Accounting Software

[Rob]

I'm after recommendations for Accounting software packages - Quickbooks Pro and Sage instant accounts both look good, especially as they'll integrate with my online banking. I'm after a package which will:

• Handle the accounts of two small businesses
  
• Track VAT
  
• Produce invoices and if possible, purchase orders
  
• Not be horrendously complicated to use!
  
• Produce reports
  

Does anyone have any personal experience of either of these packages or any others that might be suitable?

[paulears]

I have a friend who uses quickbooks and is pleased, but I've downloaded trials from plenty over the past few months attempting to find something that is not only suitable for me - who is reasonably computer savvy, but also for my wife to use, who is 100% not. The sort of person with no patience who may well have 30 or 40 windows open because she couldn't wait and kept clicking, ignors the doom messages that pop up, never reading them and seems incapable of sending less that 10 emails to a single person!

 

Price didn't really come into this at all, and the two mentioned were discounted simply because they could do too much - too many possibilities of error (operator, not software).

 

In the end, I went for the simplest thing I could find that could handle quotes, invoices, and purchasing, plus could do the VAT - I ended up with instant admin - it does have a very simple interface, and does most things I need - especially quotes, and conversions into invoices, keeping track of outstanding sums and letting me reconcile the accounts.

 

There are a few important things missing - no export to excel, and it doesn't track EC aquisitions as opposed to purchases meaning that although the VAT return section has the correct boxes, the aquisition ones are dummy fields - always showing 0.00. If you buy from the EC then you need to remove the amount from the purchase box and add it into the aquistion one - which isn't too difficult. It prints all the documents I need - delivery notes, quotes, invoices, end of year forms etc.

 

I can live with the small missing elements as it's foolproof. Backup is also very easy. It runs from a single folder, so you just copy the folder to something for storage. Every other package (businessware came second) was not smple enough for my needs. The acountant can have paper copies, which I guess may cost me a tad more as they have to input manually - but I am not going to worry about this one.

 

Maybe this helps

 

Paul

[london sound]

I have been using quick books for about 4 years now and I'm generally pleased. It is expensive but can track hire stock and does everything your asking for. I now invoice by email via quick books (makes life very easy).

You can set up various companies if you wish.

Loads of reports.

 

 

Ian

[Rob]

It is expensive but can track hire stock and does everything your asking for. I now invoice by email via quick books (makes life very easy).

 

Thanks for the info. One question which I can't seem to find the answer to on their website - Can you customise all the forms (Invoices / Estimates etc) or do you have to use their templates?

[london sound]

Yes to a point, ie Logo etc.

 

Ian

[jayselway]

We use Quickbooks Premier 2003, and have the invoices customised for the different parts of the company. For the logos, headers and footers, we use pre-printed stationary - done on the Laser, and send it through again. Just a case of picking the pre-printed stuff from the right tray to give the right logos and T & Cs for the work done :P

[ryandell]

Hi,

Try sage accounts.

 

http://www.sage.co.uk/productsandservices/...amp;stid=131937

[Guest lightnix]

Ditto Sage. We tried Quickbooks when setting up Wavicle and found it a most unpleasant experience. My partner, who is an experienced bookeeper, found Quickbooks very unfriendly and I found it very unintuitive.

 

Don't be shy about paying for Sage support, either - you probably won't need them 99.9% of the time, but the other 0.1% will be well worth the money :unsure:

[Paul J Need]

Quickbooks Pro !!!

 

Having used Sage and Quickbooks, I'd never go back to Sage for one simple reason....... mistakes!

 

To correct a simple error in Sage requires a journel entry to be made; say you'd entered £10.99, but it should have been £19.09; in Sage you create a double entry to deduct the £8.10 from one account, credit it to another and the difference is held in a Journel account; With Quicken, you just return to the line, and change the number! DONE! :)

 

And guess what; it's what most accountants use; so check with your accountant, and if you use the same software, your end of year accounts will be a breeaze; just e-mail the file.

[zonino]

its because Sage thinking basically goes "its a electronic version of a paperbased system with automation" hence the journal corrections (btw, a Journal isn't actually an account :) its just a record of what "abnormal" changes have been made)

[Paul J Need]

its because Sage thinking basically goes "its a electronic version of a paperbased system with automation" hence the journal corrections (btw, a Journal isn't actually an account :) its just a record of what "abnormal" changes have been made)

 

I bow to your superior accounting knowledge; however, if one gets the debit/credit amounts the wrong way, you need to do another Journel entry to correct the journel entry :) Surely, to simply retype the incorrect amount is far more civilised to non accountants, and people who just want to keep their accounts in order. At year end - one locks all entries so they cannot be changed thereafter.

 

Quickbooks works in a more logical way, more like a bank statement and is better suited I feel.

[zonino]

yeah, I had some of those arguments with sage when I first used it a few years ago, I've got used to it now though!