What are the main reasons a business needs to move from QuickBooks Pro/Premier into QuickBooks Enterprise (Enterprise)?

From my experience, it really boils down to these main areas…

GOTCHA – YOUR LISTS ARE OUT OF ROOM!

Imagine the surprise felt when QuickBooks tells you no more inventory or customers can be added!

Well, it happens more than you can imagine to Pro/Premier users.

Sadly, there is no advance warning of this gotcha.

For example, Pro/Premier limits are:

• 14,500 items – this includes inventory, non-inventory, assembly and anything else found in your item list
• 10,500 customers or 14,500 total names (customers, vendors, etc.)

Here is the complete list of Pro/Premier vs. Enterprise list limits.

For growing businesses, the additional list space in QuickBooks Enterprise makes sense.

They upgrade and keep rolling in Enterprise with no learning curve for the staff.

 

YOUR QUICKBOOKS DATA FILE IS GETTING TOO BIG!

Right behind the list limit “gotcha”, I find many Pro/Premier businesses with oversized data files.

(Pro tip: Your data file is where you store all of your QuickBooks transactions. It is not the same as the QuickBooks program itself! Find the location of your data file by tapping the F2 key)

Intuit does not publish any hard and fast rules on “how big is too big”.

Based on my twenty plus years of working with QuickBooks, I have found that files bigger than 175 megabytes are too big. Others have said that number should be closer to 300-350 megabytes.

Common symptoms that your file is getting too big:

• Takes forever to run reports!
• Random error messages when opening, closing or using QuickBooks
• You can’t verify or rebuild your data properly

QuickBooks Enterprise handles a far larger company file. In fact, I’ve had clients successfully using Enterprise with files up to 1.5 gigabytes.

Check out my handy guide that discusses this “QuickBooks data file is too big” problem to learn more.

 

YOU PREFER MORE (AND BETTER) USER SECURITY AND PERMISSIONS

Many businesses want more options to restrict access in QuickBooks than Pro/Premier offers.

Generally speaking, Pro/Premier provides about 9 or 10 areas where access can be restricted.

QuickBooks Enterprise gives you well over 100 areas where access can be restricted. It also has far more granularity of permissions, relating to view, modify, delete or print.

This article does a great job of explaining the users/role capabilities available in QuickBooks Enterprise.

(Pro tip: Follow these instructions to display or print your QuickBooks Enterprise user roles and permissions).

 

YOU NEED MORE INVENTORY FUNCTIONALITY

For inventory-based businesses, Pro/Premier may simply not offer needed functionality.

QuickBooks Enterprise offers these features not found in Pro/Premier:

• Automatic creation of purchase orders
• “On the fly” changes to build assembly transactions
• Ability to print build assembly orders with customized templates

The Platinum subscription of QuickBooks Enterprise brings the Advanced Inventory module with even more features, including:

• Multi-location inventory tracking
• Bin/shelf/rack tracking
• Lot or serial number tracking (not both)

Download my “Can QuickBooks Handle My Inventory” guide today.

It provides a line by line inventory feature comparison of Pro/Premier, Enterprise, and even Online (QBO).

IS IT EASY TO MOVE FROM QUICKBOOKS PRO/PREMIER TO ENTERPRISE?

Stay tuned for my next installment for more insights on that…

RELATED INFORMATION

• Get a 20% lifetime discount on QuickBooks Enterprise
• Advanced Inventory for QuickBooks Enterprise – how it works
• Free trial of QuickBooks Enterprise and other tips..

CARE TO SHARE WHY YOU MADE THE MOVE?

Share your thoughts as to what prompted your business to make the move from Pro/Premier to Enterprise. Would love to hear from you!