Many of our clients are very good at their own jobs but not so hot when it comes to book-keeping. We have encouraged, cadjoled and bullied them into keeping some sort of record of their sales and purchases which for the most part entails filling out a 13 column red cash book.
We are trying to move our clients on into the 21st century and would like to recommend an electronic alternative. We have looked at many of the packages out there - sage, quickbooks, tas books etc etc but they are all far too complicated.
We don't need sales and purchase ledgers, the ability to deal with multi-currency or multi-bank.
Indeed unless the system is very basic and straight-forward our clients will either not use it or will make mistakes.
What we would really like is a basic computer package which emulates a traditional 13 column cash-book.
Does anyone know of such a system out there?
martin curtis
Replies (13)
Please login or register to join the discussion.
Of course!
Martin
Of course there is such a package. It's called Microsoft Excel. I've commented on this topic before, I think in connection with charity accounting.
You simply emulate the cash book but let Excel do all the sums and analysis. You can also do fancy things like using conditional formatting to highlight if entries do not balance etc.
When my wife took on the treasurer's post of our local kids' club, with no book-keeping experience whatsoever, I had her up and running with minimal supervision within a week.
If there is such demand perhaps I should set up a template and flog it!
Cashflow Manager
Try looking at this product. It is very straightforward and easy to use. You can download a demo from their website.
Much easier than setting up a spreadsheet, and relatively inexpensive.
More - or Winweb
Hi Martin,
I agree with Jason and Rachael. More software certainly fits your description exactly at the moment - but I am watching this space with interest to see the new Winweb cashbook entry screen.
I work with about 6 clients on More and they all really like it and find it very simple to use.
It has integral training videos and is very easy for the accountant to customise to fit the client's business - you can put in, or take out, as many columns as you like.
It can also be customised to do no VAT, normal VAT, or (if tweaked) flat-rate VAT.
M
Quckbooks
We looked at this for a small charity. After discarding quite a few, we were left with Big Red Book and Quickbooks SimpleStart
Bottom line, Quickbooks SimpleStart only cost £40 (1/2 BRB), mimicked cheques and paying in slips, had great reporting (to be fair the Quickbooks reporting and drill through is excellent) and was easily understood by a part time lady who had difficulty opening excel. BRB was OK, but the more you pushed the lady felt the less it did
Kind Regards
Daniel Clark
Ryba Macaulay Ltd
[email protected]
Computerised Cash Book
We supply to our small clients Cashflow Manager which is exactly what clients have wanted for years - a computerised version of the old style cash book- but for accountants it automatically produces a trail balance and nominal ledger based on the clients entries and bank reconciliation. These can be exported to excel.
So at the year end our clients e-mail a backup using the proceedure in the program, we export the Trial Balance to excel and import it into our IRIS financial accounts package thus producing a draft set of accounts without re-keying any entries.The client also has to supply details of Debtors and Creditors and stock.
We have been using this system for over four years in out practice and I would highly recommend its use.
It may not be the cheapest on the market but it is a very good product and good value for money as well as very easy to use- go and buy it. We sell the Proram to clients and often set it up and give them some instruction - but others find the small manual provides sufficient help.
More
Martin,
As much as I want to say use winweb (http://www.winweb.co.uk ), I have to in this case suggest you talk to Bob Harper and More Software (http://www.moresoftware.biz ), I think you will find their software fits your requirements perfectly.
Cash Book Pro...
...We designed a simple system called Cash Book pro. This works within MS Excel.
See http://www.yorkshireaccountancy.co.uk/bookkeeper.htm
Regards,
Nick
DOSH not Excel
I'd recommend DOSH.
The only draw-back to Excel is that totals can be easily incorrect if a formula is wrong and it can be a devil of a job to find if you are presented with a apparently correct cash book sheet.
Dosh
http://www.dosh.co.uk/products.php?product=cashbookwin
I have recommended this in similar circumstances to the one you describe - it works a treat
Actually I know a very easy and good program in Windows which is called "QuickBooks", it's green, any one can learn it and understand it fast.
Actually I know a very easy and good program in Windows which is called "QuickBooks", it's green, any one can learn it and understand it fast.
Actually I know a very easy and good program in Windows which is called "QuickBooks", it's green, any one can learn it and understand it fast.
Actually I know a very easy and good program in Windows which is called "QuickBooks", it's green, any one can learn it and understand it fast.