I run a small accountancy practice and use vaious software. We currently use FAPP ex hartley now sage re accounts production about 2 years we started using this and have done bookeeping on this which has worked for in house stuff where no statements age debtors have been required etc.,
The work is growing and feel that we could do with updating our bookeeping software we previous and still have an old software from Pastel known as small business accounts which was OK, but does not really look that professional.
We have tried and failed briefly to get on with Sage Instant Accountanting - which we find expensive if we having a multi user situation for our type of practice, we have tried quick books from TAS and this we simply could not get on with. Although probably I have not had enough time to evaluate things properly.
To summarise we need Multi User, be able to transfer this easily between Machines within our office, my home, clients premises without heavy costs and the software not being too expensive to make it not cost effective.
Any thoughts and help would be greatly appreciated, Hopefully the question was not too long !!!
Regards
Andrew Smith
Andrew Smith
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Replies (9)
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Software response
Ptarmigan Ltd have a suite of software that os ideal for accounting bureau services. It is a true Windows based software, multi company, multi user, had its own report writer, and has ODBC connectivity to Excel etc. It covers all of the core accounting modules PLUS it has construction dedicated software for costing and CIS legislation Payroll is also available.
For further information contact Tim Seaton (Director Ptarmigan Ltd) on01954-206150 for further information.
Accountancy software packages
I have use Sage, TASBooks and Quickbooks. I am constantly amazed at the overwhelming enthusiasm for Sage. It is without doubt very good, but for the average SME, Quickbooks is in my view equally as good, and far simpler to use. What is wrong with icons showing a lorry with an open back door - you do not need to be qualified in accountany to understand that is were you should enter goods received! Surely book keeping software should be simple to use and understand - why should a florist understand journals and double entry? I liked TASBooks, but did find it a bit unstable.
I now use Quickbooks 9.0 exclusively, and have encountered no problems with funcionality or presentation. I am a member of PAP, but have little experience of the helpline to make constructive comments
Quickbooks
Remember to buy the right version. Quickbooks are in the process of scrapping payroll for V.6 and its upgrades. V.6 is still easily availaible off the shelf, gathering dust.....
I agree Quickbooks is a good package for the SME, but those upgrades, are they really necessary? I have lost earlier files not worked on for zonks because a later upgrade could no longer read an earlier version of a file. Always keep audit trails and trial balances of your work with Quickbooks......just in case.
Book keeping software
We have a comprehensive business management and accounting package called Office/2. It is a smaller relative of Hansa Financials, multi-company and multi-user. A relatively new player to the UK market, it is definitely worth looking at. Contact No, Econika Ltd: 0191 257 8000.
Best regards
Martin Lea
Have a thorough look at QuickBooks
I reckon that QuickBooks has a lot going for it at the lower end of the market. It may not show the user nice neat debit and credit column screens but the majority of users couldn't care less about that - they just want software that's easy to use. I'm more interested in operators being able to get things right rather and letting the software do the debit and credit bit behind the scenes. The reporting facilities are quite good and the brilliant integration with Excel and Word will take care of the "prettiness" of end reports and those that are not included as standard.
Is it perfect? - no, of course its not, but, for the price, you get an awful lot of well thought out software for the money.
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To Andrew Lane -
There is an Intuit users group in the AccountingWeb Discussion Forum section, but very little use is made of that section on the AccountingWeb site.
If you don't already know it, Graham O'Reilly's direct email address at Intuit UK is [email protected] and he is well prepared to listen to and discuss problem areas. Not that things will change immediately but enough comments on the problem areas will give him the background to get what he wants for us. I've bent his ear on a couple of occasions.
The Director's tax code work around should have been mailed out to all PAP members and payroll users instead of waiting for users to raise the question - that one really DID annoy me. If you want to contact me, Email me on [email protected]
A word of warning on Quickbooks
I have been a Quickbooks user for about 7 years and am a member of their professional advisors programme. I have been a self confessed "no. 1 fan" of the software for many years and have happily recommended it to numerous clients over sage on the basis of ease of use, cost and flexibility. I have however become concerned over the past 18 months that Intuit's standards are slipping. Their helplines are very poor, taking ages to get through and not being able to resolve anything other than routine queries. They have now outsourced their support to Canada but their is no queueing system. You ring, are told all the operators are busy and to ring back later then get cut off. I have a particular problem with V9 in that it completely freezes my machine when I undertake certain functions that work fine in V8. Despite being a professional advisor, Intuit have not resolved the problem and do not appear that interested. Other problems include payslip printing crashes, inability to change directors tax codes without going through a 15+ step procedure, problems exporting accountants changes for clients, frequent errors downloading updates from the internet and (most disturbingly) the unreconciling of some bank items when upgrading from one version to another.
I really would hate to fall out of love with Quickbooks - in its earlier versions it was ideal for the small business user and so much more flexible than Sage. However, I do think that Intuit are sometimes trying to be a bit too clever with their updates and slowly but surely I am loosing confidence. I have no other alternatives at the moment and would really love the opportunity to discuss my problems with someone at Intuit but they don't seem to care what their customers, or maybe more importantly, their professional advisors think...There, got that off my chest and feel much better now!! Other Quickbooks users comments would be useful. How about a Quickbooks user group?
Update
Andrew,
I notice you have 'an old version of Pastel'. If that is ver4 I'd agree. We came to Pastel when they we releasing v5
Remember, you can have an unlimited number of company files for no extra fee, an excel add-in (please contact us) to enable you to access Pastel files real-time from excel (not ODBC) so you can design your own output in excel and take advantage of everything in excel, etc, easy file transfer (zip it and copy it) AND a networkable product that is advertised as such (so much so you can purchase an SQL version, try it again
What a surprise, we re-sell it
Regards
Daniel
[email protected]
Quickbooks
I would second Philip's suggestion about Quickbooks.
As for formal accounts presentation it is easy to transfer figures from Quickbooks to Excel with the pro version.
The 2001 version includes balance sheets in UK formats and not US.
Quickbooks
Try Quickbooks - cheap and multi company and potentially multi user. If you join the Quickbooks advisers programme, you get payroll subscription also and support, for less cost than the software if bought retail.
You say you have tried "Quickbooks from TAS", but these are two completely different products from different firms, so you must be confused as to what you have tried.
Quickbooks is easy to learn, fully adjustable, has the sales and purchase ledgers etc - ideal as a book-keeping package, but maybe not too good for formal annual accounts presentation. There are few products that do both good book-keeping and good annual accounts presentation - two different beings!