While QuickBooks Online (QBO) is a popular accounting software for small businesses and we certainly love it and recommend it, there are annoying issues or aspects of the platform that make us scream at the screen. Our top ten common pet peeves or annoyances of how Quickbooks Online behaves are:
1. Lack of Features in Lower Plans: The basic plans may lack some advanced features that businesses may find essential. Users might need to upgrade to higher-priced plans to access certain functionalities. For instance, new business owners think the basic version is just fine to keep up with their expenses. It is very good for that purpose alone. For business taxes, tax preparers need more information than the version is capable of producing. Looking for savings, some owners end up paying double for a bookkeeper to do what the program is not doing. It is annoying that this issue was never explained to us when we signed up with Quickbooks Online.
2. Learning Curve: For new users, there may be a learning curve associated with transitioning to QuickBooks Online, especially if they are not familiar with accounting software. Some business owners apply their logic when doing their financial books. We, trained CPAs, have to follow the rules and regulations of our industry. It becomes frustrating for both sides when the business owner has spent countless hours reconciling accounts and now the bookkeeper has to redo everything that was done incorrectly.
3. Customer Support: Some users have reported dissatisfaction and annoyance with QuickBooks Online customer support, citing long wait times and difficulty in resolving issues. This is a common issue with online businesses. Very difficult to learn new software when you are busy working on your business and you don’t have where to turn when you hit a wall.
4. Customization Limitations: Users have expressed frustration with the limited customization options in QBO. Businesses with specific reporting or invoicing needs may find the software’s customization features lacking.
5. Ads and Offers: It is extremely annoying to all of us that we are using a paid product (not free) and are constantly bombarded with ads and offers. Some promotional banners are impossible to remove and are annoyingly in the way of our work.
6. Limited Users and Access Levels: Depending on the subscription plan, there might be restrictions on the number of users and access levels. This can be a limitation for growing businesses with multiple team members who need access to the system. Also, not unique to Quickbooks, more and more, software companies have moved to the user subscription-based revenue. Does your company have 10 employees? You pay for 10 user licenses per month. Gone are the days of one cost for accounting software that would last years.
7. Bank Reconciliation Issues: Users have encountered difficulties in reconciling bank transactions, with some reporting that the process can be confusing or time-consuming. The problem escalates if the bank is a small institution or their web portal is outdated.
8. Integration Challenges: While QuickBooks Online integrates with many third-party applications, some users have experienced challenges with specific integrations, leading to data syncing issues. Often, we have to help customers when inadvertently their integrations have uploaded the same transactions twice. In other cases, transactions are not uploaded at all, and we spent hours trying to find the problem. Customers become increasingly upset and annoyed when they don’t understand why these issues occur.
9. Automatic Updates: My Achilles tendon! While updates are essential for improving functionality and security, must the updates always happen at the most inopportune moment? Many users find the automatic updates disruptive, especially if they occur during business hours or when all you want to do is a 2-minute task.
10. Not Quickbooks Desktop: Regardless of the convenience and immediacy of a cloud accounting system, some of us still miss everything we could do with the desktop version that we cannot do in QBO. That is life!
It’s important to note that QuickBooks Online is continuously evolving, and sharing these concerns helps the publisher address them in subsequent updates. We are Quickbooks Online ProAdvisors and we are here to fill the gaps for our customers. When you need help with QBO, search our resource area, send us an email or Facebook message, and we will be happy to assist you. We also offer one-on-one training and help setting up Quickbooks Online for your business and customization of forms. Give us a call anytime.
