Require good accounting software for my new practice

Require good accounting software for my new...

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Looking for a cheap accounting package for upto 5 clients. I like quickbooks, Sage and TAS but they are too expensive.  I wasnt  impressed with VT as it didn't seem to be particularly user friendly. 

Want to pay around £200.

Would appreciate any inputs.  I wondered if there was any new accounting software in the market that someone could recommend.

Replies (71)

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Replying to SteveHa:
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By chatman
15th May 2013 14:36

No chance of returning to QuickBooks

alisonatintuit wrote:
I personally think the QuickBooks "copy and paste" function is a very easy way to get certain types of transactions into QuickBooks.  I would be delighted to set some time to show you?

To be honest, after years of using QuickBooks, and always paying to get the new version that fixed the bugs introduced in the previous version, I no longer have any faith at all in QuickBooks.

It may be that Intuit really has fixed the transaction import nightmare in one version but, given all the other complaints I, and other users, have about QuickBooks and about Intuit's behaviour, finally introducing imports (which everyone else has been doing for years) in 2013 is not enough to gain my confidence.

I wouldn't even risk trying it; the risk to my business would be too great.

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By MissAccounting
15th May 2013 13:53

Sorry to be blunt but if you need an proven incomplete records solution at less than £150 for unlimited clients then you cant go past VT!  Get client to save bank statements as CSV and copy and paste them into the bank statement import wizard.

If you insist on having a cool/trendy/fancy Apple Macintosh in an accountancy practice then you are mad quite frankly.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with PCs these days, Windows 7 is absolutely rock solid and can do a thousand, if not more (including offering THE perfect solution to your problem), things than a Mac and you are kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

Cheap laptop, VT, Moneysoft and BTC can all be bought cheaper in total than an iMac! 

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By Cloudcounter
15th May 2013 13:54

Quickfile

I've a client using Quickfile, and find it usable, if a bit restricted in reporting.  The client does all of the data entry.

The main issue that I see is that the login is your email address, and you can only have one company related to that login.  The client has therefore set up two email addresses, one for each of his businesses, and has given me two email addresses on his domain

The thought of having to create 100 different email addresses to set up 100 clients wouldn't appeal.  The other issue is that although QF is free, its main purpose seems to be to sell accounting services provided by the owner.  I wouldn't be surprised if a professional accountancy firm setting up 100 logins was in breach of their terms and conditions as well.

Personally, I'm happy paying the Xero charges, which of course are reflected in the fees agreed with the client.  For ease of use, bank feeds and imports, and the abiltity to share access with clients it's basically peanuts, but not everybody sees it that way.

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By Cloudcounter
15th May 2013 15:09

Quickbooks is history

as far as I am concerned.  At one time I used to think that it was quite good, but issues with VAT filing are legion (the user's fault, apparently, for doing it wrong)  Add to that huge issues with installing updates on our system, including corruption of earlier versions, the registration on purchased copies "expiring"for no apparent reason requiring a call to the so called support line to reactivate it, and the general (to me) deterioration in the user interface.  That's without taking into account the much easier bank reconciliations in Xero and similar products.

Sorry, wouldn't use it again if it was free and trying to get existing users off it if at all possible.

 

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By alisonatintuit
16th May 2013 11:07

Really listening

Hi Chatman and Cloudcounter

I am sorry you have had a bad experience with VAT issues in those older versions of QuickBooks. We have addressed all of those issues in later versions (and we can help anyone through an upgrade if they are not on a version of 2010 or later), but the fact remains that you had a bad experience and now have lost trust in us. 

I am responsible for making sure my UK accountants have a great experience with both our online and offline (desktop) products, and I will ensure your feedback is relayed to the UK product manager and the engineers themselves.

Moving forward, I do hope that you will give us another chance, because we have listened and we have addressed the issues based on feedback from our UK accountants, bookkeepers and customers. Additionally, we have released special versions of our software (for both our Online and Desktop versions of QuickBooks) that cater specially to the needs of busy accountants.  Both of these versions focus on increasing productivity and fostering collaboration between accountant and client, and many of the missing features you mentioned are included in these accountant-facing products.

Bottom line - I stand ready to help in any way I can and will be happy to arrange personal demos for you (or any other accountant) as well as help you learn more about what we have done to address issues that arose in 2008 or earlier.  Please just let me know.  I can be reached at [email protected]

Kind regards,

Alison

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Replying to williamsaccounts:
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By chatman
16th May 2013 16:04

Intuit: "Yeah, we'll fix that fault in the next version"

alisonatintuit wrote:
We have addressed all of those issues in later versions

Alison - Have you read my posts? One of my biggest complaints is that QB introduces new faults and then says all you have to do is pay hundreds of pounds for the new version in which it is fixed. Your post just does that again.

And no-one has answered my question about backwards compatibility.

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Replying to williamsaccounts:
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By Ken Howard
16th May 2013 16:53

QB Death knell

alisonatintuit wrote:
We have addressed all of those issues in later versions

You're making out that you've "listened" and improved/corrected problems in earlier versions.  What you're failing to understand/accept is that Intuit CAUSED many problems in the 2008 version, which didn't exist before then and removed various aspects which had been provided in earlier versions, i.e. multi currency, accountant versions, etc.  2008 was a BACKWARD move and even to this day, it seems Intuit are in denial about how bad it was.  Rather than "listening", you'd be far better upping your game and making sure that your software is fit for purpose - 2008 wasn't!  It's adding insult to injury to expect customers to pay for later year updates to put them back to exactly where they stood before the 2008 fiasco.  I wonder how many Intuit employees were employed by the firm before 2008 as virtually everyone I spoke to denied that the pre 2008 versions had the functionality now trumpetted as new features and that VAT actually worked before they screwed it up.  Like others, there's no way I'll ever go back to using nor recommending QB.  Intuit screwed it up with the 2008 version and their pathetic attempt at "support" dealing with the issues was their death knell.  Businesses need software they can trust, and sadly, Intuit can't be trusted.

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By vinaymehta1959
16th May 2013 16:25

Try VT Again

For you requirements I cannot see anything better than VT, as far as MAC is concerned brilliant system for Graphics and Gaming not for accounting.

Recommend VT and Microsoft cheap, reliable and user friendly.

 

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By Jim100
16th May 2013 23:59

Thanks for the comments

Ok I am sold on VT -

Now need some Accounts Production and Corporatoon Tax

I really like Keytime for its accounts production and corporation tax as seems very easy to use and reasonably priced.  I have had a demo of Tax Calc and it was okay but preferred keytime

Has anyone used the combination of VT and keytime and what is the pros and cons ?

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By chatman
17th May 2013 00:50

VT Final Accounts: Reasons to Buy

@Jim100 - If you are using VT for your bookkeeping (VTT+) then the advantages of VT Final Accounts are massive:

If you are buying VTT+, it only costs £50 more (£74 in the first year) to get VT Final Accounts on top.Import of VTT+ balances to VT Final Accounts is virtually instantaneous (click of a button)Drill down in Final Accounts goes straight into the ledger (VTT+)Late adjustments posted to the final accounts go straight into the VTT+ ledger. No remembering to post twice.

Additional benefits, unrelated to VTT+, are:

Automatic tax compVery simple to edit the accountsDoes all your XBRL tagging for youFiles your accounts online at the touch of a buttonGreat free support from the AWeb VT discussion groupIt is cheap

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By chatman
17th May 2013 00:55

QuickBooks

The only things that could make me recommend QuickBooks to new clients would be: easy transaction import; guaranteed right to a free copy of every subsequent version, and backwards compatibility so I could avoid the new version if it was too buggy.

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By chatman
17th May 2013 14:10

Loading QB TB into VT

I (unfortunately) still have some clients on QuickBooks and I find loading the TB (or any TB in fact) into VT very simple, far easier than loading a TB into Digita for example.

I seem to remember VT talking about producing a tax programme, but it is not here yet and, in any case, there are good alternatives out there. People speak very well of BTC, which I understand imports accounts from VT at the touch of a button. I am going to try BTC this year. I used TaxCalc up to now, which was fine, but appears to have problems this year.

EDITED out my Freudian slip, picked up by cparker87

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Replying to Briar:
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By chatman
17th May 2013 14:12

My innermost thoughts revealed.

cparker87 wrote:

chatman wrote:

.. which I understand imports accounts from VT at the touch of a bottom....

te hee hee

That wasn't even caused by the spell checker. Entirely Freudian, I'm afraid! I'll have to go back and edit it. I'm clearly not keeping a breast of things.

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By Lee Perriam
20th May 2013 11:54

QuickBooks

I've been a QuickBooks user for many years and have sympathy with some of the issues raised in relation to earlier versions. However, I have persisted with QuickBooks for numerous reasons, not least its ease of use and transparency.

When I established my own accounting practice, I decided to join the Intuit ProAdvisor programme and this proved to be a very worthwhile step. The product has changed substantially since the 2008 edition and Intuit have invested heavily into the software, the programme and onshore support. Furthermore, Intuit continues to listen to, and engage with, the Accountant community to make further improvements. I for one will continue to use and recommend QuickBooks for accounting practices and clients alike.

QuickBooks is inexpensive and you don't need to upgrade every year. QB Pro 2013 (1 user) often retails for less than £125 on Amazon so even if one wishes to upgrade annually, it's not going to break the bank. From an accounting practice viewpoint, and on only one license, I run numerous clients accounting records and payrolls for £32 per month!

I realise that I will not win over all of the contributors to this string, but I would suggest that the product is at least worth revisiting with the free trial of both desktop and online products.

 

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Replying to lionofludesch:
Red Leader
By Red Leader
20th May 2013 14:04

@ Lee

I see you joined AWeb a couple of hours ago. Welcome to AWeb. What prompted you to join?

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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By MissAccounting
20th May 2013 14:11

IP

Red Leader wrote:

I see you joined AWeb a couple of hours ago. Welcome to AWeb. What prompted you to join?

 

It would be interesting to see the IP address that's for sure! 

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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By Lee Perriam
20th May 2013 14:12

Joining

Some comments on QuickBooks came up in a Google search and I wanted to respond. Interested to see what goes on here. 

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By chatman
20th May 2013 14:51

Lee and QuickBooks

To be fair to Lee, he is pretty much sold on QB. His website has an entire drop down menu devoted to it, and mentions no other accounting software.

Lee - Which other accounting software have you used, and what did you not like about it?

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Replying to Polly Lee:
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By Lee Perriam
21st May 2013 16:13

Other accounting software

During 25 years as a Finance Director in the SME sector, naturally I've used several accounting systems but most commonly, various flavours of Sage.

Since establishing my own accounting practice, I often come across Sage when signing up new clients, very frequently installed on the advice of previous external accountants - often the software is only partially used e.g. for billing customers. I suspect this is because Sage requires more accounting knowledge on the part of the user to fulfil many tasks when compared to QuickBooks. A 15 minute demo of QuickBooks is often all it takes to win over the client and the import of data from Sage to QuickBooks is not a major issue these days.

From my perspective as an ACA, I find Sage data harder to interrogate and reporting to be 'clunky' and have had to use additional software such as Crystal reports in the past to extract decent reports although I accept that this may well have changed in current versions.

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By chatman
29th May 2013 14:38

QB v Sage

@ Lee - If you've only compared QuickBooks to Sage, I can see why you like it so much. Sage seems to be the most unpopular accounts package on Accountingweb.

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By chatman
29th May 2013 14:39

Continuing Problems with QB2013

Looks like QB still has problems, even in the latest version https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/anyanswers/question/quickbooks-vat-unass...

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