5 Reasons To Buy Accounting Software.
If you are reading this there’s a good chance that your business is using an accounting system which either resides in a collection of untidy boxes and filing cabinets, or sprawls over multiple Excel spreadsheets. If that is the case then you already know the limitations of these types of accounting system, in terms of data storage and retrieval, organization and labor cost. What you might not be aware of however, is there’s a better way to manage your business finances using accounting software.
Cost: Once you begin using accounting software it’s unlikely you’ll ever need to hire the services of an accountant or bookkeeper again. Year end account compilation can be an expensive and time consuming business; instead, let your accounting software produce a range of reports in just a few button clicks whenever you require them.
Expense tracking: Expenses have a way of stacking up each month. You have probably noticed more recurring expense claims entered onto your books as the year goes on. This situation can quickly bite into your company’s cash flow if it isn’t managed. Fortunately there’s no better way to manage expense claims than to allow your accounting software track them. They can then be sorted by employee, department and so on to provide a detailed breakdown of your biggest expenses.
Data Security: How safe are your accounts? Most government regulations require your business accounts to be stored securely and backed up regularly. Once again, accounting software makes this a breeze by optionally providing high quality data encryption and tools to help you backup your accounts data to CD or the internet.
Audits: It could happen to you. If it does the best way to ensure fast and pain free auditing is to use a recognised accounting software solution. Once you have an accounting software license, you’ll be able to automatically update it to keep pace with changing account storage regulations, so your books will never miss the vital information required of you. Major accounting software products will also be audit friendly, allowing auditors to easily get to the information they require will help them get their job done with less disruption to your business.
Accounts Management: This might seems like an obvious one, but it will be your biggest money saver once you buy accounting software. Your business cash flow depends on accurate and up to date accounting data, whether it means calling in overdue accounts, product pricing, expense monitoring or a host of other problems; you’ll find new accounting software to be a huge time saver for you and your employees.
Accounting Software Features
Buying new accounting software for your business can be a daunting task. Which features do you need? How many licenses will be required? How will you train your staff and make a successful change from your old software or, (dare I say it?) pen and paper accounting solution? While it might be impossible to check every angle, you can at least be sure you are getting the accounting software features that you need.
Most accounting software will come with a core set of features and tools which are shared among all the various solutions. They will behave differently, but you can be almost certain of the following functionality in any accounting software package that you purchase: Accounts receivable, debt collection, accounts payable, general ledger, billing and invoicing, purchase orders, sales orders and some form of reporting to grab data from all these sections. If this is all you are looking for then you can confidently make a purchase of any basic accounting software package from major suppliers like NetSuite, Intacct, SAGE and Epicor.
If you are looking for something more, the chances are that it’s also available from the major accounting software publishers, but you are going to have to dig a little deeper to make the right purchase. You have an opportunity to integrate your after sales support, warehouse, product catalogue, inventory, payroll and much other functionality straight into your accounting software system, but it will take a little more research and money to get the right package.
Peachtree provides a very clearly defined selection of accounting software packages which advertise their features right in their names: Premium Accounting for Construction, Premium Accounting for Distribution, Premium Accounting for manufacturing and so on. You can be assured that these packages will include the tools relevant to these business types; things like tracking of labor burden, insurance, quotations, flexible pricing, serialized inventory tracking and more.
One other option is available to you: Add-ons. This is perhaps the smartest move if you are unsure what your business might need from its accounting software in the immediate or mid future. Accounting software solutions like Netbooks, and NolaPro allow for the purchase and installation of add-ons to expand the functionality of their respective accounting programs. These add-ons are perfectly affordable, and (when purchased for the same version software) will integrate into your accounting system whenever they are needed. In this way, you can expand your business safe in the knowledge that your accounting software can keep up with whatever you throw at it.
The Best Accounting Software for Small Business.
You’ve finally chosen to upgrade that antiquated accounting software? There are some tough choices ahead, but this article will give you a quick outline of the key benefits to some of the most popular packages. All the accounting software solution’s listed will typically share similar core features, such as Accounts receivable and debt collection, accounts payable, general ledger, billing and invoicing, purchase orders and sales orders. Where they differ will be what determines their suitability for your business, namely; their suitability for use in the small business environment, and their ability to scale to keep up with your businesses changing accounting needs.
QuickBooks: Perhaps the best known of the accounting software solutions, Intuit’s QuickBooks is an extremely popular and feature rich accounting solution for small businesses. One of the key benefits for small business is that it will scale with your company, so when the time comes to employ more features, billing automation and extended forms and templates QuickBooks Pro and Premier will be just an easy upgrade away.
Peachtree Complete: Not to miss a trick, the clever folks at SAGE also provide multiple versions of this accounting software, but with a twist. Businesses of any size will find Peachtree Complete Accounting 2009 an excellent starting point, and will then benefit from the ability to diversify with products like Peachtree Premium Accounting Manufacturing 2009, and Premium Accounting Distribution 2009. These packages are available in value-packs to reduce the cost of buying an entire accounting, sales and distribution software pipeline.
Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting: The boffins at Microsoft have done it again with this, their first entry in the accounting software market. The package integrates into Microsoft office effortlessly, which allows a direct upgrade from a Microsoft Excel and Outlook solution to the more robust accounting software. All the standard features are included, and the package can be upgraded with optional add-on’s to provide a range of services from payroll through to PayPal invoicing.
NetSuite: The black sheep of the list, NetSuite shuns the normal one time purchase model of other accounting software and is instead accessible via a monthly subscription. NetSuite comprises a collection of online-only tools which cover the whole scope of business requirements including: Job and time tracking, sales estimates, check writing and online bill payment, amortization schedules and of course the standard collection of accounting software tools. Crucially, NetSuite will export and import data in CSV format, and is compatible with QuickBooks.
