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Online accounting review: AccountsIQ

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16th Nov 2011
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This review was conducted in 2011 and as such is outdated. For more up to date information about accountsIQ please see here.

Continuing his round-up of the leading Cloud accounting applications, Nigel Harris reviews AccountsIQ, which offers sophisticated functions catering for mid-size businesses.

Launched in 2008, AccountsIQ has been gradually finding its place in the online marketplace. Having initially pitched at small companies it is now targeted at the mid-market, above the level of the other online services we have reviewed so far, offering around 70% of the functionality of top tier ERP systems such as NetSuite at a fraction of the cost. An ideal user would be a small group trading across several countries and needing to produce regular consolidated accounts. It is also ideal for franchises, with built-in functionality for back-to-back ordering.

Around 500 companies with around 2,000 individual users currently use AccountsIQ.

AccountsIQ

Target market Mid-market businesses looking for ERP functionality; ideally small groups or franchises wanting regular consolidated accounts.

Cost AccountsIQ starts from £30 a month for the 2-user Bookkeeper edition; 4-user Controller version with department reporting is £80 a month; Enterprise edition includes stock and order processing for £120 a month (up to 5 users).

AccountsIQ

Strengths

● Quick and easy to set up with default chart of accounts that can customised as you go along
● Dashboards present key information graphically; some have drill-down facilities
● Intuitive to use, despite sticking with traditional accounting terms
● Consolidated accounts capability can handle a separate holding company with any number of subsidiaries
● Bespoke data conversion service can bring across all data from previous accounting systems
● Flexible Excel Data Importer, which can handle all sorts of data types, including handy budgeting routine
● Built-in document management facility lets users attach source PDFs to transactions or accounts
● Customisable, three-level department analysis tools
● Quick Post facility makes it easy to import and reconcile electronic bank statements
● Good templates and reporting tools, which can incorporate non-financial data sources and output to XML, CSV, PDF, Excel and Word files
● Flexible data entry, including support for batch processes and segregation of duties
● Good online help materials including how-to videos and a free Practice module.

Weaknesses

● Cost, functionality and traditional accounting system design do not make AccountsIQ a suitable system for smaller companies or start-ups
● Licensed concurrent user limits: quoted figures are the maximum concurrent users allowed for each version; companies can register an unlimited number of users, which could cause friction (or increased fees) if more than the allowed number try to access the system at the same time
● Focus on mid-market and franchise companies in recent years has seen this side of the application develop more rapidly than features catering for practising accountants
● VAT Flat Rate Scheme not supported; an understandable omission in an otherwise robust module designed for mid-sized businesses
● Optimised for Internet Explorer, so Mac users may struggle with some screens

For more info, visit www.accountsiq.com

Getting started

  • The look and feel is very much like desktop software rather than browser-based.
  • AccountsIQ has been optimised for Internet Explorer, so Mac users may find a few screens don’t display quite as they should.
  • Very quick and easy to get up and running; the default chart of accounts is adequate, but easily customised as you go.
  • At levels above the basic Bookkeeper version full multi-currency banking and accounting is available.
  • A versatile Excel Data Importer template can be used to import a range of data, from basic standing data for customers and suppliers, or even open items on sales and purchase ledgers, up to a full general ledger transaction history. It can also be used to import sales invoices if these are generated in a different application.
  • Unlike other companies, AccountsIQ will provide bespoke data conversion and import from other packages to enable users to bring over all the data from their previous system.
  • Budgets, notoriously fiddly to set in most accounting software, can be created using a file export and import routine where you can quickly edit budget figures in Excel and then re-import them. Or they can simply be entered the long way as monthly figures in each general ledger account.
  • The Home screen is a customisable, tabbed Dashboard that can display a range of charts under 13 different headings, from aged debtors to key financial ratios. There is a drill down facility to access the underlying data from some Dashboard screens.

Data entry

  • AccountsIQ is fairly intuitive to use. Items in the top menu lists can be pinned to the left hand menu bar to create a sub-set of your most commonly-used menu options. The language is very clear, conventional accounting-speak – a “receipt” is money received, not an expense invoice!
  • Where account codes are required, drop-down lookup lists are easily accessed to save time, but new accounts can instantly be created on the file from posting screens too.
  • There is a built-in document management facility, enabling users to attach PDFs of source documents to transactions or accounts.
  • Multi-level department analysis is available down to three levels: location/project/department – the actual terminology can be adapted to suit the user, eg project, job, branch, etc. This can be used to produce extensive sale analysis reports.
  • There is plenty of online help available at every step, so there is little likelihood of getting stuck anywhere. For example, at the top of the Sundry Bank Receipts screen there are links to Getting Started, a How To Video (using Adobe Captivate), the Support telephone number and a Help article.
  • Sales invoices can be created individually, non-stock invoices can be posted very quickly as a batch if you need to handle large volumes of data, and recurring invoices set up to run automatically.
  • If segregation of duties is important, invoices can be created and posted as two separate operations.
  • Supplier payments can also be entered as a batch to save time.
  • Bank reconciliation can be simplified by importing electronic bank statements and matching transactions on screen, using the Quick Post function to add things like bank charges not yet entered in AccountsIQ.
  • A full audit trail is provided, each transaction has its own audit trail number. Current period transactions can be edited but nothing can ever be deleted. With the powerful Transaction Browser you can search, list or export any type of posting. A blue flag indicates that an entry has been edited, and clicking on it reveals the underlying “Change Log” with the new and old values.
  • Although data is fully backed up by AccountsIQ on a continuous basis, users can export all data as a CSV file at any time for additional peace of mind.

Reporting

  • A good range of standard reports is provided. In fact the list is so comprehensive that a My Reports option is given where your favourite reports can be saved for easy access.
  • A sample of the selected report is shown alongside the different options so you can see what you’re getting. Reports can be customised with a range of filters, and the final presentation is very clear and professional-looking, with full drill down to transaction level.
  • As well as printing them, reports can be output to a wide range of file types including XML, CSV, PDF, Excel and Word.
  • Invoices and statements can be emailed, either individually or in bulk.
  • A unique facility in AccountsIQ is the ability to import non-financial statistics, such as footfall, to produce very sophisticated reports.
  • VAT accounting is robust. Invoice and cash accounting (but not Flat Rate) are catered for. When a VAT Return is run transactions are locked and VAT balances are automatically posted to the VAT liability account. “Unreturned” transactions dated prior to the current VAT period are automatically picked up in the next Return.
  • Previous (closed) VAT Returns and audit trail can be viewed but not edited.

Extras

  • The big strength of AccountsIQ is consolidated accounts. A holding company is created as a separate entity for this, and any number of subsidiaries (which must have the same chart of account and year end, but can be in different currencies) can be consolidated. Consolidation journals can be posted and a range of group reports produced.
  • Consolidation can easily be used to benchmark KPIs of subsidiaries or franchisees.
  • Web services can be configured to link AccountsIQ to third party applications such as Salesforce, webshops or EPOS.

Versions

AccountsIQ is available in three versions:

  • Bookkeeper - £30 per month, up to 2 users
  • Controller – includes department reporting and multi-currency - £80 per month, up to 4 users
  • Enterprise – includes stock and full sales- and purchase-order processing - £120 per month, up to 5 users

User limits are the maximum concurrent users in each version; companies can actually register an unlimited number of users, each of whom can have their own user-defined menus and access rights.

In addition a Practice layer is available free of charge to accountants to manage their clients using the system. Each user within a firm can be allocated access to specific clients. Firms can also white label the system and add their own help screens and other customisation.

Conclusion

AccountsIQ is a perfect solution for a larger company, especially one needing the full stock and SOP/POP which is lacking in most other online accounting solutions. The consolidation feature will be very attractive to groups and franchisors looking for a cost-effective accounting package that can be easily rolled out across multiple sites, even across borders and currencies, without the need to invest in Citrix or Terminal Services technologies and the additional IT overheads they involve. Accountants considering recommending AccountsIQ to clients will be reassured by the strong built-in controls over VAT reporting and general data integrity.

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Replies (3)

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By User deleted
17th Nov 2011 14:37

Matters .....

Pity that an internet company have not come to grips with IE9 & spurious " " commands. Have a look at this page - http://www.accountsiq.com/software_solutions in IE and spot the  + characters all over the page.

Especially relevant as the article claims that '.. Optimised for Internet Explorer, so Mac users may struggle with some screens ..' oops .....

@Nigel Harris - Additional comments

Can the user create 'user defined reports' in the systemOn the Web-Services front - can users eCommerce systems use products/categories/groups etc. held within the main Db via the Web-Service? In this respect one would not only expect access to the aforementioned items but also changing stock quantities on sales, any sales fed back into the main Db as well as feeding in sales from other sources i.e. eBay, Amazon markets etc.One assumes that it does not incorporate its own EPos module and relies upon other 3rd party products to perform this function

Interesting comment '.. Licensed concurrent user limits: quoted figures are the maximum concurrent users allowed for each version; companies can register an unlimited number of users, which could cause friction (or increased fees) if more than the allowed number try to access the system at the same time ..'

Don't really understand the issue because the whole point of the Cloud model is multi-tennacy (especially in conjunction with the likes of Amazon EC2 / Windows Azure which automatically scale) - unless of course it is being used as a reason to justify increased fee

Nevertheless, it would be interesting to know whether they use their own servers (assume they do) or provision via a Cloud Service Provider. In fact this should probably be one of the important questions/benchmarks in future assessments, as should a review of providers SLA's, which arguably are as important as functionality

 

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By futureb00ks
15th Aug 2012 08:27

150 different accounting software compared

 

There are a few great invoicing tools available on the cloud.

The trick is using ones which will integrate nicely with your your entire ecosystem of cloud-based solutions. Some we have identified for our clients include Harvest, FreeAgent, Bizmo for iOS, Anybill, inniAccounts, Outright, and Kashoo.

Read more about our research covering over 150 accounting applications. http://futurebooks.com.sg/blog/150-accounting-applications-compared-freeware-cloud-and-licensed/3140

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By Anna Lamprd
25th Jan 2017 12:49

...

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