Has your Irish business outgrown QuickBooks?
QuickBooks may have suited your business perfectly when you chose it. As your business changes, however, your accounting requirements change with it. If you’re looking for a QuickBooks alternative in Ireland, the right next step depends on what your business has outgrown.
VAT gets more complicated. Supplier invoices become a daily workload. More people need access to your accounts. You employ people. You acquire another company or create a new one. Stock develops into a much broader purchasing, warehouse, service or project workflow.
At some point, you need to ask whether QuickBooks still fits the business you run today. You may need deeper Irish accounting, Irish payroll or a clearer view across several companies. Or QuickBooks may still work perfectly well for your accounts while another part of your business has outgrown it.
Keep QuickBooks where it works. Add Big Red Cloud where it doesn’t.
What has changed in your business?
You may outgrow different parts of QuickBooks at different stages.
| What has changed? | What you may need next |
|---|---|
| Your Irish VAT is becoming more complicated | Accounting built around Irish VAT quirks |
| You need Irish payroll | Add Big Red Cloud Payroll |
| Supplier invoices are taking too much time | Invoice Capture and automation |
| More people need access to your accounts | Unlimited users |
| You now operate through several companies | Multi-company consolidation and reporting |
| You need to understand what sits behind the numbers | Management analysis and Book Enquiry |
| Your stock has become purchasing, warehouses, fulfilment, hire, service or projects | Add Turbo Inventory |
| QuickBooks still does everything you need | Keep using it |
The aim is to keep your finance and operations systems aligned with the business you run today.
Big Red Cloud vs QuickBooks Online Advanced
If you run an established Irish SME, QuickBooks Online Advanced is the fairest comparison with Big Red Cloud.
QuickBooks Advanced currently costs €75 per company per month and supports up to 25 users. Big Red Cloud costs €60 per company or nominal ledger per month at its standard price and includes all BRC accounting features and unlimited users. Both companies offer a 50% discount in year 1.
| Big Red Cloud | QuickBooks Online Advanced | |
|---|---|---|
| Standard price | €60/month | €75/month |
| Designed for | Irish SMEs, finance teams, bookkeepers and accountants | General-purpose cloud accounting for SMEs across multiple markets |
| Users | Unlimited | Up to 25 |
| Irish VAT | Moneys-received VAT, construction reverse charge, Postponed Accounting, Margin VAT and all other Irish VAT reporting | Supports some Irish VAT requirements |
| Irish payroll | Big Red Cloud Payroll available | No Irish payroll |
| Purchase automation | Purchase Importer captures the invoices, and uses supplier and accounting information to help prepare the accounting transaction | Document capture extracts invoice information for review |
| Multi-company reporting | Consolidated P&L, Balance Sheet and Trial Balance within BRC | Multi-company reporting through Spreadsheet Sync |
| Support | Ireland-based team with Irish accounting context | QuickBooks product support |
| Inventory and operations | Turbo Inventory for deeper operational workflows | Native inventory for more straightforward requirements |
The €15 monthly price difference is one thing, but the more important differences appear in the accounting and finance work you need to get done every day.
Built for growing Irish businesses
Whether you keep your own books, work in an accounts team or rely on a professional bookkeeper or accountant, Big Red Cloud is designed to become more useful as your accounting requirements become more demanding.
You get detailed Irish VAT treatment, unlimited users, purchase automation, management analysis and multi-company reporting. In transaction-heavy areas, BRC uses information-dense grids so you can see more of the accounting record at once and work efficiently without repeatedly opening separate forms, so you can save time.
If your operational requirements become more complex, Turbo Inventory extends the environment into purchasing, stock, fulfilment, hire, workshop/service and projects.
Big Red Cloud is built to keep working as your Irish business grows.
QuickBooks and Irish VAT: where the limitations appear
QuickBooks can work in Ireland. Big Red Cloud is built for Ireland.
If you are not VAT registered, this distinction may not matter very much. QuickBooks can invoice your customers, record your purchases, reconcile your bank (after you pass KYC checks) and maintain your accounts. It can also handle many straightforward Irish VAT scenarios and RTD reporting.
The difference becomes more important when your VAT stops being straightforward. You may use VAT on the moneys-received basis, encounter construction reverse charge, import goods using Postponed Accounting, or operate a Margin VAT scheme, etc. Those treatments affect how you need to account for the underlying transactions.
Big Red Cloud supports all Irish VAT workflows including:
- VAT on the moneys-received basis;
- construction reverse charge;
- Postponed Accounting; and
- Margin VAT.
QuickBooks can handle many straightforward Irish VAT requirements. As your VAT becomes more complicated, BRC handles more of the Irish accounting treatment inside your books.
Your VAT return should be the result of correctly kept books, not a separate exercise in repairing them.
Does QuickBooks have Irish payroll?
No. QuickBooks does not provide an Irish payroll product.
If you want your accounting and payroll within the Big Red Cloud product family, you can move your accounts to BRC and use Big Red Cloud Payroll alongside it.
If QuickBooks still works well for your accounting, keep it. You can add Big Red Cloud Payroll without changing accounting systems.
Keep QuickBooks. Add Irish payroll.
QuickBooks invoice capture vs Big Red Cloud Purchase Importer
As your invoice volumes grow, the useful question becomes how much accounting work remains after your software has read the invoice.
QuickBooks can capture supplier bills and receipts, extract information and prepare transactions for review. You still need to make accounting decisions about the supplier, posting, VAT treatment, management analysis and whether you have already entered the invoice.
QuickBooks can read an invoice. Big Red Cloud is designed to account for it.
Purchase Importer boasts 99.9% accuracy using Google AI to power complex invoice capture, and uses information you already know about your suppliers and accounts. It can identify and match suppliers, use VAT and supplier information, apply configured purchase settings, use default nominal and Analysis Category treatment and flag potential duplicates.
You therefore do not have to treat every invoice from a recurring supplier as a completely new accounting decision. Purchase Importer reduces the work needed to turn a supplier invoice into a trusted Purchase Book transaction.
More people need access to your accounts
QuickBooks Online Advanced supports up to 25 users. For many companies, that will be enough.
Big Red Cloud includes unlimited users, so your subscription does not change as more owners, finance staff, accountants and managers need access to your accounting information. If somebody needs access to do their job properly, you can simply give it to them.
Management accounting for a growing business
As your business grows, keeping the books is only part of your finance team’s job. You also need to understand performance by branch, department, salesperson, project, product group or another dimension relevant to your company.
QuickBooks Online Advanced has strong management-reporting capability through Classes, Locations and custom reporting. Big Red Cloud approaches the same requirement through Analysis Categories, User Defined Fields and Book Enquiry.
You can use up to 60 Analysis Categories per book to capture useful management context as you enter transactions. Book Enquiry then lets you investigate the transactions behind your totals and understand why a number changed rather than simply seeing the final figure.
RED AI gives you another route into the same accounting information, allowing owners and managers to explore customers, costs, cash, margins and other questions conversationally.
The result is a finance system that helps you move from keeping your books to using them to manage your business.
Multi-company accounting: when one business becomes several companies
You can become a multi-company group surprisingly early. You might acquire another company, put a new activity into a separate entity, create a holding company or start another venture alongside your existing business.
Each company still needs its own books, but eventually you also need to see how the group is performing overall.
Big Red Cloud keeps your individual company accounts separate while bringing them together into consolidated:
- Profit & Loss;
- Balance Sheet; and
- Trial Balance reporting.
QuickBooks Online Advanced also supports multi-company reporting, but it does so through Spreadsheet Sync. BRC gives you the group view inside the accounting environment, while QuickBooks uses a spreadsheet-based reporting layer to bring your separate company files together.
If you operate through several legal entities, that difference can make your group reporting easier to work with.
One company needs accounts. Several companies need a group view.
Outgrown QuickBooks inventory? Add Turbo Inventory
QuickBooks includes inventory functionality, and for straightforward buying, stocking and selling it may be enough.
As your operations become more complex, however, stock can develop into a much broader workflow. You may need purchasing controls, multiple warehouses, stock transfers, picking and fulfilment, or serial and batch tracking.
Equipment may come back for service. You may hire products rather than sell them. Your projects may consume stock while requiring you to purchase other materials specifically for the job.
At that point, you are managing an operational workflow rather than simply tracking inventory. Turbo Inventory is designed for that work. It supports purchasing, stock, sales, multi-location operations, fulfilment, hire, workshop/service and projects, and some Turbo customers continue to use QuickBooks for their accounting today.
Keep QuickBooks for the accounts. Let Turbo run the operation.
Your finance team can continue using QuickBooks while the people running purchasing, stock, sales, service, hire or projects use software designed for the work they actually do.
If you use Big Red Cloud accounting, Turbo works with BRC too. You do not need to replace an accounting system that still serves you well simply because your operational requirements have become more demanding.
Add Turbo Inventory to QuickBooks →
Support that understands Irish accounting
Sometimes you need help using the software. At other times, you need to know how to treat an Irish accounting transaction in the first place.
QuickBooks provides product support and an international knowledge base. Big Red Cloud’s support team is based in Ireland and works with Irish companies and accountants every day. BRC also includes product and certified accounting training for Ireland.
That local context becomes more valuable as your bookkeeping becomes more complicated. If you need help with VAT treatment, configuring your books or correcting a transaction, it helps to speak to people who understand the accounting context as well as the software.
Irish accountants often encounter QuickBooks and can work with it. In our experience, however, QuickBooks is less commonly an accountant-led choice in Ireland than Big Red Cloud, SAGE or Xero. If your accountant or bookkeeper works with BRC, the same system can serve the person entering transactions, the person reviewing your books and the person advising you on the business.
BRC also includes practical finance-team features such as Months 13, 14 and 15, so you can begin entering the new financial year while your previous year is still being finalised.
QuickBooks bank feeds come with an extra verification step
Both products can connect your accounts to Irish banks through Open Banking.
Big Red Cloud uses Plaid for its Open Banking connections. Intuit provides QuickBooks Online’s automated bank-feed service in Ireland as a regulated account-information service, so it requires you to complete its KYC/KYB verification process.
Intuit may ask you for company documents and information about directors or controlling parties. QuickBooks says it can deactivate your automated feeds if you do not complete the verification.
For one company, that creates additional administration. If your accountant manages several QuickBooks companies, the process can become more substantial.
Both products have bank feeds, but the surrounding administrative process is different.
What we are not comparing
Both Big Red Cloud and QuickBooks provide the everyday capabilities you should expect from mature cloud accounting software, including cloud access, invoicing, quotes, reporting, mobile access and integrations.
For an established Irish business, the more useful comparison lies in Irish VAT, Irish payroll, purchase automation, multi-company reporting, management analysis, user access, local support and what happens when your stock becomes a broader operational workflow.
When does QuickBooks still make sense in Ireland?
QuickBooks can be a sensible choice if your Irish business is relatively simple, particularly if you are not VAT registered or already know QuickBooks successfully and value continuity.
It also offers a large international integration ecosystem. What matters is whether those strengths still match what you need as your company changes.
Should you switch from QuickBooks to Big Red Cloud?
Start with the problem you are trying to solve.
Irish accounting is taking too much work
If VAT, purchase processing, management information, multi-company reporting, user access or Irish accounting support are consuming too much of your team’s time, consider moving your accounts to Big Red Cloud.
You need Irish payroll
If QuickBooks still works for your accounting but you need Irish payroll, keep QuickBooks and add Big Red Cloud Payroll.
Your operations have outgrown QuickBooks inventory
If QuickBooks still works as your ledger but your stock, purchasing, warehouses, hire, service or projects have become more complex, keep QuickBooks and add Turbo.
Add Turbo Inventory to QuickBooks →
QuickBooks still does everything you need
Keep it. There may be nothing to change yet.
QuickBooks alternative Ireland: frequently asked questions
Is Big Red Cloud a good alternative to QuickBooks in Ireland?
Yes. Big Red Cloud is particularly relevant if you need deeper Irish VAT, payroll, purchase automation, multi-company reporting, management analysis, unlimited users or local accounting support.
If your business is relatively simple and you are not VAT registered, QuickBooks may continue to meet your needs.
Is Big Red Cloud suitable for accountants and finance teams?
Yes. Owner-managed businesses, in-house finance teams, bookkeepers and professional accountancy practices all use Big Red Cloud.
You get approachable workflows alongside accounting depth, management analysis and transaction tools designed for people who work in the accounts every day.
Is Big Red Cloud suitable for a growing business?
Yes. As you grow, BRC gives you unlimited users, management analysis, Purchase Importer, RED, multi-company reporting and deeper Irish VAT workflows.
If your operations become more complex, you can extend into Turbo Inventory for purchasing, stock, sales, fulfilment, hire, workshop/service and projects.
Which QuickBooks plan should I compare with Big Red Cloud?
If you run an established SME, QuickBooks Online Advanced is the most useful comparison.
Advanced currently costs €75 per company per month and supports up to 25 users. Big Red Cloud’s standard price is €60 per company or nominal ledger per month and includes unlimited users.
Does QuickBooks work for Irish VAT?
QuickBooks can handle many straightforward Irish VAT requirements and RTD reporting.
Big Red Cloud goes further into Irish-specific workflows including the moneys-received basis, construction reverse charge, Postponed Accounting and Margin VAT.
Does QuickBooks have Irish payroll?
No. QuickBooks does not provide an Irish payroll product.
You can move your accounting to Big Red Cloud or keep QuickBooks and add Big Red Cloud Payroll.
Can QuickBooks scan purchase invoices?
Yes. QuickBooks can capture your bills and receipts and extract transaction information for review.
Purchase Importer goes further into the accounting workflow by using supplier and accounting information you have already configured in BRC.
Why is QuickBooks asking me for KYC documents for bank feeds?
Intuit provides QuickBooks Online’s automated bank-feed service in Ireland as a regulated account-information service.
It therefore requires you to complete KYC/KYB verification, which can include company documents and information about directors or controlling parties. QuickBooks says it can deactivate your automated feeds if you do not complete the verification.
Can Big Red Cloud report across several companies?
Yes. You keep separate accounting records for each company while BRC produces combined Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet and Trial Balance reporting across them.
Can QuickBooks report across several companies?
With Quickbooks, use Excel. QuickBooks Online Advanced provides multi-company reporting through Spreadsheet Sync.
What is Book Enquiry?
Book Enquiry lets you investigate the transactions behind your accounting totals.
It helps you understand why a number changed rather than simply seeing the final figure.
Does QuickBooks have inventory?
Yes. QuickBooks Online Advanced includes inventory.
If you need more complex purchasing, multi-location stock, fulfilment, hire, workshop/service or project workflows, Turbo Inventory goes considerably further.
Can I use Turbo Inventory with QuickBooks?
Yes. You can keep QuickBooks as your accounting system and it integrates easily with Turbo for your inventory and operations.
How many users does QuickBooks Advanced include?
QuickBooks Online Advanced supports up to 25 users. Big Red Cloud includes unlimited users.
Do Irish accountants use QuickBooks?
Yes. Irish accountants can and do work with QuickBooks, although in our experience it is less commonly an accountant-led choice for an Irish SME than Big Red Cloud or Xero. There are Quickbooks specialists who can bridge the gap between the software and the compliance requirements for you.
Should I move from QuickBooks to Big Red Cloud?
Only if moving solves a problem for you.
If your accounting is creating too much work, consider BRC. If you need Irish payroll, keep QuickBooks and add BRC Payroll. If your operations have outgrown QuickBooks inventory, keep QuickBooks and add Turbo.
If QuickBooks still does everything you need, keep using it.
