QuickBooks Online vs. QuickBooks Desktop

This comprehensive course is designed to guide you through a comparative study of QuickBooks Online vs QuickBooks Desktop, providing you with a robust understanding of both platforms.

The course begins by introducing you to both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop, explaining their unique features, their differences, and the context in which one might be preferred over the other. Each segment is designed to offer a side-by-side exploration of the two versions, providing you with a complete picture of their functionalities.

As we delve into the intricacies of the platforms, you will understand how to navigate both the QuickBooks Online and Desktop versions. You’ll also identify the relationship between data input and the resultant financial statements and related reports in both versions.

We utilize a transactional analysis approach, categorizing transactions into accounting cycles: the vendor cycle, customer cycle, and employee cycle. This way, you can examine each cycle’s data input forms and their impact on financial statements and related reports in both QuickBooks Online and Desktop.

Setting up a new company file is a crucial learning step, so we demonstrate how to master foundational accounting system components like the chart of accounts, service items, revenue items, and starting balances in both versions.

We guide you through entering a variety of common transactions over two months in both QuickBooks Online and Desktop, helping you understand the different workflows and impacts of each version on financial statements and related reports.

We cover important areas such as bank reconciliations, a critical part of ensuring financial integrity. You’ll learn how to reconcile using sample bank statements and understand how to connect to the bank, download and incorporate bank data into the accounting system in both versions.

The course also explores adjusting entries, essential for aligning financial statement reports to their accounting basis at the month or year-end. You’ll understand how to handle various accounting bases like accrual, cash, or tax basis in both QuickBooks Online and Desktop.

This course promises a comprehensive, in-depth exploration of QuickBooks Online and Desktop, allowing you to make an informed decision about which software best suits your needs. It’s not just about picking one over the other; it’s about understanding the potential of both platforms to enhance your accounting efficiency.