Which accounting software for small starts-up business?

Which accounting software for small starts-up...

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I know as soon as the words “accounting and software” are mentioned, few names pop up on our mind. Sage, Pegasus, Quick books, Tass, VT and endless lists.

I have lost in touch with accounting software world for some time now. Years ago, I used to go to accounting software world forms in Earls Court.

David Carter used to do lots of software reviews in the past, but I do not know now.

I am sure there are many applications in the market which are not house hold names, but may be better product than the Sage and QB world.

I am not looking for a cloud, or on-line solutions. A desk top will do.

I used few software in the past, such as QBs, Sage, Pegasus and VT.

I have looked at the trial version of QBs. Not many have changed in functionality wise, but has now Cash flow and budgets. It is still cheap, user friendly and but above all has the best report in my view. I am also aware it has many weakness.VAT issue has not being resolved

I have also looked at Sage. Yes, there are several improvements, but still unable to drill down on reports. I know you can in some reports, but not all. From reading the posts on this site, many have problems with data corruption issues.

I would be thrilled if anyone could convince me why Sage is better product than QBs taking in to account the following criteria: User friendly, functionality, report, price and value for money.

I  would like also to hear from other vendors and justify why their product is better than others based on the same criteria: User friendly (Ease of use), functionality, report, price and value for money.

I value every one’s input, experience, prejudice and love on accounting software

Replies (13)

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By ElliottRoss
13th Jun 2012 14:15

Without knowing more.......

Hi Cantona1

Surely the justification as to why one product is better than the other is, in my opinion, a needless exercise if the customer's requirements are not known. Our first question when asked this by new a client is: "What are your requirements?".

For example, you have already ruled out cloud (SaaS) solutions. Has the client specified this or is this just your wish? Yes, you have asked for comment on functionality, but which funcitonality is important to the clients business; Stock management? Job costing? CRM?

Then there are considerations such as; Integrations to 3rd party applications? What is the user count? Is there a budget?

This is something we do for many clients (http://www.recenseo.co.uk/business-software/advice-and-guidance/) and we would welcome the opportunity to discuss your customers requirements offline. If you would like to contact me, my phone number is: 01243 214 175

If not, all the best in your search.

Regards

Elliott

www.recenseo.co.uk

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Replying to Ambra999:
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By david5541
14th Jun 2012 13:07

are you thinking about ease of use and integrity of reports?

[quote=ElliottRoss]

Hi Cantona1

"Surely the justification as to why one product is better than the other is, in my opinion, a needless exercise if the customer's requirements are not known. Our first question when asked this by new a client is: "What are your requirements?".

For example, you have already ruled out cloud (SaaS) solutions. Has the client specified this or is this just your wish? Yes, you have asked for comment on functionality, but which funcitonality is important to the clients business; Stock management? Job costing? CRM?

Then there are considerations such as; Integrations to 3rd party applications? What is the user count? Is there a budget?

This is something we do for many clients (http://www.recenseo.co.uk/business-software/advice-and-guidance/) and we would welcome the opportunity to discuss your customers requirements offline. If you would like to contact me, my phone number is: 01243 214 175

If not, all the best in your search.

Regards

Elliott

www.recenseo.co.uk"

Hi Cantona1 

ease of use is the predominant need when you are new in business. it depends on whether you already understand how the systems refferred to(pegasus tas sage qb) are used.

if you used these before go for something similar but not complex.

alot of small clients just use excel.

 

If you do and have an accountancy head you need a system with integrity and easy reporting.

"

"Either QuickBooks Pro or Sage Instants should be sufficient for what you suggest.

QuickBooks Pro is certainly superior for reporting, however, Sage support is far more user friendly than QB support desk.

If you can get your reporting requirements from Sage I would go with that, but if not use QuickBooks and hope that you don't need to phone the helpdesk" """

you can export any sage nominals to excel but sage is hopeless if you make a mistake.the month end year end reporting totally mucks up zthe integrity of your reports.

 

quickbooks will be simpler to use. than sage

"Have a look at Tas. They have a free basic program available - not sure how far you can go with it as regards VAT or CIS etc. It might not be perfect, but I have been using it for 12 years plus with good results. I have also installed it for clients  to invoice from and taught them to use it effectively.  I have yet to get a satisfactory answer from accountants as to why they think Sage is so wonderful. Ironically it was bought out by Sage a few years ago. I was gutted I can tell you - but so far it doesn't appear to have been influenced too much. I am keeping my fingers crossed!!

Tas lets you drill down almost everywhere. You can edit from many screens directly without having to go all around the houses. You can export reports simply to excel or PDFs. VAT returns can be submitted directly from the software, as can the CIS returns (although the CIS is a bolt on extra) Back up and restore functions are painfully simple. Financial periods can be worked on historically (although this can be dangerous!!) and if the accountant keeps you waiting ages for adjustments this is very useful!! Vat returns pick up anything new posted into periods already submitted so there isn't so much pressure to find every last penny in time"

you need to know about all the mistakes you could make with TAS.

Since it was bought by sage sage has made it slower less functional and messy, and the year end always throws out all balances. stick to the free basic tas to start with. I use TAS and have seen it used by a client and then now understand its reliability and accuracy because of ease of correcting your mistakes. 

for once the clients sales report agreed with the vat returns! that would not happen with sage.

what ever you choose keep hard copies/printouts /backups of your work

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By Abacjm
13th Jun 2012 14:16

Start-up Accounting software

You could try Moneysoft's Money Manager. www.Moneysoft.co.uk

Simple book-keeping/ online VAT returns and a fantastic payroll prog.(if required)

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By Cantona1
13th Jun 2012 15:49

Abacjm and Elliott!

Thank you very much for your time and input!

Abacjm

I used Moneysoft's Money Manager for over 10 years. The price had remained the same. Great product! I would not even consider any other payroll.

However, the accounting software is not as good as the payroll.

Elliott!

You are right!

I do not own or work in practice.

It is employer's request for desk top.

Functionality: No stock, CRM, or job costing. It is a service company.

I am not looking for ERP. There may be integration with other third parties.

The budget is less than £5k.

My experience with accounting software (Small, or entry level) is that all or most of them have the same, or similar fundamentals, i.e. have Customer, Supplier, Bank, Journal and Nominal ledgers. They may express them, or show them in different interface of the system.

There are, however, some differences in reporting and ease of use.

For instance: QBs has superior reporting facilities. You can create customized reports, memories, and can export them to excel. Yes, you could do the same with sage, but it is not only time consuming, but cumbersome too.

In QBs, you can create a purchase invoice, just hit the enter button and it is saved, or posted. In Sage, do the same, but it is not posted. You need to go to suppliers’ page to post it. Why two process? I can go on and on.

A system which has great functionality would be useless if you require a degree in IT to extract reports. Accounting software should not more than a combination of database and spreadsheet

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By nickygl
13th Jun 2012 17:20

Either QuickBooks Pro or Sage Instants should be sufficient for what you suggest.

QuickBooks Pro is certainly superior for reporting, however, Sage support is far more user friendly than QB support desk.

If you can get your reporting requirements from Sage I would go with that, but if not use QuickBooks and hope that you don't need to phone the helpdesk.

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By Borisbmw
13th Jun 2012 18:40

Software for start ups

Why does everybody jump straight from quick books to sage. I hate both with a passion. Neither is particularly user friendly unless you never ever make a mistake. Undoing an error can be mostly guess work given the lack of drill down facility on sage and well, the confusing terminology in QB.

 

I have used VT. Fine if you are an accountant but for most start ups something a bit more user friendly is useful.

 

Have a look at Tas. They have a free basic program available - not sure how far you can go with it as regards VAT or CIS etc. It might not be perfect, but I have been using it for 12 years plus with good results. I have also installed it for clients  to invoice from and taught them to use it effectively.  I have yet to get a satisfactory answer from accountants as to why they think Sage is so wonderful. Ironically it was bought out by Sage a few years ago. I was gutted I can tell you - but so far it doesn't appear to have been influenced too much. I am keeping my fingers crossed!!

Tas lets you drill down almost everywhere. You can edit from many screens directly without having to go all around the houses. You can export reports simply to excel or PDFs. VAT returns can be submitted directly from the software, as can the CIS returns (although the CIS is a bolt on extra) Back up and restore functions are painfully simple. Financial periods can be worked on historically (although this can be dangerous!!) and if the accountant keeps you waiting ages for adjustments this is very useful!! Vat returns pick up anything new posted into periods already submitted so there isn't so much pressure to find every last penny in time.

 

What more can I say? I LIKE IT!! :)

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By Cantona1
13th Jun 2012 19:59

Nickygl and Boris! Thank you very much for your contribution.

Nickygl. I agree with your view. I used QB for over a decade, and did not even call the support once. I did not even have a support contract. It was only 99 quid and worked well. Then QBs had the issue with VAT. It was a night mare to deal with QB’s support. VAT has not resolved yet.

Of course you need support with Sage. How else could you cope with the number of times your data are corrupted and need restoration? Just look at the Sage discussion forum to see the number of times the issue has been raised.

 

Boris! You are right! People jump in to QBs and Sage. I believe there are other superior products out there, but are unknown to the market.

I think QBs has now incorporated British accounting terms in the charts of accounts as an alternative. You can now use Debtors instead of AR.

Tas was a good software, and will see if I could use in a trail version.

Thanks again for your time!

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By Cantona1
14th Jun 2012 11:38

I am actually wondering if it is possible to purchase QBs from a third part reseller, or independent consultant.

In my previous job, we bought accounting software from the owner, but find their support was really bad, so we switched the support to a reseller. The support fee was the same, but as the reseller had a background in Accounting, he understood our issues.

I have not read any good review as far as QB’s support goes. So maybe they are also QBs reseller in the market.

Anyone out there!

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By Captainblack
14th Jun 2012 12:08

Quickbooks can be purchased from shops (like PC World) or off the the Internet (eg from Amazon).

You can get support from anyone, you don't have to sign-up with Intuit.

Finally I would comment that the much discussed VAT issue IS fine in the current software and most of the issues came from historic postings which weren't correct. If you are starting afresh with a new company and thus a new company file in Quickbooks it will be fine.

Captain

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By carnmores
14th Jun 2012 12:28

well i beg to disagreewith the captain

try going from accrual accounting to cash accounting - it doesnt work

even going the other way has to be manually reconciled to be 100% there is no breakdown of figures b/f as due / repayable

try adjusting boxes 6 & 7 doesnt work ( as in changes above)

and most annoying you have to enter a bill to record VAT bloody nuisance

other than that its fine and dandy ( apart of course from the 2006 multi currency fiasco)

of course i still use it as i have given up on tippex

and i use money manager , quirky for sure but great value and  it does everything even now copes with  flat rate scheme - the new version of final accounts is due soon i believe

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Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
14th Jun 2012 13:11

Only show in town

Why just restrict yourself to QB or Sage?

You mention not wanting a cloud based product but I think you'll be surprised by how good they are ease of use, functionality and interface with third party software.

I'd recommend http://www.xero.com/

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By Captainblack
14th Jun 2012 15:53

I confess!

I confess to not having tried to go from Cash Accounting to Accrual or back from Accrual to Cash Accounting so I can't comment on that but it sounds messy. Also I have not exploited the Multi-Currency aspect so again, I can't comment. 

Captain

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By Cantona1
15th Jun 2012 10:47

Captain,

I looked at the price in Amazon. It is a single license user. I am looking more than one user. I think Intuit price of £499 for the premier version is reasonable, provided that I do not need upgrading in the next two, or so years. Now days, it is becoming common for software companies to release new versions within 2- years gap. Even MS start doing it. There was a 4 years gap before 2007 version, which is now cut down to 2.

David,

I am going to look at TAS. The only issue I have is the trail version does not have all the functionalities and features of the full version. I think this is the same with QBs on-line free trial. So, it is difficult to make an assessment.

 

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