In the past, I have founded several businesses, primarily for freelancing, consulting, and side-hustles. Every single one was a tremendous learning experience.

By far, accounting has always been my biggest headache. I’ve tried a variety of accounting packages and approaches: Peachtree Accounting, MYOB, and several versions of QuickBooks. I tried using paper ledgers. I finally ended up with QuickBooks Online Edition.

However, I simply cannot stand QuickBooks Online Edition. While they have fixed some of the stability issues I experienced, one of the most irritating issues with QBOE is that they keep updating the user interface and moving basic functionality around.

It seems that every time I needed to reconcile my bank statements, the reconciliation feature had been moved. I’ve lost data, and somehow ended up doubling up my deposits. Lastly, they discontinued the QuickBooks version for Mac, forcing me to update to a different version.

It’s infuriating. I want a stable, simple accounting package. Accounting and taxes should be boring, simple, and easy. I mean, it’s only addition and subtraction.

So this year, I’ve decided to quit using QBOE and try to use the Ledger Accounting System. Ledger is a powerful, double-entry accounting system that is exceptionally powerful; if you can figure out how to set it up and use it.

It definitely is a path less travelled.