Question: I am planning to grow my business. Should I just start out in QuickBooks Enterprise?
Answer: “Big” is a relative concept. I have several ad specialty distributor clients who generate $3 million in annual sales, and QB Premier serves them perfectly well.
QB Enterprise does have more features than Premier, but many are not common to our industry, like inventory tracking and serving a large number of users.
There is one limitation that might apply. Premier has a limit of 14,500 “list items,” which is the sum total of your customers, vendors and items, which can necessitate an upgrade to Enterprise.
Mostly, I advise distributors to start with Premier. If it works for you, you have saved a great deal of money. If you need to move up to Enterprise, the conversion from Premier is pretty easy.
On the other hand, if you try to move from Enterprise to Premier, the process is fraught with problems. I think QB wants you to use their more expensive product rather than the less expensive ones.
Even if you are uncertain, start with Premier and move up to Enterprise if necessary.
Please email your questions to Harriet at Ask The Accountant.
QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise can be modified to better serve ad specialty distributors. Harriet Gatter is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, a former accounting professor and a former ad specialty distributor. She advises ad specialty distributors to use QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise, often in conjunction with other industry-specific software, to manage the complexities of the ad specialty business, with the results being time saved, errors eliminated and an overall accurate accounting of your business. Contact her at [email protected].
