Quickbooks vs Pastel
Let me begin by saying I do not sell Quickbooks or Pastel. I have no connection with them at all. My clients and I use their products on a daily basis and have done so for plenty of years.
I do not intend going into every small detail to compare what each can and cannot do. My aim is simply to give you a broad overview of both.
Ease of use
Both have menu’s that are fairly easy to use and understand. For anybody with a decent level of accounting knowledge both will be similar, but for the person with limited accounting or bookkeeping knowledge Quickbooks is the easier package to use. You don’t have to worry too much about debits and credits.
Marks: Quickbooks: 8/10 Pastel 5/10
Ability to upgrade and functionality
Here Pastel wins hands down. There are several add on modules you can purchase as your company grows without you having to purchase a brand new program or going for big brother Premier. If you foresee fast growth where you want to monitor more information and want more functionality I suggest buying Pastel.
Marks: Quickbooks: 2/10 Pastel 7/10
Price
Pastel is about three times more expensive than Quickbooks. This is one of the main reasons why a startup company may rather go with Quickbooks.
Marks Quickbooks: 7/10 Pastel 5/10
Rectifying errors
Once you updated a batch in Pastel you cannot go into the transaction and rectify the entry. You need to create a new entry. So when you make a lot of errors the ledger can look messy pretty quickly. In Quickbooks you can edit a transaction without creating a brand new entry. Even if you make a lot of errors your ledger can look clean if your accountant edit your errors. You can control editing by way of a password to minimize risk.
Marks Quickbooks: 8/10 Pastel 4/10
Support when problems happen (and they will)
There are a lot of people in South Africa making their money by providing support for Pastel. There are not so many people providing support for Quickbooks in South Africa. Quickbooks have a support department in South Africa. So does Pastel. Both can help you if you encounter common problems , but when you encounter a more difficult problem the odds are much better that Pastel will sort out your problem. If the Quickbooks support staff in South Africa cannot help you, you can go to the international support website for Quickbooks. Hopefully you will find your answer there.
If not you have a problem.
Here’s a recent example:
Quickbooks have an option where an accountant can work on a client’s data independently from the client and the client can then later import the changes. It is called an accountants copy. I recently made several changes to my clients data and when my client tried to import the changes, they received an error message. To make a long story short I tried to assist them, Quickbooks support staff in Johannesburg tried, their Cape Town office tried without any success. And it is not something my client did wrong. I seeked for the answer on the International support side and could not find an answer.
Marks Quickbooks: 2/10 Pastel 7/10
Conclusion
For a small start-up company wishing to keep track of expenses, purchases, amounts owed by customers or to suppliers without stock or using a network Quickbooks will do the job. It is also a good option if you have limited accounting knowledge.
When your accounting become more involved, you work on a network or run a stock system rather buy Pastel. Although Quickbooks also has a stock system and can work on a network Pastel is more stable with more options available to you as you grow.