Before you pay for accounting software, it makes sense to click around in it. The QuickBooks Online test drive lets you do exactly that: Intuit opens a fully populated sample company in your browser, with no sign-up, no card and nothing to install. You can raise invoices, record expenses, look at reports and get a feel for whether QuickBooks suits the way your business works.

This guide shows how to open the test drive, what to try in your first half hour, the limits you should know about, and what a Pakistani business needs to think about before moving its books to QuickBooks Online.

How to open the QuickBooks Online test drive

1. Open qbo.intuit.com/redir/testdrive in your browser. (For the Advanced edition, Intuit uses a separate link: qbo.intuit.com/redir/testdrive_us_advanced.)
2. Complete the short security check that appears and click Continue.
3. QuickBooks loads a sample company called Craig’s Design and Landscaping Services, already filled with customers, suppliers, invoices, bills and bank transactions.
4. Use it exactly as you would your own company file. Nothing you do here touches real money or real data.

If the page refuses to load, try a private browser window or a different browser. Ad blockers and strict privacy settings sometimes stop the session from starting.

A 30-minute test plan

Clicking around at random tells you very little. Work through the jobs your business actually does every week:

1. Create and send an invoice. Add a customer, add two products or services, apply a discount and look at the invoice preview. Is the layout something you would be happy sending to your clients?
2. Record an expense and a supplier bill. Enter a cash expense, then a bill you will pay next month, and mark the bill as paid.
3. Look at the banking screen. See how bank transactions are matched to invoices and bills and how new ones are categorised. This is where most of the daily time in QuickBooks is spent.
4. Run three reports. Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet and Accounts Receivable Ageing. Try changing the date range and comparing periods.
5. Check products and inventory. If you sell goods, see how stock items, quantities and cost are tracked.
6. Explore the settings. Look at sales tax settings, invoice customisation, user roles and the chart of accounts.

By the end you should know whether the day-to-day screens feel natural to you and your staff. That matters more than any feature list.

What the test drive will not tell you

• It is the US edition. The sample company uses US dollars, US-style sales tax and US payroll. Pakistan’s GST, provincial sales tax on services and withholding tax are not set up for you.
• Your changes are not kept. The test drive is a sandbox. When the session ends, the sample company resets, so do not enter anything you want to keep.
• You cannot load your own data. To test with your own customers, items or bank statements you need a trial or a paid subscription.
• It may show more than your plan includes. The sample company can display features from higher plans. Check which plan you would actually buy before relying on a feature.

Test drive or free trial: which do you need?

The test drive is for looking. A trial or subscription is for setting up your real company. Intuit usually offers either a free trial period or an introductory discount on new subscriptions; the offer changes from time to time, so check the current one on the QuickBooks website before you sign up. Anything you enter during a trial stays in your company file when you start paying, so set it up properly from the first day.

Using QuickBooks Online for a Pakistani business

There is no Pakistan-specific edition of QuickBooks Online, but many businesses here use it successfully. A few things need to be set up deliberately:

• Choose the right edition and currency. Your home currency is fixed once the company is created, so decide this before entering transactions. If you deal in dollars as well as rupees, check that multicurrency is available on your plan.
• Build a Pakistani chart of accounts. Add accounts for advance tax, withholding tax deducted from you and by you, and sales tax payable, so your figures line up with your income tax return and wealth statement.
• Set up sales tax rates manually. Create rates for federal sales tax with FBR and for provincial sales tax on services (SRB, PRA, KPRA or BRA, depending on where you operate). See our guide to sales tax registration in Pakistan if you are not registered yet.
• Track withholding tax. Record tax deducted at source on your payments so that your monthly withholding tax statements can be prepared directly from your books.
• Plan how bank data comes in. Direct bank feeds are not available for most Pakistani banks, so many businesses import monthly statements from internet banking instead. It works well once the import format is set up.

How we can help

Irshad and Company sets up QuickBooks Online for businesses in Pakistan: company setup, a chart of accounts that matches FBR and provincial requirements, sales tax and withholding tax configuration, opening balances, bank statement imports and staff training. If you already use QuickBooks and the numbers do not reconcile, we can clean up the file as well.

Frequently asked questions

Is the QuickBooks Online test drive free?

Yes. It needs no account, no email address and no payment details.

Does the test drive save my work?

No. It is a shared sample company that resets after your session, so use it only for exploring.

Can I use QuickBooks Online in Pakistan?

Yes. Businesses in Pakistan subscribe to an international edition and set up Pakistani tax rates, accounts and reports themselves or with an adviser.

Which QuickBooks plan should a small business choose?

It depends on how many users need access and whether you need inventory, projects or multicurrency. Test the features in the test drive, then pick the lowest plan that covers what you actually use. We can help you decide during setup.

Talk to us before you subscribe

WhatsApp 0334-4084149, visit our office at 158 – Ahmad Yar Block, Mustafa Town, Wahdat Road, Lahore, or request a quote for QuickBooks setup and training.