Are you still using pen and paper for your accounting? Or have you never progressed beyond spreadsheets? If that’s so, it’s time to change. And change isn’t going to cost you anything as far as QuickBooks Simple Start Free Edition accounting software is concerned. QuickBooks Simple Start saves you time as you need only to enter your data once. With a few clicks of your mouse, you can generate the accounting report you want.

Haven’t used accounting software before? Wondering whether you can cope? Not to worry because QuickBooks has an easy guide on how you could put together accounting transactions. With the help of QuickBooks, you can create invoices, prepare cost estimates for your customers and even take care of your sales and tax reporting.

You’re put through a quick interview after you launch QuickBooks Simple Start. This is where you set up important information pertaining to your business. There are instructional videos to give you a good grounding before you start with the software. A visual guide helps you find a specific type of transaction and points you to which category you ought to put it in.

Where do you put invoices, sales or deposits? The visual aid points you towards `Money In.’ Similarly, expenses, refunds and checks will go under `Money Out’. The `Get Started Now’ feature on the start page gives you adequate guidance. If you are lost, there are tutorials to help you along.

The software is primarily designed for entrepreneurs who are first-time accounting software users. As such it takes out advanced features which may confuse the small businessman. With Simple Start you can undertake trouble-free accounting for years. As your business expands and your accounting needs become a little sophisticated, you can upgrade to the Pro version which allows you to easily transfer data from the Simple Start version.

As with any free software, there are limitations. QuickBooks Simple Start is not compatible with Microsoft Excel. You would have to upgrade to QuickBooks Pro to enjoy the integration feature.

Please also note that you will not be able to import accounting data from the Pro version into QuickBooks Simple Start. Maybe this is the developer’s way of encouraging the use of the paid version.

Also, if you are thinking about managing inventory, Simple Start will not do it for you. That’s the province of the Pro version as well.

But then QuickBooks Simple Start has enough features to aid your business. One cool feature worth mentioning is integration with Google services to promote your business online. You will be linked, for instance, to Google Adwords, an effective pay-per-click advertising program to draw visitors to your website. The software will also link you to Google Maps where your business listing will be put on map form in the Maps website.

Another advantage of using the QuickBooks Simple Start free accounting software is you will have records that are up-to-date and easy to understand by an accountant, should you decide to use the services of one.

So, why don’t you give QuickBooks Simple Start Free Edition a try? Your business will have nothing to lose from its use.