use Lifesaver to do all my pricing, tracking orders, customers. My main incentive to using it is the work order tracking as well as pricing updates from all the vendors.

I use Quickbooks to track everything accounting-related such as Sales, COGS, expenses and bills, inventory, etc. I also use it to provide invoices to my customers b/c I don't like the receipts that come out of Lifesaver. Quickbooks allowed me to customize it exactly down to putting my logo on the top. So as a result, after an order, I enter the customer info again plus the total price of the sale. I don't track any inventory except glass so when I enter an invoice from a vendor, it normally goes straight to COGS then. I would guess that higher volume operations would simply enter an end of day (or week or month) total into QB to update their COGS.

As far as Quicken vs Quickbooks, most businesses use Quickbooks since it uses double-sided accounting as opposed to single sided in Quicken. It is also designed around a business so it has the business terminology rather than in Quicken where you may have to sort of translate features to what you need. I use Quicken for my personal checkbook and it is 200x easier to use than Quickbooks but now that I got the hang of Quickbooks, I am really happy with it.

I can't give you a recommendation on how to use it since this depends on how your accountant would like to see it for tax purposes but this is what I've been doing. Feel free to email me if you have more questions on how I'm doing this.

Also, I took one of these free classes at HP.com to learn the basics of QB. After that, I was comfortable enough to learn the more advanced features. Here's the link to the classes:
http://h30187.www3.hp.com/courses/overview.jsp?courseId=2644

Good luck!
Lisa
 
Thank you Lisa.
This is a great help, and answered a lot of my questions and my friend's questions. I'm sure I will be e-mailing you soon with more questions, I need to absorb this much for now.
I'm so excited to get started with the POS and get off that price sheet and calculator!
 
Val,

Congratulations on the modernization. You'll love it!

We use both as well. LifeSaver to handle the details (framing orders, quicksales, ordering materials). Quickbooks to handle daily batch deposit totals. Quickbooks is what we use to pay the bills and manage the checking account.

When the statement comes in, we balance it with QuickBooks to show each day's gross deposits for each payment type. There are many ways to do this, but that's how our shop does it. It only takes a few minutes per day.

Mike
 
Val,
As the others on this thread I use Quickbooks, currently using QB Pro 2005. I use FrameReady POS.
I wouldn't consider Quicken for my business, although, like others here, I use it for my personal finances.

The reason I'm posting is that my wife was very uncomfortable with anything accounting related. Today, she has a business with several employees and lots of repeat clients (it's a tutoring business). Anyway, she is now very comfortable entering accounts payables/receivables as well as payroll data. We just give this data to our accountant for monthly, quarterly, and yearly processing. It works quite well. Good luck on your decision.
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