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I would like your advice, I am a very small practice and up to now have done all the accounts on Excel and tax returns on TaxCalc.
Now left with just my husbands construction business ( T/o approx. £ 120,000, operates cis, no employees )
Also, joint property business with me.
With MTD I realise we will have to buy new software for all the books, accounts and maybe tax returns have you any idea which may be best
All a bit premature - there is still no real guidance on what MTD will and will not require, and no real certainty that it will even go ahead in the current climate.
The repeated statements that Excel is not going to be acceptable to keep records is also premature - until the reporting requirements are known in more detail, it is difficult to see how HMRC can limit the way that records are kept. It would not be hard for an online system to take excel records and produce a submission file that would be acceptable to HMRC, just as one can currently convert Excel templates to XBRL using cheap online services, or upload spreadsheet data for MOSS or AE purposes.
Your mistaken belief that you will be forced to move away from Excel is a common one, and it is obviously in the interest of cloud bookkeeping vendors (and by extension, Aweb) to keep pushing the MTD agenda and encourage users to move online, but frankly, if it isn't broke, don't rush to fix it. If you have a bookkeeping method that works for your business, keep using it.
Thanks for your advice, lets hope they decide not to make the smallest businesses change.
I like your "if it isn't broke" advice.
It's an interesting an useful article. I wonder how many of these cloud accounting services allow you to port your data. YOUR data. If you're not happy with them later - say fees go up or quality of service goes down - how easy is it to port your data, to simply pack it up and take it elsewhere?
If ever there was a case of "wait and see" this is it. The ideal solution may not even exist yet, as we don't know what is required or when or indeed if the quarterly bit will actually ever happen.
This has been really useful - thank you so much for sharing! I'm a Sage-girl through and through, although I don't like SageOne (it's not all about me is it!), my clients like it because it's easy to use. Thanks again.
I find this fascinating. I do not see how my clients who do manual entries will pay even just £20 a month for bookkeeping software they do not need just to satisfy an ex chancellor who has never lived in the real world. Firstly we had the nonsense of auto enrolment with shocking websites like Now Pensions and now pointlessly forcing everyone to go online for 3 monthly quarterly. I am so angry about this nonsense. If I could I would get out ASAP.
Excellent summary, Glennzy. I would add a couple of comments, if I may.
You suggest that data entry in QBO is slower and less easy than Xero. As a user of both systems, I would respectfully disagree. I find QBO extremely easy to use and can usually show my clients how to do basic data entry very quickly. A couple of years ago, QBO lacked some of the features of Xero, but the product now competes on an equal footing. The QBO bank feed and reconciliation process, for example, took a while to catch up to the sophistication of Xero, but it is now extremely quick and easy to use and I can process hundreds of transactions in a fraction of the time that I used to.
Not only is QBO at least as easy to get data into, it is undoubtedly (IMO) very much easier to get data back out again. I have never come across an accounting product with better reporting than QBO. The customisation options make reporting a breeze. In contrast, I find that trying to extract even basic data from Xero (unless you want one of the pre-defined reports) can be tortuous. I can't even get a simple list of payments made to a supplier in Xero, whereas in QBO I can create such a report in seconds.
I agree that Xero is an excellent product, but I can no longer see an advantage in any area over QBO and, in my opinion, the superiority of the reporting engine in QBO makes it the product of choice.
I've not used the other products (as QBO and Xero are so good that I haven't seen a need to look elsewhere) but I was very impressed with the level of granularity allowed for user access in ClearBooks. If you have a need for different users to have very sharply defined areas of access, then it may be worth taking a look at ClearBooks.
Fabulous of you to share your research and experience of the various current cloud accounting options. The great revelation that I see with clients adopting these cloud solution, is the access it gives them to wider business solutions. They can build a platform of solutions through various add ons with the accounting as the hub. They can create relatively cheaply, a whole business solution including scanning documents, stock handling, expenses handling, time recording, payroll CRM, forecasting etc. Its all about the client.
May be okay for the bigger clients but hey, what about the taxi driver or plumber who gives us a bag of receipts or uses an excel spreadsheet.
May be okay for the bigger clients but hey, what about the taxi driver or plumber who gives us a bag of receipts or uses an excel spreadsheet.
Receipt bank staring into excel.
A. Who's going to pay for it
B. How does that recognise turnover?
C. How does that recognise cash payment for his expenses?
A. Who's going to pay for it
B. How does that recognise turnover?
C. How does that recognise cash payment for his expenses?
A. You pay for it, it's cheaper than paying staff to write up receipts for a day.
B. Expenses only
C. It doesn't. It just gets the data into excel much faster than what it takes to enter it manually.
Okay but how does it help if he writes up a manual book once a year. How are we going to get him to provide the info quarterly.
Hello
I do not see much advantage on going to the cloud unless clients are constantly needing to pass files to you. I use VT Transaction+ for some, and the FREE cash book version for others. I use Dropbox cloud storage so can allow people to share the file with me. It works, and no one can complain about cost when it is free. Or £125 for the paid for version with sales ledger etc.
VT lacks bank entry update software but many cannot cope with the complexity of doing that. Entry is very fast and simple.
This is really useful - best thing I've read on AW for some time. Thanks Glennzy for sharing it with us.
There are other cloud solutions available in a more traditional style - check out www.cloudsis.com which provides an optimised cloud platform specifically designed to run traditional server/workstation products for a fixed monthly fee. As standard it comes pre loaded with Pegasus Opera 3 but could utilise any accounting database.
QuickFile
I started using QuickFile a couple of years ago. I found, to my amazement, that it was simple enough for clients to use and is feature rich.
Admittedly, it's not one for all BUT for clients who are stuck in the rut of Excel entry, it prevents some of the balancing issues and complex calculations required of a "for all" spreadsheet solution.
Sales, purchases and general entries are similar to the key players. Reporting is limited to standard TB, P&L, Aged Debtors/ Creditors etc. but, as a lifelong Sage user I do realise that I use a mere handful of their many "standard" reports.
Sales invoices can be emailed in a straight forward and automated manner. However, for no additional cost (aside from normal merchant fees), invoices can be paid online through Paypal, Stripe, GoCardless and many other online payment gateways.
As for cost... a standalone client can use QuickFile for free (up to a transaction limit) whereas, to access using Affinity (their accountant's system), there are fees payable (from around £1-£3 per client per month). Larger clients are charged £45 per annum (up front) for the standalone system BUT, the same package works out to a little over £36 per annum (billed monthly in arrears and based on usage) when purchased through Affinity. I tend to bill my clients the £3 per month.
Clearly, there are some limitations and there is definitely a requirement in the market for some of the "bigger players". However, for the smaller client with a smaller budget, QuickFile is well worth a review. After-all, the client could easily save £3 per month in the processing fees associated with transactions which are simply "too complex" for a "simple bookkeeping spreadsheet".
Check QuickFile out at quickfile.co.uk where you can also see further information in relation to Affinity.
Oh... and one other bonus...
The client dashboard and system may be adapted using your Affinity account. Through simple logo uploads and modifications of simple css features (i.e. colours) you can have a dashboard which is personalised to your practice.
I agree with Glennzy there is a trade off between speed of entry and ease of access. It should also be remembered however any accounting package whether just the simple cash book or full accounting is always going to be more structured than a spread sheet.
My biggest beefs are the lack of standards and the visuals.
This move to the cloud is excellent and will solve a multitude of issues for us. However it reminds me of the days before Windows when there were even a multitude of operating systems and just being able to print a pound sign could be an achievement. At that time we also had to cope with dozens of different accounting systems and it wasn't until Sage and QB became dominant that things settled down and efficiency levels rose. A three pin plug is a standard and think how difficult life would be if we didn't have that. Add up the number of packages Glennzy has listed and then add on the others from some of the excellent responses. Are we moving back to those bad old days? The client only has to cope with one but in our practice we are dealing with 7 or 8 and rising.
In term of the software none of the developers has taken account of the need to be able to see it. Call me old fashioned but I think it's quite important and it goes a long way to speed things up when things can be clearly seen. Is there something technical to stop cloud products using clearly contrasting colours? The developers seem to think it very clever to design their products with all manner of light pastel shades imposed on shaded backgrounds. None of the desktop versions do this so why have we now got to put up with it.
Finally, a plea to the developers. Can you give the poor old accountant a bit more priority. Most of the packages have pretty front ends (does anybody use the graphs?), data entry routines of varying quality but mostly pretty good. But for those of us who have to extract the information and make sure everything is ok to produce accounts I get the feeling it was a bit of an afterthought.
@Glennzy - If I may correct a couple of points or factual errors regarding Xero.
- The prices shown for Xero omit to state the Non-VAT Cashbook and VAT Cashbook prices available to accountants at £5 and £9 per month respectively.
- "Failed promises on delivering final accounts"
It may be a little later than we anticipated but Practice Templates for sole trader accounts is launching next week.
- "Concerns over sustainability of Xero as VC owned"
Xero is not VC owned and has been a publicly listed company since 2007.
- "Currently spends 70% of revenue on marketing"
We don't spend 70% of revenue on marketing. What you're referring to is our reported Customer Acquisition Cost which accounts for all expenditure and headcount costs across sales, marketing, design, training and consulting involved in growing our customer base. As a subscription business, while we're obligated to report the cost of acquisition in the year a customer is acquired, the model offsets this acquisition cost against the long term value obtained from the lifetime revenues we subsequently receive from the customers acquired. Set in this context, an investment of 70% of current year revenue in growing customers returns a significant multiple of LTV. So, looking at this aspect of Xero's financial performance in the context of the current year's P&L is a legitimate but incomplete view, whereas the full LTV is the correct way to interpret this cost.
I'll leave the opinion points as they stand for now, but would note that the Xero screenshot shown is about 6 years out-of-date. :)
Gary Turner
Managing Director, Xero
@garyturner
Thanks for your article.
A couple of comments:
1. The accounting world, including this website, seems obsessed with cloud accounting. I can appreciate the advantages associated with cloud software (primarily easy access and easy backup). However, in my mind, these are far outweighed by the old-fashioned concept of functionality. I happen to like QuickBooks (I know some people don't). The QuickBooks cloud offering is totally different from the desktop version, and, in my opinion, is not half as good.
2. I have used a few cloud accounting packages, and have one major hangup - they are sloooow. You click the mouse and nothing happens. You then ask yourself if you should click it again, and then suddenly the screen changes. I appreciate that the delays are fairly small, but I am used to desktop software which is instantaneous. (By the way, my broadband is pretty quick).
@neilrobinson5
You must have a slow internet connection as I don't get these problems you report.
One of the main benefits of cloud software is the bank feed and bank rules. Desktop software to my knowledge is still lacking here features by and large?
Ditto on thanks to Glennzy for this. It's also the longest I've spent on Accweb for weeks, there's hope yet!
I have clients of FreeAgent, Kashflow & Xero but, as many know I'm also consultant accountant to ClearBooks and have several clients on it as well as keeping my own books on it.
So just to tweak the summary above, as far as I know CB and Capium are the only two to have full CIS functionality, that is electronic subbie verification and monthly report submission.
For me the real pros are:
(As mentioned by Charlie) Tailoring to your clients and users' needs. There are 50 features you can turn on/off per business and then 70 access permissions you can turn on/off per user. This makes training clients so much easier than even FreeAgent (which I like alot) in that you can start them seeing only a couple of features and build it as they get used to the system.
VAT comparison report to compare standard VAT with FRS VAT and visa versa, it also keeps track of the anniversary FRS turnover.
A full system backup file per client that can be held internally or downloaded. This has saved disasters with some clients where they do huge data imports from external systems only to find that the settings were not quite right, so you just hit restore to the last backup point.
I had to have a chuckle over the comments that they have been quiet on the Marketing front recently. I have made the point many times to Xero, and I know users & partners regularly make the same point to other Cloud providers, that, rather than spend so much of our money on marketing hype, they should direct it to improving the system, fixing defects and improving speed. So, for 6 months that's what CB has been doing.
As far as a buy out is concerned, I haven't the foggiest, but seeing as they are the only one I know of who offered shares to all their users it wouldn't all be gloom & doom :)
Have you tried quickfile? I am not an accountant, but recently taken over managing accounts of a small charity ( with no accounting experience). Found quickfile is free, really easy to use, downloads information straight from the bank. Sends invoices by e-mail or post and has more features than I will ever use.
Didn't know accounting would be so straightforward. For a complete novice it is very good and very user friendly. However sometimes it can be slow.
Hi
Great article thanks
As a long term supporter/supplier of QB I have gone with QBO. I can get a good deal from them and pass this onto clients
One huge advantage is data migration - I can migrate a client from desktop QB in little time and they get all their lists and history. The software works on the same basis as desktop so migration is easy from a use point of view too.
I would love to see an spreadsheet entry system like on qb accountant desktop but actyally have found I can use the bank import routine to import spreadsheets and apps are available to help too.
Receipt bank works well and there is transaction pro importer too for other imports
Regardless of mtd the idea of giving clients access to their data is sound regardless of who puts it in and a mix of who does what is possible.
Mike
This is along the lines of my thoughts, Xero is the easiest to use (for accountants and non accountants) but they have a bit too much power and support is slow.
QB is my alternative as it is the one I find to have a bank rec function any where near as intuitive as Xero and offers great pricing.
Will keep with Xero for non invoicing clients as it's just so easy to keep a nice up to date reconciled bank :)
I've never really been sure what the fuss is about when it comes to Xero
I've always found it to be flimsy and wouldnt really describe it as a robust bit of kit.
one thing we look for in software to recommend is ease of use and automation, taking client errors out of the equation.
Xero has always seemed to need manual manipulation, it doesnt even do flat rate VAT properly, which just leads to client errors
likewise I dont see why so many are down on Clear books, it doesn pretty much everything ....well, support could be better at times, but isnt that true for everyone?
another vote for quickfile too
One problem with Xero, and I daresay other cloud packages have similar problems, although I have not tried others, is with the Vat coding. The defaults are not all correct, for example Donations is set to xero-rated.
Clients are likely to trust these settings, especially when HMRC are telling them how simple and flawless this cloud malarkey is.
A few good points made in the article:
With Gary in saying that the screenshots are well out of date for both Xero/QBO - in fact i've never seen a QBO screen look like that ever!
For the people complaning about them not being built for accountants - that is the point - you are thinking about yourselves again and not about the end user that have to use the software day in day out.
The fact that all of these peices of software saves you and your clients time should be the very reason to go and spend the money - I'm pretty sure if you spend £20 a month on one them you will easily make it back in other areas in a week
I could go on - but thats all for now!
I'm not a big believer in "the Cloud as panacea" which the likes of Gary @ Xero would have us all buy into, so (other than a couple of clients on Sage One) I've no experience of it.
I therefore approached my first taste of Xero (for a client who has decided to go that way after years on TAS) the other day with interest as this is supposedly the big brother of the cloud accounting experience.
Frankly, not that impressed. Obviously, it's not designed with accountants in mind and it does have the odd nice feature but, fundamentally, it's so ****ing slow!!!! I think I'll need to learn to multi task better so that I can be painting the wall or something whilst I wait for it to process.
So, I'm still no nearer making a decision about which bookkeeping package I might try to push with the advent of MTD. Frankly, I think I'm going to wait and see what the fightback from the desktop packages produces.
I must say the new developments in Clearbooks look very interesting and what a thoroughly nice fella Marcel the CEO of Exact is.
it would be nice if these companies actually took the time to contact the accountants that use and promote them once in a while to advise of whats coming up and whats changing, interesting developments are all well and good, but not if no-one knows about them
Hi oggn - I can only speak for Clear Books (I use & consult for), FreeAgent & Kashflow that I use and in my experience, they all keep me up to date with what's going on, and also ask users for their views on future developments.
In case your comment was directly in response to Glennzy's comment above about new developments at CB, he had not, I think, used it for some time and so was responding to being brought up to date with new stuff since he last looked at it.
In general CB email when anything important happens including new developments and these are also put on their blog, where, you'll see their product roadmap published in May https://www.clearbooks.co.uk/blog/.
New or changed features & functions are also put on their "Preview"option for people to try out, and feedback on, for a month or two, until they go live.
There are about 30 cloud accounting systems out there, they are not, thankfully, all the same.
no my response wasn't aimed at any particular provider specifically, we have felt that all providers could be a lot better at providing information.
we have tried most offerings and found that info from all about product changes or development to be limited
it seems like its up to us to go and dig out info from their websites (and to a large degree that goes for all providers), that's fine if you have the time, but that's not always the case.
Glenzy, many thanks for your report. However, when it comes to Xero no report is complete without including that its payroll module is truly awful.
See my other posts on the weaknesses I have found in Xero in the client of mine who uses it.
Also, I have concerns over the finances of Xero, amongst others. It seems to me to be the sort of investment I avoid - looks like it is overtrading to me - and if it ever gets a UK quote I will add it to my spread bet favourites as a short selling target.
Cloud accounting software is almost similar to self install accounting software. Here the accounting software is hosted on the remote servers. Well, data is sent into the cloud, where it is processed and also returned to the server. Here, all functions are performed off site rather on the desktops. In cloud computing, an user accesses the information remotely with the help of internet using the application of cloud service provider. As it allows remote access, here the whole data is secure and safe. It also minimizes the level of fraud. Your blog is provided with the information regarding cloud bookkeeping and also gives some knowledge regarding various software available for remote access. But in this context if someone will take my opinion then I can say that I am using
bookkeeping services which has been giving the best services till now. Thank you so much
Thanks for sharing informative information about accountant’s guide to cloud bookkeeping tools, and how it helps manage your financial operations. Cloud accounting software or services are great for small businesses because they allow you to store all your data in one place. But if the service goes down or gets too expensive, how easy will it be to just port that information elsewhere?