Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #124 in Software
• Brand: Intuit
• Released on: 2007-09-28
• Platforms: Windows XP, Windows Vista
• Format: CD-ROM
• Dimensions: .71 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Amazon.co.uk
QuickBooks SimpleStart 2008 is designed to help new and home businesses with little or no accounting knowledge be organised and look professional.

• Getting started quickly with easy-to-use software and a step-by-step training CD that teaches you the basic accounting knowledge
• Easily keep track of money coming in and going out of your business
• Organise customer and supplier information all in one software program--so nothing slips through the cracks
• No more switching between spreadsheets and paper files, data is organised and easy to find.
• Automatically track VAT-related income and expenses
• Essential reports on profit and loss, sales and expenses, are instantly generated based on transactions you've already entered.
• Easily import your existing financial data from Microsoft Excel
• Project a professional image with Customisable Templates such as Invoices and Estimates

Simple to Get Started. Simple to Use. Answer three easy questions, and you're up and running. It's incredibly simple Simple Start isn't someone else's idea of how you'd like your business to run–it's your idea. We listened to hundreds of small business owners talking about their difficulties and desires. You'll see what we mean, as soon as you try it. From the simple desktop to the familiar forms and helpful guidance, everything works just the way you want it to. Import data from Microsoft Excel If you've been using Excel spreadsheets to track your sales and expenses, now you can import your existing list data from Excel directly into Simple Start. You'll save time and avoid the hassle of manually entering all of your data. Get up and running in three easy steps Simple Start is so easy to use, you don't need a thick manual–just a Tutorial that tells you how to get started in three easy steps. You'll be up and running in less than 15 minutes: 1. Insert the CD into your CD drive. 2. Answer three easy questions to customize Simple Start for your needs. 3. Start working

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No accounting knowledge needed! Simple Start's onscreen forms look like the cheques, invoices, and sales receipts you use in your business every day. The moment you see them, you'll know how to use them. Get everything you need, and nothing you don't Simple Start lets you create and track all the documents and forms you need to run your business efficiently, but it doesn't overwhelm you with tools you won't use and shouldn't have to pay for. Project a professional image with QuickBooks Stationery

• Save time compared to hand–writing cheques.
• Project a more professional image for your business.
• Use cheques with your printer and Simple Start software. Grows with your business It's easy to move up from Simple Start to more advanced QuickBooks products. Simple Start grows with your business As your business grows, QuickBooks has a full line of small business financial software to meet your needs. It's easy to upgrade from Simple Start to QuickBooks: Pro or Premier. All the information you enter into Simple Start can be automatically transferred to your new version of QuickBooks. Note: Simple Start is for new QuickBooks users. Simple Start cannot import data from prior versions of QuickBooks: Basic, Pro or Premier Editions or Quicken. Trust the solution recommended by businesses With over 3 million users worldwide, QuickBooks is the most widely used small business accounting software in the world. A 10–year history of continuous improvement assures you of the simplest, most flexible software for your business.

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Track Sales, Expenses, and Customers in One Place Simple Start makes it easy to track the money coming in and going out of your business. Keep everything together in one place Stop digging through piles of paper, switching applications, or searching through files to find the information you need. Simple Start organises everything from customers and suppliers, to sales, estimates, and invoices, to receipts, deposits, cheques, and expenses--all in one place. Create estimates, invoices, and sales receipts With Simple Start you can easily create professional-looking estimates, invoices, and sales receipts just by entering information into simple forms. No more toggling back and forth between spreadsheets and a word processor to create bills and track them. To save you even more time, you can easily turn an estimate into an invoice, or an invoice into a payment. Record your expenses quickly and painlessly Use Simple Start to write cheques and track your expenses. Every time you pay a bill, Simple Start keeps your records up-to-date so you'll know where you stand. Get the numbers you need Simple Start keeps track of VAT-related income and expenses year-round as you write checks and receive payments.

Know exactly where your business stands Instantly create reports on profit & loss, sales, expenses, unpaid invoices, and more. Essential business information at your fingertips You'll always know where your business stands with Simple Start's reports. See who owes you money and how much. Find out who your best customers are and what they're buying. Click on any item in the report to zoom in for the details–all the way down to individual transactions. Look more professional and save time Spend less time on your bookkeeping and paperwork and more time building your business. Professional–looking templates you can customize Choose from sales receipt, invoice, estimate, and credit memo form templates that you can customise to help you present a branded, professional image. You can change styles, colours, and fonts. You can show or hide fields. You can even include your company logo! Calculate totals accurately and automatically No more erasing and rewriting totals or double–checking calculations. Simple Start helps keep your transactions and records accurate by doing all the maths for you, including tax, discounts, and mark-ups. If you change a transaction, any figures linked to it update instantly. Re–use information instead of retyping it Type information about a customer, supplier, or product one time, and never type it again. Enter the first few letters on any invoice, cheque, or other form and Simple Start fills the rest in automatically. Easily create new estimates by duplicating and editing existing ones. And when you finish a job, click a button to turn your estimate into an invoice. Billing has never been so easy! We're here to help Whether you're a do-er or you prefer to call in the experts, you'll find the answer you're looking for in our various help and support resources. Two–minute tutorials and help screens Learn Simple Start features quickly with in–product tutorials that let you practice essential tasks until you're ready to do them on your own. While you're working, you can get quick answers from the onscreen help. Online Knowledge Base and User Community You can search our online Knowledge Base to find answers and helpful tips any hour of the day or night. Or, visit the QuickBooks User Community to connect with other QuickBooks users and experts to ask questions and share advice.

Customer Reviews

SimpleStart, Simple Software - True To Its Word
QuickBooks' SimpleStart is a simple, easy-to-use piece of software for anyone starting their own business, and wanting to do quick accounting, without messing around in spreadsheet programs, trying to calculate countless sums and totals in order to get the resulting figures they need.

The program is not advanced, and not meant for full professional users, with larger businesses, where you'd need things like VAT, etc. QuickBooks do offer an alternative professional version, but for anyone offering a service, such as setting up a website design company, or a masseuse offering their services to members of the public, this software is perfect.

Before committing to a purchase, it may be worth investigating through some Google searches exactly what your business will require in terms of accounting software, but for most home users, SimpleStart would be a great choice.

Quickbooks Con
I ordered this from Amazon who as usual offered a very competative price and good delivery, so no argument there at all.
However, the software is very disappointing. The major issue being that know where on any of the Quickbooks documentation or on the Intuit websites does it tell you this will not allow you to load any previous Quickbooks company files. Our business is very simple, no stock, no salaries to pay, the only complication being VAT (which I now understand it calculates incorrectly anyway). We don't need all the functions in the Pro version at all, so this looked ideal.
So be warned, look else where if you already use another version of Quickbooks. The only good thing is the 30 day return to Intuit warranty, which I will certainly be using.

Perfect for its intended market
QuickBooks SimpleStart was introduced to fill the gap in the market left when Intuit withdrew the Quicken home software in the UK. Many small businesses were using Quicken (which, by the way, had no VAT or invoice features) to manage their accounts.

SimpleStart is defintely simple... but that has always been one of the strengths of the QuickBooks range. Ease of use is essential for hard pressed entrepreneurs! Although a number of different types of businesses could make use of SimpleStart it is best used by sole traders offering a service.

SimpleStart has never made any big claims about VAT. It can only handle VAT on a cash basis (the UK standard is accrual) but then its target audience is not VAT registered businesses.

There were definitely a number of bugs in the 2008 QuickBooks line-up but this was a result of a massive effort over the past two years to bring the UK software up to the same level as that enjoyed in the US. These bugs have been addressed in the past year with various patches that are included on the most recent CDs and we are more than happy with the latest versions of the software.

Finally, bear in mind that accounting software is IMPORTANT and if you're not sure which product you need you should consult one of the many QuickBooks professionals out there on the web that will give you free advice on the pluses and minuses of all versions of the software.