How does Microsoft Small Business Accounting compare to QuickBooks? If Im not currently using either, which should I choose?
The Microsoft product is not nearly as evolved as QuickBooks. Even with Microsoft’s tremendous product development resources, it will take years for them to match QuickBooks depth and scope. The most glaring example right now (01/07/2007) is the inability to process payroll within the product – though they do have a partnership with ADP should you decide to outsource the payroll preparation. When the Microsoft product entered the market, their battle plan to compete with QuickBooks revolved, to a large part, around the SQL database. The database that QuickBooks used for versions 2005 and below could not compare with the scalability, stability and security of SQL. However, QuickBooks now operates on SQL (version 2006 and later). Microsoft also boasts a tight integration with Microsoft Office (as one would expect), but QuickBooks has included Office integration tools since version 99 and they enhanced those integration tools in version 2006 – probably due to the pressure from the Microso
