WHICH ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE TO CHOOSE?

WHICH ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE TO CHOOSE?

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DEAR ALL, NEW MEMBER HERE AND THANKS TO YOUR ALL FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION OF MY QUESTION.

I AM A ACA BUT HAVE NEVER PRACTISED . I HAVE BEEN A MAJORITY SHAREHOLDER AND DIRECTOR OF NUMEROUS (ALL PROPERTY RELATED AND WITH RELATIVELY FEW TRANSACTIONS) COMPANIES OVER THE YEARS. I HAVE STEERED CLEAR OF IT SOFTWARE, SAVE FOR THE SIMPLIST EG EXCEL AND DRAFTED AND SUBMITTED ACCOUNTS MYSELF. NOW WITH THE ADVENT OF MANDATORY ON LINE FILING I NEED TO 'GET UP TO SPEED' AND USE SOFTWARE THAT WILL ALLOW ON LINE FILING. I NEED TO DEAL WITH SIX COMPANIES. MY RESEARCH IS DIRECTING ME TOWARDS VT FINAL ACCOUNTS (IN CONJUNCTION OF COURSE WITH VT TRANSACTION). DO ANY OF YOU HAVE A VIEW AS TO WHAT SOFTWARE I SHOULD BE CONSIDERING? MANY THANKS INDEED. REGARDS, PHILIP MOORE

Replies (27)

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By ShirleyM
31st Oct 2011 12:44

Help us to help you ....

... by not typing in CAPITALS!

It makes it much harder to read, and understand, your question.

Sage L50 is bookkeeping software, and won't do what VT Final Accounts will do. VT is one of the best, and most economical, software applications for small practices that need to file iXBRL accounts.

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By carnmores
31st Oct 2011 12:48

shirley stop that nonsense

some people need to type in capitals some choose to - end of.

for a few sets of stautory acounts I would choose Absolute or VT

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By ShirleyM
31st Oct 2011 13:05

lol carnmores!

... that's fighting talk!

I'll take the red corner ...   ;)

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By carnmores
31st Oct 2011 13:33

you will undoubtedly knock me out

even before  round one - i have the blues as it were .....

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By P. Moore
31st Oct 2011 14:37

sorry can i take the neutral corner!

Dear Shirley and Carnmores ,

Thank you both so much for bothering to reply to my request for help.

Shirley; a) sorry about the capitals! b) I note your postive comments about VT.

Carnmores; a) noted re VT or Absolute (silly question i know but who/what are Absolute?).

Further question for you both please; am i right to assume that with one licence for VT Final Accounts (which includes VT Transaction i believe), that i can prepare IR compatible accounts for all six of my companies?

Many thaks,

Philip

 

 

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By ShirleyM
31st Oct 2011 15:37

No problem :)

VT Final Accounts and VT Transaction +, both allow an unlimited number of accounts to be prepared.

I believe, but happy to be told otherwise, that Absolute solfware is of more benefit where you want, or need, an integrated system, but the link is here, if it is of interest to you:

http://www.absolute.com/en-GB/

ps. thanks for not using capitals Philip - this makes it much easier on my aging eyes :)

pps. carnmores and I don't need a referee. I just enjoy a little teasing and general banter to drive away the blues  ;)

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Replying to martinpc:
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By P. Moore
31st Oct 2011 15:42

thank you very much

Dear Shirley,

Thank you again for your help.

Seems then that VT Final Accounts and VT Transaction+ are the way to go - unless there are any other options that you would suggest i follow up/research before committing. What do you use?

BTW - VT Software seems unable to cope with demand/enquiries; there web site says as much and a phone call goes unanswered. Should this be a cause for any concern? ( i am particularly thinking about their ability/resource to deal with queries/problems etc.)

Thks for link re Absolute - not what i need.

I just need/want a package which is as simple as possible that will allow me, for six small companies, to keep books and records and put together accounts which i can then submit to HMRC.

Kind regards,

Philip

 

 

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By ShirleyM
31st Oct 2011 16:20

@Philip

I have been using VT for about 18 months, and have never needed to use the helpline so I can't help you there. I can say with certainty that they are prompt at answering questions posted in the VT Discussion Group, so joining the group would probably be beneficial to you.

I now use VT+, or VT Cashbook for bookkeeping whenever possible. This has been an added bonus, and of great benefit to my practice.

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Replying to Glennzy:
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By P. Moore
01st Nov 2011 09:09

thank you

Dear Shirley,

Most helpful (again) thank you. Now off to buy VT Final Accounts. I'll let you know how i get on.......

 

Kind regards and thanks again,

 

Philip

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By carnmores
31st Oct 2011 17:18

everybody is happy now

!

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By Hosted Accountants Ltd
01st Nov 2011 13:37

FINAL ACCOUNTS

Hi Philip

You have lots of choice but it really depends on what you want to spend. I have a rough idea of all the prices and they vary from Absolute/VT through to the more intuitive, better supported packages:

Absolute

VT

PTP

Taxcalc (now have an AP module)

DIGITA

SAGE

CCH Viztopia

IRIS

If you need a full list of IXBRL compliant packages then this is available on the HMRC website here - as presumably you might want "proper" software for CT too?

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/efiling/ctsoft_dev.htm#2

Cheers

Dan

Hosted Accountants

www.hostedaccountants.co.uk

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Replying to D.Dodds:
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By P. Moore
01st Nov 2011 15:48

thank you

Dear Dan,

Thanks for going to the trouble of replying.

You have given lots of options for which i thank you.

I had more or less decided on VT as this seems to cover my objectives - but maybe you want to recommend that i look at alternatives before i commit.NB like all of us i want get this right cos i will not want to change once i have invested time into one particular sytem.

Kind regards,

 

Philip

 

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By Hosted Accountants Ltd
01st Nov 2011 17:13

Options

Hi Philip

VT is cost effective, simple, and undoubtably very popular Excel plug-in - why not download the trial and see what you think? 

However if you want a "proper" programme or system that will do both the final accounts and your companies CT then look at DIGITA or other fuller programmes. I'm not an accountant but have trialled many of the "IXBRL approved" suites that will do more for you (for a bit more money).

(Caveat - I did used to work at Digita so know that one the best)

Dan

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Replying to robert1122:
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By P. Moore
02nd Nov 2011 16:02

thank you

Dear Dan,

Thank again for your further thoughts. I will now down load VT and 'have a trial go'. I presume though if i acquire VTFinal accounts i will be able to do the CT?

Rgds, Philip

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By chatman
01st Nov 2011 23:53

Don't buy Digita

It is misleading to say that only Digita will do accounts and CT. You can just buy VT and a CT package (Absolute or TaxCalc for example) for far less than Digita would cost you.

I used Digita for a few years before getting the time to look at other packages, and found it cumbersome, slow, resource-hungry, difficult to back up and very user-unfriendly. Not to mention very expensive. Using VT and TaxCalc has saved me hours.

I recommend VTT+ (only drawback is you cannot import multiple dates on a journal) and VT final accounts. Digita will not do your bookkeeping but VT will.

The other thing with Digita is the misleading pricing.They will sell you a programme, then tell you that the thing you wanted to do needs an additional module which costs extra. Their exact words are "This module is controlled by licencing".

I see no reason to imply that non-Digita products are not "proper" programmes. If I had written that, I would have been moderated.

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Replying to oldersimon:
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By P. Moore
02nd Nov 2011 15:59

thank you

Dear Chatman,

Thank you for your comments/advise. Noted re Digita. I note that you recommend VTT+ and VT Final accounts. Probably a 'Silly Question' - but will a combination of these two products from VT enable me to also do the tax calcs and in the form that HMRC require? (or do i still need a CT package as well?). Many thanks, Rgds,Philip

 

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Replying to petersaxton:
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By chatman
02nd Nov 2011 16:42

@Philip

P. Moore wrote:
I note that you recommend VTT+ and VT Final accounts. Probably a 'Silly Question' - but will a combination of these two products from VT enable me to also do the tax calcs and in the form that HMRC require? (or do i still need a CT package as well?).

VT will do a CT comp for you, and put the accounts into iXBRL, but it will not do the CT600. For that you could use the HMRC free software (not tried it) or TaxCalc CT Unlimited for £150+VAT. Absolute seems to be well thought of too.

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By Hosted Accountants Ltd
02nd Nov 2011 10:23

To clarify...

Hi Philip

Just to clarify (as pointed out by the above poster) - there are a myriad of solutions you could deploy for your purpose in this project.

From years in the industry I can tell you that people generally have an easier time if they buy products from the same vendor or use an integrated suite. Just my opinion, there will be exceptions to the rule of course.

Chatman - your suggestion that I think non-Digita programmes are not "proper" is incorrect. I was merely letting Philip know that VT is an Excel plug-in and not a standalone product such as X,Y,Z

Apologies for any confusion on your part.

Dan

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Replying to the_Poacher:
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By chatman
02nd Nov 2011 13:25

Integrated Programmes

Hosted Accountants Ltd wrote:
Chatman - your suggestion that I think non-Digita programmes are not "proper" is incorrect. I was merely letting Philip know that VT is an Excel plug-in and not a standalone product such as X,Y,Z

You may not think that non-Digita programmes are not "proper" programmes but your posted suggested they were. Have another look at it if you don't believe me.

In my experience the benefits of buying everything from the same supplier are much less than the benefits of having good software.

In addition, the benefit of having integrated bookkeeping siftware (eg VTT+) and final accounts software (eg VT Final Accounts) are greater than any other integration, as the largest amount of inputting you will have to do is the TB. In all  the time I used Digita, I managed to import a TB once, and even then I had to make some manual corrections. With VT I import every single TB in seconds.

As I said before, I moved from Digita to VT and TaxCalc and it saves me hours (and pounds) every month.

I have to say, I found the technical people at Digita very nice. I don't know what they are like at VT and TaxCalc because I never have to speak to them.

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Replying to the_Poacher:
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By P. Moore
02nd Nov 2011 16:04

clarified

Dear Dan,

Understood  - thanks for clarifying. Rgds, philip

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By accountant_87
02nd Nov 2011 13:38

For final accounts I use VT. It's very good.

 

For bookkeeping I have an old version of sage on my laptop. Frankly I don't care what all the anti-sage people say. It's the best by miles.

 

But it's cost is silly. The laptop that I have it installed on is on a brink. When it goes I simply cannot justify spending the money getting another version of sage.

 

As I have VT Transaction + with my purchase of the VT final accounts software I will obviously use that but having dipped my toe in now and then I just don't like it. It's not user friendly at all.

 

A bookkeeeping programme I do like is Solar Accounts but it really is quite limited compared to sage and Transaction + and probably not appropriate for the size of some of my clients.

 

But then I suppose if you tinker with it it can do 90% of what the other programmes can do. And it's cheap!

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Replying to majabl:
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By P. Moore
02nd Nov 2011 16:15

VT Final accounts - not user friendly?

Dear Accountant 87,

Thanks for your comments. Sorry I am a little 'confused' and/or a bit thick! It appears that on the one hand are saying; ' for final accounts i use VT. it is very good' and on the other hand that you 'just don't like VT Final Accounts which is not user friendly' - i would be most grateful if you could please explain/clarify?

Re Solar Accounts - can HMRC complaint accounts to be produced?

Many thanks,

Regards, Philip

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By Hosted Accountants Ltd
02nd Nov 2011 16:44

CT

Philip

You will still need a CT programme to go with your VT final accounts, assuming you want to FBI CT600's to cover your iXBRL obligations with HMRC.

Dan

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Replying to User deleted:
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By P. Moore
03rd Nov 2011 15:42

thanks

Dear Dan,

Noted - thanks for clarifying.

Regards, Philip

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By chatman
02nd Nov 2011 17:02

iXBRL Obligations

The VT/TaxCalc combination will meet all your iXBRL obligations with HMRC.

£350+VAT in the first year and £300+VAT per year thereafter gets you both packages.

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Replying to The Highlander:
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By P. Moore
03rd Nov 2011 15:44

thanks

Dear Chatman,

OK - understood and thanks.Regards, Philip

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By accountant_87
03rd Nov 2011 16:09

Sorry to clarify:

 

VT Final Accounts for statutory accounts production = Spot on

 

For bookkeeping purposes (i.e. NOT final accounts production) I don't find VT Transaction + intuitive whereas Solar Accounts, whilst not as robust, can be picked up in 2 mins. Sage is best in my opinion but not worth the money compared to alternatives.

 

For CT600's I like Ftax and taxcalc depending on how much I am willing to spend.

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