7 Most Common Problems with QuickBooks Online Reported by Users (and Solutions)
In today’s digital era, efficient financial management is essential for businesses striving to maintain competitiveness and growth. QuickBooks Online has emerged as an important SaaS tool, offering convenience and accessibility in managing accounting and related tasks with remote access.
However, despite its benefits, users often encounter challenges impacting workflow efficiency. Understanding these challenges is crucial for leveraging QuickBooks Online to its fullest potential in enhancing financial operations and ensuring smoother business management.
Here are some of the common problems reported by QuickBooks Online users -
1. Slow Performance and Connectivity Issues
Several users have reported delays when navigating between modules or performing tasks within the software. They faced slow performance, intermittent connectivity problems, system errors, and browser compatibility issues due to server overload, network infrastructure, and browser settings.
This can affect overall business efficiency and customer service if tasks such as invoicing, payroll processing, inventory management, and financial reporting are delayed.
As a solution, Intuit has shared detailed information on having speed issues with your QuickBooks Online. There are several things that you can do to ensure you’re getting the most out of your user experience.
2. Limited Customer Support
QuickBooks Online users have faced issues with limited customer support from Intuit. The reasons can include difficulty contacting the support team, limited support hours, generic responses, and language barriers.
This impacts users’ ability to resolve technical problems, get answers to questions, or receive timely assistance when encountering issues with the software.
Intuit customer support is available between Mon-Fri from 6 AM to 6 PM PT and Saturday from 6 AM to 3 PM PT for the Simple, Essential, and Plus versions of QuickBooks Online. For the Advanced version, the support team is available any time, any day.
3. Missing Features Compared to Desktop Versions
QuickBooks Online has a rich feature set for businesses, especially SMBs. However, it has limited features compared to Desktop versions like QuickBooks Enterprise, such as advanced reporting capabilities, inventory management, tracking expenses, and limited data file size.
SMBs and enterprise businesses frequently require these features to manage their business accounting. Users often feel helpless due to the lack of certain features and lack of customization. This can lead to limitations in utilizing QuickBooks Online for comprehensive financial management and accounting tasks.
As a solution, users either have to buy and integrate add-ons for additional functionality with QuickBooks Online or switch to QuickBooks Enterprise Desktop.
4. Challenges in Generating Reports
Users often encounter difficulties generating and customizing reports in QuickBooks Online due to limited customization options and performance issues while running them. Users also need help adjusting to data-specific report formats.
These difficulties can be due to the platforms’ design, functionality limitations, and user interface constraints.
If you are also facing issues with reports in QBO, try exploring their help articles. There are several helpful articles on such issues.
5. More Crash-Prone Instances
QuickBooks Online users experience more frequent crashes or freezing than QuickBooks Desktop. This can result in unpredictable system response, error messages, and unexpected shutdowns.
Increased downtime and crashes can be due to cache issues, pending software updates, and a lack of system requirements.
For an accounting firm or a business, these crashes mean data loss, interrupted workflows, and delayed transactions, impacting overall efficiency and loss of billable hours.
If you face a crashing issue, Intuit recommends clearing your browser’s cache, making sure the browser is up-to-date, and contacting their support team if the problem persists.
6. Technical Bugs
Like any software, QuickBooks Online is prone to technical bugs and glitches. These technical bugs manifest in the form of functionality, data syncing, display, or interface issues.
This can lead to functional disruption, data integrity, performance issues, and errors during data entry or report generation.
Though there are no quick fixes if it’s technical or functionality issues, Intuit recommends reporting these bugs and contacting their support team.
7. No Built-In Backup Options
QuickBooks Online does not provide built-in, user-initiated backup options for users to independently backup their data directly from the software.
This causes high reliability on cloud-based software or the requirement for third-party apps to generate user backup for their financial and confidential data.
QuickBooks Online Advanced is the only plan that provides cloud backup and restore capability.
This absence of built-in backup features for other versions can pose challenges for users seeking convenient and secure backup solutions, potentially impacting their ability to recover data in the event of unforeseen data loss or system issues.
This contrasts with the capabilities offered by QuickBooks Desktop versions, where users can create and manage backups locally on their system.
Users are left with upgrading to the QuickBooks Online Advanced plan or using third-party providers and apps to back up data on the user end.
QuickBooks Online vs QuickBooks Desktop vs QuickBooks Hosting
QuickBooks Online has all the features suitable for small to mid-sized businesses and offers significant advantages in accessibility and real-time collaboration.
However, larger enterprises may find QuickBooks Enterprise Desktop more suitable due to its robust scalability, advanced customization capabilities, and comprehensive inventory management tools.
Intuit recently discontinued the Pro and Premier versions of QuickBooks Desktop to focus on QuickBooks Online. The shift is due to the growing demand for cloud-based accounting solutions, which offer flexibility and efficiency in financial management for businesses of all sizes.
Intuit also runs an Authorized Commerical Hosting Provider program when they have authorized hosting providers to host QuickBooks Desktop. It means you can run your QuickBooks Desktop application (Pro, Premier, Accountant, or Enterprise — any version, any year) on the hosting provider’s cloud server and access it anytime, anywhere. Thus, desktop users can get remote access features similar to QuickBooks Online.
One such provider is Ace Cloud, known for its reliable QuickBooks Hosting Services and customer support. They offer 45-day rolling backup, 99.99% uptime, a high-performance computing environment, and top-notch security to protect your business from cyber threats.
Conclusion
QuickBooks Online stands out as a leading SaaS-based accounting solution by Intuit, addressing a wide range of user needs with continuous advancements over the past decade.
Despite occasional user-related challenges, Intuit has continuously enhanced its features and functionalities within QBO, ensuring a robust platform for businesses of all sizes. Recognizing the significance of remote access and team collaboration.
As Intuit continues innovating and adapting to evolving market demands, QuickBooks Online remains pivotal in driving organizational success through its comprehensive financial management tools and user-friendly interface.
Are you a QuickBooks Online user? What problems are you facing? Please share in the comments.
