5 Signs Your Business Has Outgrown QuickBooks

Growing businesses often don’t realize how crucial business software is to company expansion. This is especially true for a company’s accounting department, an area of business in which even the most subtle increase in productivity can mean an exponential growth in workload. So what if that workload means you can no longer sustain your current ERP system? How do you know you've even reached that growth point? The signs are simple. Check them out below.

Today, many small businesses are using QuickBooks, a valuable accounting system for the right company. QuickBooks is a solid starting point but many times organizations struggle to recognize when their business needs have outgrown this simple solution. To help decipher whether or not your company is ready to transition away from QuickBooks, here are 5 major signs that indicate that it might be time to consider a scalable ERP solution.

#1. Number of Transactions in QuickBooks

The number of financial transactions your company handles on a daily basis should be a good indication of whether QuickBooks is still the right solution for you. For example, if your bookkeeper handles a few simple daily transactions QuickBooks may be your best option. If your company requires detailed revenue and expense tracking, a more robust ERP system like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central may be a better fit to handle your growing needs.

#2. More Than 5 QuickBooks Users

If your accounting team consists of 5 or more employees, QuickBooks may not be the optimal solution for your growing company. As the number of users increases, QuickBooks tends to encounter performance issues, with the database manager struggling to handle the load and leading to disconnections during user sessions. If you find yourself facing these challenges, it might be time to explore a cloud-based ERP solution like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Tested and proven for up to 300 users and handling millions of transactions, Dynamics 365 Business Central is the perfect fit for a company on the rise.

#3. Need Better Audit Controls for Complete Audit Trails

As businesses expand, they require a robust double-entry accounting system to adhere to regulatory standards and maintain financial integrity. Unlike QuickBooks, which operates on a single-entry basis, lacking essential "audit controls," a system like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers comprehensive audit trails for every transaction. This compliant ERP solution not only ensures transactional integrity but also empowers management to safeguard company assets against misuse or loss.

#4. Poor Performance After Reaching QuickBooks Usage Limits

Over time, QuickBooks users may start experiencing performance issues, such as delays in accessing menus and generating reports. These issues often arise when the file size hits 250 MB or the total number of transactions surpasses 32,000. Particularly noticeable performance issues can occur when any list (customers, vendors, employees) exceeds 10,000 records. Transitioning to a cloud-based ERP system like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers scalability benefits. Leveraging Microsoft's SQL Server database platform, Business Central can effortlessly handle up to 80 GB of data without compromising performance.

#5. Wasted Time Spent on Exporting QuickBooks Reporting

The simple reports available in QuickBooks may not provide you with an accurate view of your organization. Oftentimes, QuickBooks users have customer and revenue data in supplemental systems such as, Excel, and a CRM system. Creating a detailed report that provides you with all the information you needed requires a lot of time spent manually entering data from one source to another. So if you discover that valuable employee productivity is being wasted on mindless data re-entry, it may be time for an ERP solution. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central features several ways for management to gain insight on real-time financial status and operational performance. Reporting tools include Dashboards, Financial Reporting (previously Account Schedules), and PowerBI, plus the ability to integrate with SharePoint allowing reports and analyses to be shared across an organization.

For more information on how an ERP solution can help your business grow contact Centre Technologies for a tour of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.