Hello,
I am consisdering sertting up my own practice and I was wondering what the best Accoutning software package for a Mac would be? I know this has been covered before with lots of people recommending VT but that is only Windows based.
So is there anythhing out there for a Mac or would I be better inversting in a PC?
Thanks in advance
Dave
Replies (19)
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GnuCash is the only one I am aware of. Why not use an online accounting package then it doesn't matter what hardware you use?
The only one I've actually used is Quickbooks online. It seems to rate highly. The other popular one is Xero.
Hi Dave
We started up 6 years ago, we started using VT accounts but after some really great cloud software, we quickly ditched VT and almost ditched PCs for Macs.
Currently we use
Taxfiler for Accounts and Tax Returns
Accountancy Manager for Practice Management
Xero for our own Invoicing and own Book Keeping
All above are cloud based so work perfectly on Macs, we have 3 Macbooks and 2 Macs working in in tandem in the Office
We also use Google Drive as our "cloud" drive
We have one PC, only because our preferred payroll software is Moneysoft and is not cloud based and only works on Windows; but we manage this ok.
Hope this helps.
When you say "Accounts Software" i am assuming you are talking final accounts.
Taxcalc will run on a Mac and is a complete suite, with tax software etc.
The PM software is not ideal so you might want to tag on Accountancy Manager or Senta to manage deadlines
I should concentrate on the basic numbers and tax stuff before getting too bogged down in PM software, there's lots out there and it's best to see how you and yoir clients work first before picking the type of PM facilities that best suit you.
I've been Mac only for about 6 years now and, although you can easily run PC software on them (using apps like Parallels) or in an hosted environment, it will only be a short time now till everything is run on Cloud Apps.
The majority of my clients use cloud accounting (there are about 30 available) and so the balance sheet and P&L are easy to prepare in the app, before taking them to the accounts and tax return software (I too use Taxfiler).
As there is currently no easy way to do incomplete records jobs on Taxfiler, ie you enter a TB and that's it, you may find one of the other systems more suitable.
Having said that, can I suggest that incomplete records (paper bag) jobs should now be a thing of the past, especially with digital tax submissions (MTD) on the horizon. These days it's best practice to encourage/train clients to keep at least a basic ongoing record of their accounting throughout the year and if you're interested in using a basic and extremely cost effective cloud app then I'd suggest having a look at Pandle.
Good luck
Stick with online software. There is plenty of really good stuff about, and trying to run things on a Mac will always cause problems.
For practice management at low cost I'd use Quickbooks Accountant online. As people are saying, it's not hardware dependent and it integrates with other software like Taxfiler. Even better when the client base uses QB's.
I've used AccountEdge on Macs and it's a good standalone package but it's not for practice management and tax reporting in itself.
I use Liberty Accounts for all clients that includes payroll and VAT Return submission then transfer the trial balance into Taxfiler for final accounts and tax returns. All in the cloud. As others have said there are many cloud offerings. I would avoid desktop systems altogether as a new start up because it is not the future. Others have recommended Xero or Quick Books, which are able alternatives to my choice of Liberty. Accountancy Manager is a great piece of software for managing your practice, but you won't need it to start with and it is also in the cloud. One last point - Making Tax Digital is just around the corner. It is essential that you educate VAT Registered clients to use cloud software and all others should be rapidly steered in that direction. One major benefit of cloud accounting is bank feeds that directly allow transactions to be transferred electronically into the system. If you have clients who process all of their transactions through bank and credit card accounts, the bookkeeping can be dramatically streamlined.
For practice management at low cost I'd use Quickbooks Accountant online. As people are saying, it's not hardware dependent and it integrates with other software like Taxfiler. Even better when the client base uses QB's.
I've used AccountEdge on Macs and it's a good standalone package but it's not for practice management and tax reporting in itself.
sorry to have missed this tread as was away on holiday
Used Macs in own practice for 20+ years now Used Kashflow as accounts package because although any online one works it seems to dovetail well with pop ups and things as the mac normally uses them and their help line understand Macs, have used Xero and Quickbooks and they work.
Use Taxfiler for accounts production. the bet thing about that combination is it will shortly tie in to a Kashflow download (they tell me after Iris bought both). Use HQ for practice management
Excel online for anything else that clients send me
But the bes thing about using Macs is that firstly tbey ar great at opening odd program files that clients send us using programs that computer experts have never heard of, and secondly twice clients have had virus and my Macs have been totally unaffected despite deliberately logging on to save their data. Not to be recommended but in both cases saved them Thousands of pounds at the risk of reinstalling Mac software on an old laptop that would only take an hour at most to do