Advice on software / systems

Setting up is harder than it looks!

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First post on here so please be gentle!

In the process of putting software / systems in place for our practice.

Thus far, we have taken advice from the software companies and their salesmen and I think we've already made mistakes which is why I now come, cap in hand, pleading for advice.

We decided Digita would be best for our practice due to the balance between integration, cost and functionality.  Probably a big mistake if Accounts Production Advanced does not improve soon!  Tied in now for a number of years so no use crying about it.  What we hope to do, however, is avoid the same mistakes in the future.

We are currently looking at cloud bookkeeping/accounting options together with receipt scanning / reconcilliation software and think we have made our decisions but it would be great if anybody out there, particularly Digita users, could provide their opinions on whether or not we are making a wise choice.

Sage have offered us a very reasonable rate on their Business Cloud system (with a gurantee of inflation linked price increases only) which we can resell to clients.  The other options considered are Quickbooks and Xero but both were more expensive.   All seem to do what we need them to and, as such, we are looking at going with Sage but I would be grateful to hear opinions on this.

We are also likely to go with Auto Entry for banks statement / receipt scanning.  We are also considering Receipt Bank but it as it will work out a lot more expensive, we may only use it for some of our larger clients.  I would also appreciate thoughts on this decsion and, if possible, advice on how other accountants in practice design their systems to make the most of these packages.

We purchased a fairly large client base, t/o circa £500k, and the previous partner seemed to operate an adhoc system with every job being done in a different way.  We would like to take a more uniformed approach, though we realise that getting many of the clients to change will be an uphill struggle.

We therefore wish to ensure that we have our systems correct before trying to impose them on our cleint base and, as such, would greatly appreciate any advice.   

Replies (10)

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By Maslins
11th Jul 2018 14:10

I'd suggest in the very short term you press on with what's already being used. Have you taken on existing staff with the client base? Surely they're fairly familiar with how things are done for the clients they look after.

Then I'd suggest a bit more slowly you try to work out what kinds of clients you've got, and what options will be best suited to both you and them. Then you can attempt to migrate them across.

I'd be concerned if you do it now, without really getting to know the businesses involved, you may find a large chunk of those clients disappear fairly quickly...but I could be wrong, maybe many of them will be desperate for a change and will like you immediately pushing them onto something better.

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By dhughes1975
11th Jul 2018 15:49

Can I ask what your current software/systems set up is?

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By Maslins
11th Jul 2018 14:27

dhughes1975 wrote:

Can I ask what your current software/systems set up is?


Sure:
- barring a tiny handful of "old skool" clients on spreadsheets/paper records, all clients on FreeAgent,
- we use the fairly new Senta for practice management,
- VT for accounts (realistically this will probably be the next thing we move away from),
- Taxcalc for tax returns (corporate/personal), and things like AML.
- Echosign for electronic signatures on documents (though again we may be moving away from this as Senta can do it itself).

Not specifically accounting, but I'd also suggest you take a look at FrontApp which we use to help share emails, and Timetastic to keep track of staff holidays etc. Both easily worth the money for us.

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By andy.partridge
11th Jul 2018 14:16

'Sage have offered us a very reasonable rate on . . . '

That's where you lost me.

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By dhughes1975
11th Jul 2018 15:50

Is your comment due to the quality of the product or the pricing (or both!)?

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By andy.partridge
11th Jul 2018 14:43

Are you Omnipotent or have you hijacked Omnipotent's thread? You are not a first time questioner but have been asking and answering questions for years.

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By dhughes1975
11th Jul 2018 14:51

I think hijack is a strong word.

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By andy.partridge
11th Jul 2018 14:58

What a jerk.

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By Jdopus
11th Jul 2018 16:02

Why is he a jerk?

dhughes/Omnipotent, my own personal opinion is that Sage software is consistently poorly designed in a way which is very user unfriendly. I view them as having very little understanding of how accountants actually use software on a day to day basis. My particular bone of contention is their insistence on making error correction as difficult and complex as possible, if they make it possible at all. I can't say if this is true of their latest cloud based software, but it's certainly true of the payroll section of it I made the mistake of using until a few months ago.

I've used Quickbooks as well and while it's servicable, I find it's UI complex and unfriendly at times as well. The drill down functionality is far from perfect too.

Of the three above you mention in the OP, I personally think Xero stands head and shoulders over the others. It is slightly more expensive but it's much, much more user friendly and you'll probably appreciate the benefit for both your staff and clients. It may also be worth contacting them about their special deals, I know they do a package which is much cheaper if you have a number of clients who don't need access to the Xero themselves - for people you handle the bookkeeping for and who aren't frequently involved.

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By Cantona1
11th Jul 2018 18:43

"'Sage have offered us a very reasonable rate on . . . '

That's where you lost me."

I thought I was the only one!

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