Accounting software

[Tyre Smoke]

I know I've asked this before, but I really want to use online accounting software instead of as now, excel spreadsheets.

The problem is, and I suspect it's because they only do a 'one size fits all' package, nothing works for me. It's either far too complicated or not complicated enough.

I've tried Quikbooks, Xero, Sage, Wave, Pandle all of them do some stuff but not all of it. Ideally I would like to input my expenses, without having to then input 'capital introduced' to compensate, input invoiced expenses like motor repairs, phone bills, etc and input (not produce) my invoices to clients. It would also be good if I could link a bank feed and it produce my VAT returns. A real bonus would be payroll as well.

Am I really expecting too much? I'm prepared to pay for something each month IF it does what I want it to, but at the moment nothing comes close to my two spreadsheets for income and expenses. My accountant is pressing me to go 'on line' because soon all submissions must be made from software apparently.

[Equus]

I use Kashflow, which will do everything you need, but I imagine that all the main players will have very similar cost and performance, these days.

[KevinCamaroSS]

I use Quikbooks and it seems fine for all of your requirements including payroll, I do it all manually and just use QB for the record keeping. Just a quick question or two:

Are you a sole trader, or a limited company? (Two different versions of QB)
How do you fund your expenses?

[seyre1972]

Hi - try FreeAgent - switched to it from Excel/workbook that accountant used to use.

So much easier, can link to Business accounts etc.

I however have an accountant whom use this (so I just upload/invoice/tag expenses etc) so your value may vary.

[48k]

Xero does all of the the things you've listed, what was your reason for not sticking with it?

[jammy-git]

48k said:

Xero does all of the the things you've listed, what was your reason for not sticking with it?

This.

[Tyre Smoke]

I didn't think Xero was very user friendly. Perhaps I should give it another go?

[jammy-git]

I found FreeAgent and Xero to be the two most user friendly platforms to use.

[d11nc_r]

I can give a vote for Kashflow, started using it due to how user friendly it is and stayed ever since.

[48k]

Tyre Smoke said:

I didn't think Xero was very user friendly.

I'm fascinated by this, not just because their tag line is "beautiful accounting done beautifully" but also because a client I'm currently building a web app for has told us "can you make the user experience as slick and intuitive as Xero because it's awesome and that's the level we want our app to be at".
As ever in life you learn more from criticism than praise so I'd be keen to get some more detail from you on what you didn't like and what turned you away from it.

[Tyre Smoke]

I can't put mu finger on it, but for the cost vs everything else, I didn't feel it was value for money. I also thought that the way the site operated wasn't straight forward. Not much help specifically, I know, but I just didn't 'click' with it.

I did however, find Free Agent more suited to my needs, I also liked the fact that you can cancel at any time with no notice. Xero requires a month's notice and is the most expensive of all I have tried.

[Tyre Smoke]

I've just logged back in to Xero and quite simply I don't understand it!

I can't see where I post invoices that I awaiting payment for, or where I post expenses or supplier invoices. Not a great start!

[jammy-git]

Invoices = Sales and expenses/supplier invoices come under Purchases.

[Eric Mc]

jammy-git said:

Invoices = Sales and expenses/supplier invoices come under Purchases.

So you post "Sales" invoices in the "Purchases" section?

[essayer]

Tyre Smoke said:

I've just logged back in to Xero and quite simply I don't understand it!

I can't see where I post invoices that I awaiting payment for, or where I post expenses or supplier invoices. Not a great start!

There are literally three massive buttons on the home page when you log in

New sales invoice
New bill
New receipt

[Eric Mc]

essayer said:

There are literally three massive buttons on the home page when you log in

New sales invoice
New bill
New receipt

I presume what they call a "Bill" (very American) is, in fact, what we have usually call a "Purchase Invoice"?

[48k]

Tyre Smoke said:

I've just logged back in to Xero and quite simply I don't understand it!

I can't see where I post invoices that I awaiting payment for, or where I post expenses or supplier invoices. Not a great start!

FWIW, I get all my suppliers to email their invoices to me =, and I simply forward the email to my ezzybills account which links to Xero. Ezzybills parses the email and creates the invoice in Xero. It's not 100% perfect but 99% of the time saves having to manually enter the invoice details in Xero.

[48k]

Eric Mc said:

I presume what they call a "Bill" (very American) is, in fact, what we have usually call a "Purchase Invoice"?

Yes that's correct (Xero is a New Zealand company BTW). An alternative point of view is that what in accountant-speak is a "purchase invoice" is what your small business man on the street says is a bill he's got to pay.

[Eric Mc]

48k said:

Eric Mc said:

I presume what they call a "Bill" (very American) is, in fact, what we have usually call a "Purchase Invoice"?

Or alternatively what accounts call "purchase invoices" is what your small business man on the street says is a bill he's got to pay.

Accounting terminology is fairly loose. Because it is loose, some words have multiple - and sometimes opposite - meanings. The use of expressions such as "Purchase Invoices" is an attempt to clarify that it relates to "Expenditure" rather than "Income". And the same goes for "Sales Invoices" - as that clearly relates to income rather than expenditure.

The loose word "bills" is a bit vague as on its own it could be referring to either "Sales" or "Purchases".

Obviously, once you get used to the software, the specific "meanings" as it relates to their software become more obvious. But it is one of the issues when jumping between different accounting and book-keeping systems. Each software system may well be using different words to what you have been used to using in the past.

And I'm not altogether against American terminology. I think their use of the terms "Accounts Receivable" for "Trade Debtors and "Accounts Payable" for "Trade Creditors" is better.

I was aware Xero is from New Zealand but like Australia, American expressions are gradually becoming more of the norm there.

Edited by Eric Mc on Wednesday 9th May 11:18

[MEC]

Eric Mc said:

Accounting terminology is fairly loose. Because it is loose, some words have multiple - and sometimes opposite - meanings. The use of expressions such as "Purchase Invoices" is an attempt to clarify that it relates to "Expenditure" rather than "Income". And the same goes for "Sales Invoices" - as that clearly relates to income rather than expenditure.

The loose word "bills" is a bit vague as on its own it could be referring to either "Sales" or "Purchases".

Obviously, once you get used to the software, the specific "meanings" as it relates to their software become more obvious. But it is one of the issues when jumping between different accounting and book-keeping systems. Each software system may well be using different words to what you have been used to using in the past.

And I'm not altogether against American terminology. I think their use of the terms "Accounts Receivable" for "Trade Debtors and "Accounts Payable" for "Trade Creditors" is better.

I was aware Xero is from New Zealand but like Australia, American expressions are gradually becoming more of the norm there.

Edited by Eric Mc on Wednesday 9th May 11:18

Rather than being American, I think Xero's view is that it is aimed at the layman rather than the accountant, as mentioned above, Sage, on the other hand, is very unfriendly to a non accountant/bookkeeper. I recall a client who spent many months posted his petrol receipts as "cash receipts" on Sage as he bought his petrol in cash!