When I started QuickBooks consulting a decade ago, QuickBooks for the Mac and the PC were pretty similar. Then Apple faltered, and Intuit abandoned its Mac user base. Apple resurged, and Intuit resumed courting Mac businesses. But despite the recent release of the “Universal” QuickBooks for Mac 2007, we think that the future of QuickBooks is all PC.

The Intel dual chip now lets Mac users run both Mac and PC programs, so Mac businesses can leverage the best that QuickBooks has to offer – its PC version — without abandoning the treasured Mac interface for other applications. Early results are so positive that our own consulting firm now recommends that Mac-platform clients run the PC version of QuickBooks: it helps a business do a much better job managing its money.

Some of the PC-version advantages:

• Industry-specific solutions
• Simultaneous multi-user capability
• Off-the-shelf remote access solutions for anytime/anywhere bookkeeping and support
• Ability to accept credit card payments from customers directly into QuickBooks.

If you’re thinking about making the switch to the PC version of QuickBooks at your Mac-platform office, below are some technical “how to” tips from a recent convert, Sue Costabile of Kevin Slagle Design Build in Oakland, California:

Yes you have to buy Windows, and first you have to install this free software from Apple called BootCamp. There are really explicit instructions on the Apple website so it is quite easy. It takes several hours though. The one piece of advice I have is to give the Windows partition at least 10GB. The default is 5GB and that is not enough. Basically the BootCamp software splits your computer into two pieces (partitions), one for Mac OS and one for Windows. Then you can start the computer in either mode.

I would emphasize in your blog that people should follow the instructions that come with BootCamp very closely. I have had no problems and I did it twice! Here is the link: http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

I got my Windows software here: http://edirectsoftware.com/. It is cheaper and works just the same.

Others have mentioned a preference for using Parallels, which apparently requires fewer reboots.

We’ll leave the technical details to the experts, but from a CFO’s perspective, investing in the ability to run the PC-based version of QuickBooks is well worth it.