The accountancy software market is gearing up for some David v Goliath conflicts across a wide range of professional applications. John Stokdyk assesses the race cards in the key finance categories.

As we noted after last year's awards, the most dramatic confrontations in business software are taking place around the mode of delivery, with web-based Cloud accounting suppliers nipping at the heels of more established rivals.

The most dramatic evidence of this came in the small business accounting category, where KashFlow beat the industry giants Sage and QuickBooks to this major prize. Ironically, KashFlow lost its web-based crown to Liquid Accounts, one of several newcomers who performed well in 2008. But with market conditions toughening and expansion finance hard to come by, will these challengers last the distance?

Small business accounting

We've already seen the effective exit of one of small business accounting's Big Three with MYOB pulling out of the UK desktop accounting market. MYOB was hailed for its ease of use in the inaugural Software Satisfaction Awards back in 2006 and was the highest placed desktop application last year - it will be sadly missed by many users.

MYOB's departure creates a gap in the market. Mamut Enterprise and Pastel Accounting both improved their scores over the past two years and will see an opportunity to progress further. However, previous survey figures from AccountingWEB.co.uk users indicate that big brands are better able to ride out economic storms than their smaller rivals, giving Sage and QuickBooks a chance to reassert themselves. It's worth noting that between 2007 and 2008, Sage made steady gains in almost all of the categories it entered - as seen in the improved scores in this category for both Sage 50 and Sage Instant Accounts. And which way will Microsoft Office Accounting Professional go after last year's promising debut? The gauntlet is well and truly down in the category that draws the biggest number of votes across the entire Software Satisfaction user survey - more than 1,850 people last year.

† 2007 result in web-based accounts category for comparative purposes.
* Awarded Honourable Mentions, but did not gain big enough survey samples to qualify for category shortlist (minimum 5% share).

Mid-range accounting

Access Dimensions is looking to win the mid-range accounting Software Satisfaction Award for the third time in a row, but IRIS Exchequer was breathing down its neck in 2008 with a big surge in positive feedback from its users. Pegasus Opera II, too, always gets a solid vote and should not be discounted.

Two smaller companies are also in the frame. While both Hansa and Mardak Construction Accounts topped the satisfaction scores in the mid-range category, they did not achieve a significant enough share to make the final shortlist and were both awarded honourable mentions. Mardak's users were split between the small and medium categories last year, while Hansa has always been something of a niche specialist. If either of these relative minnows can increase their share of the vote, the mid-range old guard could find themselves racing for a very tight finish.

* Did not make the category shortlist due to limited size of survey samples (a minimum of 5% of category respondents) - awarded Honourable Mentions in the 2007 and 2008 Mid-range accounting results.

Enterprise accounting

PS Financials has won this award for the past two years running, but while its rating dropped a fraction between 2007 and 2008 its closest rivals Open Accounts from COA Solutions and CODA Financials both made very significant improvements. Either one could eclipse PS Financials this year if they maintain their momentum. The top three enterprise accounting products in 2008 were all "best of breed" applications created by UK-based developers.

In contrast the Software Satisfaction results show that the big global names - SAP, Oracle, Infor and Microsoft - do not appear to generate the same enthusiasm from their users. Could this be a sign of disillusionment with Big ERP, or will 2009 give these big brands a chance to demonstrate a renewed interest in customer satisfaction?

* Awarded Honourable Mention in 2007, but did not gain a big enough survey sample to qualify for category shortlist (minimum 5% share).

Web-based accounting

Accountancy has traditionally lagged behind sales/marketing and HR in adopting web-based applications, but competition is still stiff in this rapidly growing part of the market. KashFlow won the small business accounts prize in 2008, but Liquid Accounts narrowly beat it in the web-based category. The accounting Cloud newcomers did spectacularly well in 2008, but will come under pressure this year from the likes of Sage, if its SageLive offering gets off the ground in time, and Danish developer e-conomic. For more detail, see Cloud accounting suppliers line up for Software Satisfaction Awards [1]

Business intelligence (BI)

The little v large theme continues in the performance management and analytics section. Thanks to a major acquisition, SAP won the BI prize last year with its Business Objects suite, with Cognos 8 close behind.

But COA People Analytics, an HR-focused companion to OpenAccounts, made it on to the podium with these industry giants. Inca Planning, an Excel-based tool developed in the UK was awarded an honourable mention last year and look out for 2008's Newcomer of the Year, Adaptive Planning. Its overall share of the market was too low to qualify for last year's shortlist, but like Inca, if Adaptive continues to recruit users and generate good feedback, it will be one to watch in this year's BI and performance management category.

* Awarded Honourable Mentions in the 2007 and 2008 BI results, but did not gain a big enough survey sample to qualify for category shortlist (minimum 5% share).

Tax and practice

Best of breed specialists have beaten the suite suppliers for the past two years in these categories - but they may face a tougher test as more users move to integrated applications. Like the web-based accounting suppliers, this category will be covered in a separate article.

Has your supplier entered? If you'd like the chance to record how well you think your business software is doing, the Software Satisfaction Awards give you a quick and easy way to encourage their efforts - why not check to see if they've entered?

Entries for this year’s awards must be received by the end of March, with the ceremony taking place in October. Further details on how to enter are available on the Software Satisfaction Awards 2009 [2] website.