For a sole proprietor insurance/financial planner, is it possible to use quicken home and business or must I use quickbooks? Any additional thoughts you may have are appreciated.
Yes, it is. When you're a sole proprietor, you're not required to keep your books on a double entry system, which is a more self proving and accurate way to keep them. Quickbooks is a double entry system. That means that for every debit you make, there is an equal credit somewhere else to offset the amount. For example, when you write a check for postage, you debit postage expense and the credit is to your checking account to reduce the balance. Corporations and Partnerships need their books kept on this double entry type of system. Other types do also, such as Non-Profits. You, on the other hand, are not.
Quicken Home & Business is specially designed for sole proprietorships or persons with rental properties, etc. It is a single entry system. Instead of Income & Expenses and a Balance Sheet of Assets, Liabilites and Equity, you only have Inflows and Outflows of funds and you can reconcile your accounts. You don't need to include a Balance Sheet in your tax return. A great many persons with sole proprietorships just keep everything in a "shoe box" till tax time and then add up the different expenses. So of course, you can use Home & Business for your books. At least you will have something for the IRS auditor to look at. They get really grumpy when they have to look through shoeboxes.
Please understand, I did not say there was anything wrong with using Quicken Home & Business for your business. It does a great job if you have a small business without the need for accounts receivable and accounts payable or inventory tracking. But your question was if you were "required" to use QuickBooks now. I was just telling you that one is a double entry comprehensive system and the other is a basic single entry system. If you have records to back up your numbers in case of an audit, you can use either one in a sole proprietorship.
