QuickBooks Desktop Pro is a desktop-based accounting program designed for small and growing businesses to manage their core financial operations in one place.
It helps users handle everyday bookkeeping tasks such as invoicing customers, recording expenses, tracking sales, managing bills, and reconciling bank accounts. The software also provides built-in reporting tools that generate financial statements like profit and loss reports, balance sheets, and cash flow summaries.
Key features
- Invoicing & billing – Create and send invoices, track payments, and manage customer balances
- Expense tracking – Record and categorize business expenses
- Bank reconciliation – Match bank transactions with accounting records
- Financial reporting – Generate detailed reports for business insights and tax preparation
- Inventory tracking (basic) – Monitor stock levels for product-based businesses
- Job costing – Track income and expenses by project or job
Who it is for
- Small business owners
- Retail and service-based businesses
- Contractors and freelancers with more complex accounting needs
- Businesses that prefer locally installed software over cloud-based tools
Benefits
- Works without constant internet access
- Offers strong reporting and accounting depth
- Provides more control over data storage and management
- Suitable for businesses that want a traditional desktop accounting system
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
In QuickBooks, time tracking lets you record hours worked by entering time manually or using the built-in timer (or a mobile app), then assigning those hours to specific clients, projects, or employees so they can be billed, added to invoices, or used for payroll and reporting; the tracked time automatically links to jobs and helps calculate costs and profitability.
To set up time tracking in QuickBooks Online, go to Settings, enable the “Time tracking” feature, then add users/employees or contractors who will record hours, and choose whether they can see pay rates; after that, they can enter time manually or use the timer in the QuickBooks app, assign it to a customer or project, and those hours can later be added to invoices or reports for billing and analysis.