Fastest Software

Fastest Software

Didn't find your answer?

I have just started using both Xero and VT both of which seem slower for data entry than Sage.

I know that lots of people on this forum abuse Sage for its expense but despite what the "Value Price" crowd say time is a cost and therefore a factor in our profits. So it still seems to be a cost of Sage versus a cost for time input.

Is it just because I am new with VT- have I missed some shortcut keys?

As for Xero I also don't understand why you would want to  spend lots of your time correcting your clients mistakes- they are not book-keepers.

Comments appreciated.

Replies (13)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
24th Aug 2014 11:52

Education

"As for Xero I also don't understand why you would want to  spend lots of your time correcting your clients mistakes- they are not book-keepers.".

Point out their errors, offer advice and support. Then you'll have the benefit of more straight forward accountancy and more accounts savvy clients who can do bookkeeping.

Same applies for other on-line accounts software packages

Lets face it which accountants want to do bookkeeping?

Thanks (0)
By Moonbeam
24th Aug 2014 11:58

Depends on who is using it and what it's needed for

I recommended Xero to a client who formerly was on Sage and who just couldn't get his head around data entry to Sage. He now does most of his own bookkeeping.

I have never liked Xero, as it doesn't have nearly enough reports in enough detail for me. But I concede that because he likes Xero, and is able to get good quality info from it regularly that's good enough reason to recommend it, depending on the client concerned. I do the VAT return, and have to delete a lot of stuff that shouldn't be in the return. That's because Xero have never been really bothered about VAT regulations. I have to manually adjust for EC purchases, which is irritating. Xero say they've sorted this, but I've got to the point where I don't believe anything they say until I've tested it myself, which will be next month. I have to say the invoice layout from Xero is far more sophisticated looking than anything that can be produced easily in Sage or VT, and this was another big selling point for my client.

If I am going to be doing the bookkeeping myself I will never use Xero. If the client wants to do his own book-keeping, which I would prefer, then depending on what type of company he runs and his ability level I may recommend Xero.

Sage and VT are very good for different reasons.

Sage is now so very complicated that correcting errors is time-consuming, with often expert knowledge required to do the adjustments properly. I would only recommend it to the sort of people I think can cope with all the rules of data entry and to the larger companies who are going to need a lot of the functions. As a database it is very useful in Excel, but you have to know the limitations of the reports, which are time-consuming to write in what is a practically obsolete report writing sub program. Compared to VT Sage is quite inflexible.

VT I use extensively for my start up one man bands and recommend at least the cashbook option to all of them if they are going to be doing their own bookkeeping. Correction of errors is much faster than in Sage, but there is only so much analysis that can be done on input.

So it's horses for courses.

Thanks (1)
Me!
By nigelburge
24th Aug 2014 12:03

"Is it just because I am new with VT"

"Is it just because I am new with VT- have I missed some shortcut keys?"

As with any new software, it takes some getting used to. If you are used to Sage, then of course you find it faster.

No one is forcing you to use VT - but the fact that an awful lot of people find it easier and faster to use than Sage should tell you something.

If you give VT or Xero a fair trial and you still find Sage faster, then stick with Sage - it is your choice.

 

Thanks (0)
Replying to carnmores:
avatar
By thacca
24th Aug 2014 13:34

sage quicker than vt......
Either im using sage wrong or youre using vt wrong. I think youll change your mind when you get used to it.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By Manchester_man
24th Aug 2014 23:30

I recon if a job took 5 hours to do on Sage, it would take around 2 hours absolute MAX to do on VT.

I've used sage extensively in the past and now I wouldn't touch it with a barge poll.

I can enter up 50 pages of bank statements (using the appropriately termed rapid data entry screen) - fully analysed in under an hour. After you enter a transaction and put it to an analysis account, VT auto completes the description or name of supplier or name of customer AND remembers which analysis account it goes to.

I don't know any other software at any level that does this. It has made my job even more pleasurable than it was previously!!!

Sage certainly doesn't offer this simple but hugely beneficial facility. You can't even properly drill down from a TB in sage!!!

Admittedly, sage is good in other ways ...... Stock control.......and..... Erm, oh yea, that's it :-)

In summary, how you can find sage quicker than VT I just can't imagine. When you say VT you don't mean the old VizTopia do you?

Thanks (0)
avatar
By MattG
27th Aug 2014 13:44

VT seems pretty fast to me....

For manual non-bulk entered data i can't really see how you can be that much faster than VT; autocomplete for names (which can sometimes be mildly irritating when you have to override errant capitalisation, but a small bugbear), auto-complete for dates, autocomplete for analysis codes...

The only possible issue might be autocomplete would cause slowdown on a very large database, though if it's that big you'll likely be using a bigger package.

Occasionally I might autocomplete to the wrong analysis code (if a supplier can be under different choices depending on what has been purchased), but amending an entry, or multiple entries is simple and clean, not much of an audit trail perhaps, but for single user situations that's irrelevant.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By Cloudcounter
27th Aug 2014 14:14

Swings and roundabouts

It might be quicker to put a batch of purchase invoices through Sage, but in most cases that I deal with you'd recover the time and more in Xero when the bank reconciliation is done.  There is  tendency to notice when things are a bit slow, but to take it for granted when they are a bit quicker

Thanks (0)
avatar
By NeilFraserC
27th Aug 2014 16:55

Familiarity

Without doubt familiarity with any software is key but, inevitably, some offerings are faster than others.

We at Liberty Accounts (www.libertyaccounts.com) try to address the issue of speed by providing: batch posting; quick keys; auto-complete on dates; learned (default) accounts; recurring entries, automated payroll processing; etc. The result is fast data entry.

Neil

Liberty Accounts

Thanks (0)
Replying to Matrix:
avatar
By Manchester_man
28th Aug 2014 18:53

Price

NeilFraserC wrote:

Without doubt familiarity with any software is key but, inevitably, some offerings are faster than others.

We at Liberty Accounts (www.libertyaccounts.com) try to address the issue of speed by providing: batch posting; quick keys; auto-complete on dates; learned (default) accounts; recurring entries, automated payroll processing; etc. The result is fast data entry.

Neil

Liberty Accounts

Apologies if I've missed it, but you don't appear to display prices on your website?

This, to myself (and others) instantly puts me off a company as I like transparency in pricing. If there's no price displayed, the assumption is the product is expensive!

Thanks (2)
Replying to flightdeck:
avatar
By NeilFraserC
29th Aug 2014 09:39

Pricing is displayed on our pricing page (www.libertyaccounts.com/pricing/) which is accessed from box 3 (pricing) on our home page. Prices start, for all features and functions, at a concessionary rate of £12.95/month. I'm sure you'll agree that for integrated bookkeeping, payroll, P11D, fixed assets, and stock management this is inexpensive.

Thanks (0)
Replying to Glennzy:
avatar
By Manchester_man
30th Aug 2014 10:40

In which case, my apologies.  Yes, I agree, that is a very reasonable price.  I will take a proper look this morning.

Thanks

Thanks (1)
By coolmanwithbeard
28th Aug 2014 23:52

QuickBooks

If you want fast data entry then the accountants version of QB Desktop has a similar fast entry screen that remembers suppliers and nominal codes - if you have the info in excel you can even cut and paste it onto this screen which can be very useful. 

 

I think its coming to the online version too which I am growing to like and is very affordable for professional advisers and their clients. You can also import an existing desktop file

Thanks (0)
avatar
By User deleted
29th Aug 2014 00:31

If you are using ...

... ledgers SAGE has default nominals for data entry, date entry has auto-complete and you can now drill down most reports fully (for those that say, I haven't used sage for ages and now wouldn't touch it so can't really comment as it has improved much over the last few years.

It has recurring entries to enter dd's and sto's and you could quite easily import BL and SL entries from a csv of the bank with very little data prep and then you could go through and match (which is no more onerous than "explaining" in other software.

I have had a look at VT, it is a vert unfriendly interface and very cluttered and dated feeling and as clients are wanting more and more to be cloud based I really see no point in the learning curve now when SAGE does all I need. I wouldn't recommend SAGE 50 to clients to use them selves, but then I would be less likely to recommend VT - my current favourite is KashFlow which is very easy and quick, it too has recurring entry functions as I think as IRIS invest in development it will be a market leader

Thanks (0)