Most small manufacturing companies find that QuickBooks and Excel are sufficient tools to manage and organize their business in the early stages. As the company grows and your operations become more complex, it often reaches a point where you begin to lose control.
If you’re experiencing growth or find that these solutions are no longer working well, it may be time to look for an alternative. In this article, we’ll be comparing QuickBooks vs Business Central, Microsoft’s solution for small to medium-sized businesses.
When tracking inventory, coordinating production schedules, and managing customer demands become increasingly challenging, it’s a clear sign that it may be time to consider an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. An ERP integrates all areas of your business—from finance and inventory to production and sales—into a single, streamlined platform.
Overview of QuickBooks and Dynamics 365 Business Central
As your manufacturing business grows, you may face new challenges that demand more robust tools. Tasks like tracking inventory, scheduling production, managing delivery schedules, managing purchase orders, and meeting changing customer needs can quickly become overwhelming. Spreadsheets and basic accounting tools like QuickBooks often aren’t enough to keep up.
QuickBooks provides essential financial tools that handle the basic financial needs of most small manufacturing companies (AR, AP, GL, and Cash management). What it totally lacks is strong warehouse management, multi-level bills of material, production costing, scheduling, purchase planning, etc…
On the other hand, Business Central offers an integrated suite of ERP capabilities that supports the complex needs of manufacturing businesses and adds a more sophisticated and professional accounting system.
QuickBooks Overview
QuickBooks is a great entry-level accounting software. It helps companies manage finances, track income and expenses, and generate basic financial reports. Its user-friendly interface and affordability make it a great choice for startups and small businesses in their early stages.
However, QuickBooks has limitations, especially when it comes to the complexities of manufacturing. While it can handle basic expenses and revenue, it lacks needed features. Manufacturers often rely on additional tools or manual workarounds, like spreadsheets, to manage these areas, which can lead to inefficiencies and errors.
As manufacturing companies expand they will inevitably need more than what Quickbooks does out of the box, it may feel increasingly restrictive. This is when a robust ERP system, like Business Central, can provide the scalability needed to support your operations.
Business Central Overview
Dynamics 365 Business Central is a comprehensive ERP system by Microsoft, designed for small to medium-sized businesses needing an all-in-one solution. Unlike QuickBooks, Business Central goes beyond financial management. It integrates seamlessly with other critical areas, like inventory management, production planning, customer relationship management (CRM), and supply chain management. All this in one central system without “bolt-ons” (although you can buy integrated add-ons which are frankly great).
Business Central provides a unified platform for managing processes across departments, which can significantly improve efficiency and communication. For manufacturers, it offers specialized tools for manufacturing processes, including material requirements planning (MRP), bill of materials (BOM) management, capacity planning, and real-time inventory tracking.
The cloud-based design of Business Central also enables scalability and flexibility, making it ideal for businesses planning to grow. As part of the Microsoft ecosystem, it integrates smoothly with Office 365, Power BI, CoPilot, and other Microsoft tools.
Comparison Table: Dynamics 365 Business Central vs QuickBooks
| Business Central | QuickBooks | |
|---|---|---|
| Customization | Yes | No |
| Deployment | Cloud or on-premises | Cloud or on-premises |
| Data Security | Yes | Limited |
| Customer Support | Microsoft help and Advanced Support through your VAR | Basic Support and through QB Advisors |
| Multi-Language Support | 40+ languages | 11 languages |
| Pricing | $70 USD / user per month | $100 USD with manufacturing modules | $24 – $160 USD per month *An additional fee of $25 to $80 per month for Payroll |
For more detailed pricing on Business Central, read our in-depth pricing guide: Demystifying Microsoft Dynamics 365 Pricing.
When Is QuickBooks Better?
Sometimes you should stick with QuickBooks. There are 3 things we look for to indicate that it is time to upgrade to something more robust.
Issue 1: Skilled Accounting
You really need to have an accountant full-time to use Business Central. QuickBooks accounting is very forgiving and frankly breaks a lot of GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) rules. A person with a formal accounting background (typically full-time) needs to be on staff to use it properly.
Issue 2: Staff Time and Training
Learning to use the basics of QuickBooks is easy (a day or two) for most people with a bit of accounting 101 background. The software is easy to use, has lots of wizards and guides, and in general has few features to learn.
Business Central is orders of magnitude more complex. If QuickBooks has 50 data screens and 100 reports, Business Central has 2000 data screens and 1000 reports. It is designed for businesses with a division of tasks between departments and a workflow between staff. Be sure that your business won’t be overwhelmed by a system that’s over-complicated if one or two people do all the tasks. The most frequent cause of a failed Business Central implementation is the customer underestimating how much effort and change is involved.
Issue 3: Cost of Business Central
Business Central is A LOT more expensive than QuickBooks. Don’t just look at the software cost which is 3 to 5 times more. You also need a budget for the training and consulting services to learn it.
You can learn QuickBooks and get it running in an afternoon. That leaves people with a false sense of trying to implement Business Central. The BASIC Business Central training course is about 90 hours, and that lacks any manufacturing. Any ERP will take many months of work to implement. We recommend a minimum of 4 months from kick-off to go-live, and that’s for the simplest case.
If this time investment sounds impossible, it might make sense to struggle with your current system until you can manage investing in BC.
When to Transition from QuickBooks to Dynamics 365 Business Central
To switch to Business Central I would wait until your business has grown large enough that you have people spread over different departments (purchasing, scheduling, accounting, shipping/receiving, warehouse, etc.). By that time you would be starting to use shared spreadsheets to communicate and track activities between departments. This is when your costs of double and triple-checking information begin to grow, It’s also when you start to feel stress and crisis mode – typically in one of 4 areas.
- Inventory crisis: when you have a large number of obsolete items in inventory, staff are rescheduling work due to missing items, cash is tied up in unmoving inventory, and/or delivery performance is suffering. These are all signs of an inventory crisis that can be averted by upgrading from QuickBooks to Dynamics 365 Business Central.
- Scheduling crisis: this happens when you cannot schedule your production team, purchasing, and equipment such that you fail to deliver products to your customers on time. This can lead to lost customers and is not a feature covered within QuickBooks.
- Costing crisis: if you cannot keep on top of which jobs, products, or projects are making money or losing money and you are worried about this, then you’re experiencing a costing crisis. You may feel like you’re losing money but can’t find out where it’s coming from. Trying to calculate job costs in Excel is tedious and very hard.
- Growth crisis: if you are experiencing accelerated or fantastical growth that you can’t keep up with, congratulations, you’re having a growth crisis. Although a growth crisis is a good problem to have, it will also force you to upgrade your technology or shrink back to a size you can manage.
QuickBooks to Dynamics 365 Business Central Migration
If you’ve realized that QuickBooks no longer supports your growing manufacturing needs, transitioning to Dynamics 365 Business Central can be a game-changer. Here’s a straightforward guide to help you migrate smoothly.
Migration Preparation
- Assess Your Needs: Pinpoint the areas where QuickBooks falls short—like inventory management, production scheduling, or handling complex financials. Then define what you need from an ERP.
- Plan Ahead: Establish a realistic schedule for the migration and decide who will be involved in the process, including internal staff and consultants. Plan for 5 or more months.
- Remember that you need to allocate key employees to work on this – it is not for a co-op student.
Migration Process
- Transfer Your Data: Your QB Data will be downloaded into Excel where you can clean it and upload it to Business Central.
- Learn Business Central: Your team needs to learn the 100s of different features of Business Central at least well enough to decide if you need that feature. This “Theory” training is done so you can do step 3.
- Configure the System: Adjust Business Central’s settings to fit your business processes, including financials, inventory controls, manufacturing settings, user permissions, etc…
- Test Thoroughly: Run tests with a small data set to check for any issues.
- Train Your Team: Offer training sessions to help employees get comfortable with the new system. Supply your team with user guides and support materials for ongoing reference.
- Go Live: Double-check all settings and data integrity before the full launch. Remember to keep an eye on the system’s performance and be ready to address any issues promptly.
Common Challenges of Migrating from QuickBooks to Business Central
There are four common challenges that I can think of when migrating from QuickBooks to Business Central:
- Data Accuracy
- Resistance to Change
- Complexity of Business Central
- Operational Downtime
Let’s now break down these challenges and present solutions for each.
1. Data Accuracy
- Challenge: Errors or inconsistencies in data can cause problems post-migration.
- Solution: Dedicate time to thoroughly clean and verify all data before transferring. Also, allocate senior people to this task. Again, as I said before, a co-op student can’t do this.
2. Resistance to Change
- Challenge: Employees might be hesitant to switch to a new system.
- Solution: Involve those employees who are positive about the change and let the others stay on the sidelines. Ensure them that the employees who are working on the project “get our business” and it’ll work.
- Market: Do some internal marketing. Emphasize the benefits and provide reassurance to ease the transition.
3. Complexity of Business Central
- Challenge: Business Central is complicated, especially for manufacturing. Unexpected technical issues can potentially happen during migration. Also, staff can make bad mistakes and paint you into corners due to their lack of understanding of how the system works.
- Solution: Work with experienced ERP consultants to guide your project, troubleshoot issues, and resolve questions for your staff.
4. Operational Downtime
- Challenge: This entire process involves some key people working many hours to implement change, and they may not have the time to do this.
- Solution: Level load the project and do it over time. Don’t try and slam the system in over a month – you can’t afford to have 3 or 4 key people totally unavailable for that long. Plan to do the project in bite-size pieces over many months.
By understanding and preparing for the process, you can MITIGATE the common challenges and make a smooth transition from QuickBooks to Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Recommendations
- QuickBooks: is an excellent software solution for startups and small businesses that need to manage their financials and accounting. It is probably the right product when 1 or 2 people are handling all the data for the business. However, it is quickly outgrown when you start to have segregation of duties and “departments” form. Manufacturers and other industries that require more robust features and advanced functionalities outgrow QuickBooks once spreadsheet hell breaks out.
- Business Central: is a great ERP system for small to medium-sized manufacturers seeking a more comprehensive solution. It offers the workflow for communication of data and tasks between siloed departments. The robust features tailored to the specific needs of manufacturing businesses: advanced inventory management; production scheduling; and integrated supply chain management quickly replace Excel sheets.
After quite a bit of research, I found the five best cloud manufacturing ERP systems. If you’re researching cloud ERP for your manufacturing company, I highly recommend that you take a look at Business Central, Acumatica, NetSuite, SAP Business One, and Odoo.
Below, you can find my comparison articles that show the key differences between Business Central and the other top cloud ERPs.
- Business Central vs Acumatica
- Business Central vs NetSuite
- Business Central vs SAP Business One
- Business Central vs Odoo
Conclusion (QuickBooks vs Business Central)
QuickBooks is a great tool for small manufacturing businesses with basic needs. But as your business grows, you may find it doesn’t meet all your requirements. That’s where an ERP system like Dynamics 365 Business Central can help. Business Central gives you more than just accounting. It offers tools for managing inventory, scheduling production, and coordinating your supply chain—everything you need to run a growing manufacturing business.
Migrating from QuickBooks to Business Central can be an important step in setting your business up for long-term success and smoother operations.
At Sabre Limited, we specialize in manufacturing solutions and are proud to be among the top Microsoft Dynamics manufacturing partners in North America. Our approach is unique: we offer fixed-fee pricing to eliminate unexpected costs, and we are fully committed to prioritizing our clients’ needs. Discover how Dynamics manufacturing can simplify and enhance your operations.
If you’re interested in how Sabre Limited can support your business, we have extensive experience helping small to medium-sized manufacturers implement and optimize Business Central. Let’s connect and discuss how we can elevate your manufacturing operations. Reach out to us today—we look forward to hearing from you!
