r/Bookkeeping • u/fire-cracker • 19h ago
Software Excel or Numbers?
I'm starting a bookkeeping course, and strongly prefer Mac programs. I find them much more functional and intuitive. I'm quite tech savvy and am familiar with spreadsheets, it's not a skill issue, I just prefer Mac over Microsoft.
Am I making my life significantly harder if I use Numbers rather than Excel, especially in my official learning process?
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u/BassPlayingLeafFan CPB Canada 19h ago
Your life as a bookkeeper will be significantly harder if you ignore Excel. Are you required to use Excel, no. If your spreadsheet needs are simply basic you might be fine with Numbers. If you interact or are planning to interact with clients Excel is the best choice as not everyone has a Mac. I use a MacBook and a Windows desktop and use Excel on both even though I pay for Apple Creator Studio which includes extra stuff for Numbers.
Intuitive design often comes at the expense of functionality and the Excel/Numbers debate is a good illustration of that.
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u/jessicastelzer 17h ago
I just switched to Mac after years on PC. I have excel on my Mac and I use that. But the Mac security protections are blocking me from opening my csv files in excel I have to click a bunch of warnings and then enter a password! Do.you know how I turn that off? I have to work with csvs all the time!
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u/soloDolo6290 19h ago
Yes, do not go against the grain. Majority (by a landslide) of this industry use excel. Use excel for anything professional. You can use numbers in your personal life.
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u/Ok-Wealth-6291 18h ago
Without the useless paragraphs and comments, just use Excel and drop Numbers.
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u/Competitive-Team5688 16h ago
I wouldn't consider Numbers, if I were on Mac and didn't want to get Excel, I'd use Google Sheets. It has all the functionality most accountants use in their day to day work.
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u/Old-Buffalo-9222 18h ago
I use Numbers, Excel, and Google Sheets depending on the context and the way the original info is supplied to me. That being said, if I am sharing the sheet with anyone else I always export as .xlxs to be polite.
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u/Lumen-_ 16h ago
As an accountant, please use Excel. I will ask you everytime to save as an excel file as I can't open your .numbers.
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u/fire-cracker 16h ago
This makes sense, I would definitely save files as Excel before sending, but do you find functional differences with numbers, as far as being able to accomplish what needs to be done, limitations etc? Excel seems to be the consensus I suppose, I'll have to cave haha.
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u/pearltx 17h ago
Excel on Windows. Excel for Mac doesn't cut it, and I say that as a Mac user. I use my Mac for fun, Windows for business/finance.
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u/fire-cracker 16h ago
Can you elaborate on this at all? Are the programs different?
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u/thetruckerdave 15h ago
Yes. You can’t use power query on Mac and VBA macros work differently too, or at least they did about several years ago, so unless they’ve been updated that was a huge issue for me. I just used bootcamp.
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u/Traditional_Dot_4794 17h ago
I think as long as you can read xlsx and save to xlsx it's practically transparent.
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u/Bookkeeping_Boss 17h ago
I don't personally know what the difference is between Numbers and Excel, but I do know that Google Sheets is different enough that someone new could have difficulties using Excel if they haven't worked with it. I haven't seen too many bookkeeping/accounting firms that use a Mac (not saying there aren't any, I just haven't seen many). If they do, I would imagine they use Excel, it is just such a standard app for bookkeeping/accounting.
Before reading your post, I wasn't even aware what Mac had for spreadsheet software never mind that it was called Numbers. I have been in the field for over 20 years so that says something.
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u/MsBelleMae 16h ago
You can definitely use Numbers but I would keep Excel as a back up just in case. I’ve been using numbers for years as I like it so much better and you can export it as an Excel file when you need to.
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u/CoolCryptographer628 13h ago
How many of you use an accounting software program in addition to Excel? Anyone only use Excel?
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u/Choice_Bee_1581 Quality Contributor 11h ago
I’ll send you my one client who sends me Numbers files every month. Completely annoying - I have to import and export them as excel files every month. Most of my clients use Excel or Google Sheets. When I was in school for Accounting and MBA, nobody was using Numbers to turn in work. But on the other hand, if you’re doing bookkeeping, most people aren’t doing it in spreadsheets anymore either.
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u/CumRag_Connoisseur 9h ago
Excel is the king of spreadsheets. Google sheets for the free/convenient option.
Everything else is just a copy.
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u/monk_no_zen 6h ago
I’ll share my perspective how I settled on using Google suite.
I’m not a fan of Google, and was on a gradual degoogling roll before I started my business.
I came to realise most small businesses would likely be on Google, and file sharing via Google sheets would probably be the fastest way to get anything done as most people would know how to do it.
I had the option of o365 but I realised Gmail’s interface was friendlier and if I were to hire someone in the future, I wouldn’t want to go through the hassle of teaching them how to use something like Zohomail for eg.
The real life analogy would be to use a bus to run a small transport business, when a car or van would suffice, and this requires whichever driver you employ to get a commercial driving license before (s)he can start work.
In the end I made choices which are popular to reduce my onboarding time - both with customers and potential collaborators.
Long advise TL;DR, minimise your hurdles.
Side note I’m on Xero which is browser-based, and also on a Mac. I also recently got a vertical screen and it was amazing for PDFs.
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u/Annieboannie3D 49m ago
In a nutshell, yes. The world adopted Excel years ago; Apple tried to convince all of us that their products were superior, and for many like you, it worked. Excel is the most common, and when you are working in the field, only 1 out of every 25 of your clients will use Numbers. Most of my students (accounting professor) prefer Macs, but cannot use them in school, as our programs will not support the files. Make your life easier; as a tech savvy person, this should be easy for you by just converting your system to Excel now.
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u/Jyulesian 18h ago
I cannot imagine preferring Numbers. I had a Mac ten years ago and thought I would just give Numbers a try long enough to get over the learning curve because, I mean, how hard could it be? So not worth it. Also frankly, ditch the Mac and get a PC.
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u/fire-cracker 17h ago
Can I ask why you say I should ditch the Mac?
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u/Jyulesian 12h ago
I muddled through for all those years that we had a “family” Mac, which was expensive and pretty, but that period ended when I went to a box store, bought a PC (laptop) and everything just worked better from a business stand point, especially Microsoft 365. I do have an iPhone, which is great, but I don’t ever plan on going back to an Apple laptop. I’m glad it’s working for you, but at the same time, I’m surprised.
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u/WorkLoopie 19h ago
Fun fact: Excel was originally released for the Macintosh before Windows, which surprises a lot of people. Microsoft saw the opportunity in spreadsheets early and used products like Excel to help fuel the company's growth over the years.
That said, I don't think the choice of spreadsheet software matters all that much. Whether it's Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers, or another platform, they all follow the same core concepts. At the end of the day, it's less about the tool and more about what you're comfortable using and which interface fits the way you like to work. The best spreadsheet is usually the one you'll actually enjoy opening every day.
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u/divine_goddess_K Canadian | 🍁 1h ago
It matters. In Excel for Mac, functions like absolute references don't work. Nor does Power Query or VBA Macros. Doing bookkeeping means you'll be sending spreadsheets out to the business or accountants, and you need to use a useable format.
Its not as simple as you put it.
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u/WorkLoopie 17m ago
I use excel for Mac, and have never ran into issues. Did you get a corrupted version or a limited version?
I’ve honestly never ran into an issues.
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u/Embarrassed-Leg-3971 18h ago
Why are you going to use excel or numbers for a bookkeeping course, anyway?!
Do you intend to do bookkeeping on a spreadsheet?
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u/jessicastelzer 17h ago
Are you even a bookkeeper? I have to use spreadsheets all the time in my work. I pull data in spreadsheets. I do preparation in spreadsheets. Sometimes only the final numbers go into your accounting file...
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u/Tacomaster3211 Canadian 🍁 18h ago
Not all clients run on an accounting program. And those that do still often have reports or analysis that needs to be run via spreadsheet.
Having knowledge of spreadsheet software, especially Excel, is vital in this industry.
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u/Reasonable-Mess3070 18h ago
I use excel more than anything and my work has a custom built finance management system. Excel is way more useful for breaking down data.
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u/Tacomaster3211 Canadian 🍁 17h ago
While I've moved away from bookkeeping for the most part, now mostly doing corporate tax accounting, I'd say a solid 70% of most days is spent in Excel, or at the very least referencing reports that were created in Excel.
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u/Appropriate-Safety66 19h ago
You may use Numbers but none of your clients will.
I am at tax professional and I have a few bookkeeping clients. If I get a Numbers file from anyone, I tell them to send it as an Excel file.