Quickbooks training comes in all shapes and sizes. You have books you can purchase and learn Quickbooks. You have classroom setting classes you can take that usually last 8 hours or more. You even have online courses you can take to learn Quickbooks.

But do you really need Quickbooks training?

To answer this question, you need to figure out first what you need it for.

There are generally 2 types of people who look for this training – small business owners and people looking for a job. In the first group, small business owners, they need Quickbooks training if they either plan on doing their own bookkeeping in Quickbooks or if they simply want to understand what their accountant is doing each month. By doing their own books, they can generally get a better feel for their business so that they can make more informed decisions. They also will save a few thousand dollars a year by doing it themselves instead of having an accountant do it for them.

But they have to make sure they actually get some Quickbooks instruction, or they could end up seriously screwing up their books.

Small business owners could also learn how to use Quickbooks if they simply want to understand what their accountant is doing each month. This will help them have a much better understanding of the ebbs and flows of their cash cycle.

The other people who look for Quickbooks training are people searching for a job. In this day and age, many employers, especially small businesses, look for people with experience using Quickbooks. More and more this is becoming a requirement for certain positions, and people simply do not have the proper training. As a result, to get a job or to even get a higher paying job, people trying to get a job that requires Quickbooks should take some sort of Quickbooks training.

So, the answer of whether or not you need Quickbooks training really depends on what you might need it for. After you make this determination, you can then decide which format for the training makes sense.

Learning from a book is generally not recommended because you have no one to ask questions or give you feedback. A classroom setting can be OK, however, you typically have set times you have to be there and they are generally fairly expensive. Also, if you do go this route, you have to make sure you can practice along in front of a computer to get the hands on experience.

The final option would be to get Quickbooks training through online video tutorials. These are generally less expensive than the classroom setting and are much more flexible as you can learn at any time that it is convenient for you.

Mat Hultquist is a CPA based in Greenville, South Carolina, who has taught 1,000’s of people how to use Quickbooks to help them succeed beyond their wildest imaginations. You can view his award winning Quickbooks training at http://www.QBUniversity.org