TAS Vs Quickbooks for retail business

I have recently been asked to take over the bookkeeping for a retail business. They are currently using TAS Books 2 from 2007. We have had some issues restoring the data from the previous bookkeeper to update the business owner's accounts to their own files.

I spoke with TAS who recommended an upgrade of the software to the latest version + support (in order to retrieve the backup files), at a price of €745+VAT.

The business owner is happy to change software and tbh I would be more comfortable using QuickBooks as it's the accounts package I am most familiar with.

Is it possible to import data from TAS to Quickbooks? Is there any pitfalls to using QB over TAS for a retail business that I should be aware of?

I use Tas with a long number of years & i find it so easy to use but push them on discount, there well able to do it when it suits them

Thanks for the response. It seems that it's not possible to restore the data without upgrading the package so it looks like that's what we will have to do.

Nutso said:

Is it possible to import data from TAS to Quickbooks?

Click to expand...

From AXONWARE.com (actually in Terenure Dublin 6)
...and you can import your existing data so you don't have to re-enter information...
Now of course it is always going to sound easier that it turns out but I'm using Quickbooks 2002 and once data is set up correctly it will import easily!

Nutso said:

Is there any pitfalls to using QB over TAS for a retail business that I should be aware of?

Click to expand...

Yes - You buy the Quickbooks software once. For someone used to paying for their software each year it can be very difficult to get their head around that!

Nutso said:

I spoke with TAS who recommended an upgrade of the software to the latest version + support (in order to retrieve the backup files), at a price of €745+VAT.

Click to expand...

Ya don't say! I'd guess that is their first recommendation to any/all callers!

I always question why you need to pay a considerable annual fee for " + support"...
If the software is any good, easily useable with good HELP files and stable - you shouldn't need support even/especially for doing something as routine as restoring data!
It should just work as my Quickbooks has done for 10+ years!

HTH
No connection with Axonware or Quickbooks other than being a satisfied user!

Nutso said:

It seems that it's not possible to restore the data without upgrading the package so it looks like that's what we will have to do.

Click to expand...

So only 5 years after buying some software it has to be discarded and buy an updated version for the guts of €1000 just so that you can get the data that is already entered! And you are questioning whether it is a good idea to stick with that supplier?

I'm also a QB user of 10 years and I am really happy with it. My question was really if there was anything I should be aware of for a retail business that QB would not be suitable for, as I haven't used it for retail previously.

I spoke with Axonware this morning and they are only able to import lists to Quickbooks i.e. customer, supplier etc not the actual data. As the bookkeeper had saved the TAS files for most of the FY in a newer version he would have no access to data already entered for 85% of the financial year as it was not backwards compatible with the old version of the software he had installed.

I agree on the support also as I have not needed to purchase support for QB in my ten years of using it. As I already have QB, I may look at transferring the data to that for the new FY as TAS is already giving me a headache; it's definitely not as user friendly as QB is.

If you can get the data from TAS into any spreadsheet format then it can be imported into QBs using specifically formatted IIF data files.
The only limit is you can't import a link between two transactions i.e. the link between a particular invoice and the payment for that invoice. You can import the transactions but not the "link" between them!