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C&P vs. Quickbooks

We are a small ad/interactive shop - approximately 15 people. We are curious what people use to manage their business in that we are considering an upgrade. We are currently assessing the pros and cons of using Clients & Profits ez (an old version of C&P that lacks a general ledger) with Quickbooks and trying to keep all hours accountable, billing on track, etc. Comments from former Clients & Profits ez users that upgraded to a current version of Clients & Profits especially would be appreciated.

Also, do employees track their hours through either one of these programs?

Thank you

Dave Winslow
SHAR|k Communications
Integrated Strategic, Creative and Digital Services

We are also a 15 person agency and currently use Clients & Profits Classic. I would strongly recommend going with this version of the program as opposed to using the EZ with Quickbooks. It integrates all components and eliminates double entry, which in the long run will save time and money. When we first started using C&P Classic, we only used it for time & job cost tracking and used Quickbooks for accounting/general ledger and billing. Once we got the C&P accounting system ready to go and started using all functions of the program, it was so much better.

Belinda Wilson
Director of Finance/Operations
Fitting Creative

Use the most comprehensive, upgraded C&P package you can afford. In the long run you will save money in administrative time & timely, accurate financial data. Not to mention getting your client invoices out quicker. I can't think of any "cons" in using an integrated system. We track hours through C&P Classic.

Roxanne Cowan
Rutherford Bolen Group Integrated

I highly recommend that you switch all functions to one software package. It's murder trying to switch hit between two packages. Why have two packages, when one (C&P) does it all!

Laura Karns
Hanon McKendry

Check out the tutorials on the Web site to get a feel for how it may work for you. The integrated G/L works great. Our designers post time daily to jobs.

Shannon Ellis
Business Manager
Tackett Barbaria Design Group

My firm was using Quickbooks Pro (we couldn't stand it any longer than a couple of months) - then Peachtree (this was worse!). These programs are designed for simple "retail" oriented businesses, or perhaps lawyers. Their main problem was they weren't based on the project. We have been using Clients & Profits basic 4.3 for about a year, and there is no comparison. We simply couldn't have survived this long without this program. All costs are tracked to projects, and nothing is missed anymore. Our staff enters time into printed time sheets, and our administrator enters them into C&P. Seeing what projects cost and what needs to be billed is very simple. For our type of business, there is nothing more frustrating than Quickbooks pro or Peachtree.

Joseph Notovitz
President
Notovitz Communications

I am a consultant for C & P. I am an independant CPA and I install and convert many types of software for many diverse clients. I don't know how you live! Just kidding. It is extra work, cross checking etc. doing it the way you are between old C&P and Quickbooks. Yes C&P will stream line parts of your shop regarding accounting from what I read in your email. Yes employees, and independants too, track their time in C&P. It allocates their "predetermined" cost to the job by task (duty) or the hour. The only thing I would initially bring to your attention is that C&P does not handle payroll functions at this time. So you will need to keep QkBks working for that purpose, and JE the data over. The time card fuction in C&P does not affect the GL, so there are several things to think about when you do input "real" payroll dollars into the system. But overall, whew! you and staff will be free! of so much to move up to the newest C&P.

MICHELLE PATRIARCHE
C&P Consultant

Just a note on payroll: Clients & Profits works with Checkmark's Payroll software. With just a few mouse clicks, you can import your payroll JEs from Checkmark Payroll to Clients & Profits. If anyone is interested in purchasing Checkmark Payroll, you can order it through C&P at a 10% discount--a special rate for Clients & Profits users. For more information about handling payroll with Clients & Profits, please see our FAQ:
http://www.cnp-x.com/support/FAQs/FAQ_payroll.html#1

Judy Hector
Clients & Profits Marketing Manager

I have a 10 person marketing communications firm that uses Quickbooks and MS Access for time entry, invoicing, job tracking, purchase orders, estimating and accounting. It is painful to track two systems and to input data and then check against another system. My concern is payroll. Can I just continue using Quickbooks for payroll and export the data over to CP or do I need another payroll software program. Also, does anyone have any insight about how easy it may be for creative as well as administrative staff to enter and access information on CP.

Michael Verville