Hello Rolonap,
This is a good question. As a CPA and bookkeeping business I have and my clients have used both programs. They are designed from different approaches to the needs for accounting information.
In my opinion, Peachtree (PT) is oriented more to the needs of an accounting professional while QuickBooks (QB) is better suited to a small business owner's need for immediate management information.
They both are quite easy to use once you know how. It is important to get proper training on the system before doing it yourself.
The system operations and interfaces tend to be very intuitive.with funtional data flow diagrams. Both now have a dash board available on the opening screen.
QB has a more flexible reporting scheme. It is the only program that will produce daily reports, that is one day's transactions at a time. QB has a stronger report filtering function. PT reports are more period, monthly or quarterly, in their data display. PT seems to have the better Payroll and Fixed Asset modules, however I fnd the differences to be not that significant.
QB has the advantage when exporting the general ledger to a tax program as there is a native interface to the ProSeries and Lacerte tax programs which are also part of the Intuit family.
All this being said, QB has, by far, the greatest share of the retail,off-the-shelf, market for accounting software for small and medium sized businesses. PT trails far behind, but between them thay can account for nearly 90% of the market.
Both have good after-market support, but I believe that QB has the largest number of qualified or certified professional advisors. I happen to represent both at this time,
Have a look at the needs of your business activities and the number of transactions during a given period as well as the responsiveness of your reporting requirements to help you make your decision as to which way to go. I also suggest that you locate a professional advisor knowledgeable in both systems to help you review your requirements.
Good Luck in your endeavors.
Santa Fe CPA
