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Comment by sabat | Hacker News Reader

Those of you living The Dream and running a startup and having to do the books: what are you using? Is it enough to just use Quickbooks, or do you have to hire an accountant?

Help out those of us still in the planning stages/stealth mode.

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Do both: use QB to keep the books, and have an account check it over quarterly (monthly, yearly, whatever works best for you) to make sure you're not doing anything that will really cost you down the road.

That's what my start-up did.

btw, I would recommend that you don't buy the premier edition: go for the online version. All the bells and whistles can be done by you with other programs, even excel.

I'm also using Quickbooks. It's pretty easy to learn - even if you don't have an accounting background. When I got started I had my tax CPA look over my books to make sure I was doing things right.

Also, you should check out http://oe.quickbooks.com/ - it's an online version of the software, which I've been pretty happy with. Subscription is $20 a month (vs. $150-$400 for the install). It's great for startups that aren't sure how long they're going to be around...

I've been using QB for years. The largest business I know about that uses it is a client of mine, a futures fund LLC managing over 2.5 billion dollars (They use it to manage their business accounts, not the client's money for which they have vast amounts of proprietary software).

You've got to use some kind of program to keep track of number. And it's cheapest to do the books yourself or hire someone to do it part time. Another nice thing about the online edition is it's easier to share your information with your accountant.