We are a small business. 1 person in the accounts department. We need to change our accounts software. I have looked at Sage, Microsoft Nav, and although they look OK I would much prefer to hold my data on site and not in the cloud. Could anyone recommend suitable software please?
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MS NAV wasn't cloud based the last time I looked at it (last year); is it now purely cloud?
I think so - I will double check though (I did only look at the version that came with came with O365).
Mainly I don't trust 3rd parties with my data. Coupled with the fact that we are a law firm, and so obliged to keep any client data in the UK.
Mainly I don't trust 3rd parties with my data. p>
A good a reason as any.
Coupled with the fact that we are a law firm, and so obliged to keep any client data in the UK.
An interesting thought!
in which case you need QuickBooks desktop , we have 2 solicitors who use it and has been set up for client accounts.
Nick
Another recommendation for VT. In fact the free trial is 60 days. Easy to use and quick to learn.
Another shout for VT or QB desktop. Or indeed Sage 50c which if you push hard (or better still use a software house) you can get on a perpetual disc and load to desktop and/or internal server and then the choice is yours as to whether you use the cloud element or not. Unlike Sage One which Im assuming is the one you looked at which is entirely cloudy based (and IMO is crap!)
Dont be put off by the basic look of VT - its a good bit of kit.
never used VT for a solicitor, can you have sub bank accounts as law society needs regular reconciliations of all these
Probably not the right choice, would end up with basically just another Bank account. (I typed my response into my ipad before I saw the law firm bit and the whole thing crashed on me, but later went and posted it. Must sort that darned thing out as it keeps doing it!!). Might indeed be worth looking at the solicitor specific packages
never used VT for a solicitor, can you have sub bank accounts as law society needs regular reconciliations of all these
It is multi company, so you can easily set up a separate company and reconcile the client bank account within that. This is what we do and it works fine.
yes its a work around , as some data has to be entered twice so I would say QB is better also you can rebill costs automatically such s barristers fees and also make more extensive uses of department and classes and run payroll to name but a few
Thank you. Because we are a crime firm and do 99% legal aid, we have no need to not hold client money, and so have avoided getting too involved in the Solicitors rules. It simplifies a great many things for us.
Therefore VT seems a viable option, but QB desktop also looks very interesting
I would agree with Carnmores - I've used QB desktop for 17 years and won't use the cloud version (dodgy broadband!) You can also record time in QB so good for solicitors.
early adopter great to hear! I started with QB 2 in about 1993...........I still run 2008 on an old desktop.............
BUT mainly 2015 2016 and 2017
AND online which improves all the time
I wonder if i am their longest surviving customer
I have an ancient copy on an old desktop, pre 1999 but unsure of exact date without winding up the old PC. I just use it for Scouts stuff, works pretty well and could still serve a few basic clients.
Don't forget to consider backup for that non-cloud based software.
A convincing argument.
Although they may now consider scheduling backups alongside their other backup procedures and test and restore on a regular basis. They may even choose their own schedule and run on-demand backups when required.
They might even do a few other things you didn’t remind them of. They’ll be able to take security responsibly and ensure that only they control who has access to their data; they may even allow remote (is that “cloud”?) access via secure network systems in a controlled way. Should they want a true “cloud” experience their IT bods may be able to program a “buffer” simulation every keystroke for them.
Still – a convincing argument - and lots like cloud based systems; although possibly for other reasons.
Choice is an excellent thing.
Which takes all of 10 seconds! But at least with non cloud you can choose when to take a backup and then wonder of all wonders have the option of a choice of restore points to go back to if necessary.
Legal aid billing is quite specific these days. So much so that we use specific case management software to generate the invoices.
Our current software provider has been bought out by another provider and their product is no longer being upgraded. So we have to change - the big downside of this is the old software used to have integrated accounts, the new case management software does not. The knock on is that I need a new accounts package, hence my questions here.
Legal aid billing is quite specific these days. So much so that we use specific case management software to generate the invoices.
........ So we have to change - the big downside of this is the old software used to have integrated accounts, the new case management software does not. The knock on is that I need a new accounts package, hence my questions here.
If you are looking for something that will integrate with other bespoke software and want the ability to manage the integration and business rules yourself, as well as automating any process you want, plus those that you might not even have considered, or thought was possible - then consider Dimensions from the Access Group. It has a "Transaction Broker" module (API) that basically allows you to take data from any ODBC compliant source and feed into the accounts anyway you want and in any order. For example create new customer, create project, create budgets, create sales order/sales invoice, create purchase orders - all following your business rules as well as meeting data integrity checks. Plus any thing else you can think of. Sensibly it writes back to the source to tell it not to bring it across next time if required. Get it to journal your prepayments and accruals if you really want.
Worth a look.
Another thought here is you could host your own server in a data centre and get the benefits of remote working. Then you schedule your own backups from your server an external disk or hosted network attach storage. With the server being yours you can install software of your choosing.
My goodness we seem to have strayed a long way from the original question, we all appreciate the necessity of back ups , but that was not what the question was about. the OP clearly stated a wish for desktop and he now has a number of possible solutions.
Just a quick update to thank everyone who replied. In the end I went with Sage desktop or 50C as it has re branded. I looked at the other options. Quickbook still do a desktop version, which seemed similar in quality to Sage. Access was too geared to enterprise (and enterprise prices) for us. VT was fine, but not as intuitive (at least to me) as Sage.
With regards backups, I have them in hand, but I appreciate those comments, as I always think DR should be up most in your mind when considering new systems.
Thanks again
Paddy
On the SAGE thing we have found that running the data checks each day can help avoid disaster. This is now automated to a point but still need someone to check the log to make sure there are no errors. It could save you a lot of time and money.
Data checks are part of the backup routine in sage, so do your backups daily (good practice) and you dont need to do the data checks as a separate exercise.
Plus you do not need to check the logs as sage will prompt you to look if there are any warnings or errors. Again another millisecond long task.
Ive dealt with sage for years, with multiple users and very rarely get anything on the logs, unless of course you have a five year old with no training using it! Or of course if you get some numpty logging on using the same login as someone else who is already logged on! Precisely why people get their own logins and shouldnt share passwords!
i am slightly surprised you ddnt go with QB but good luck i'm sure Sage will do the job , its just the difficulty of reporting that i hate so much
i am slightly surprised you ddnt go with QB but good luck i'm sure Sage will do the job , its just the difficulty of reporting that i hate so much