Business accounting software

[Goochie]

Can anyone give me tips on small business accounting software?

I'd like something that can allow me to easily handle VAT returns, cope with a VAT increase at the end of the year, link invoices to purchase orders and produce profit/loss sheets at the click of a button!

All of that for as little money as possible, of course! I only have one computer and dont want to dabble in anything SQL based.

Edited by Goochie on Friday 17th April 22:19

[neilski]

Microsoft Office Accounting Professional. Free to try for three months and about £95 on Amazon if you decide to keep it.

http://www.msofficeaccounting.co.uk/

I started up at the beginning of this year and for a complete non-accountant I find it really easy to use.

[plasticpig]

neilski said:

Microsoft Office Accounting Professional. Free to try for three months and about £95 on Amazon if you decide to keep it.

http://www.msofficeaccounting.co.uk/

I started up at the beginning of this year and for a complete non-accountant I find it really easy to use.

Thats SQL based though.

[Goochie]

plasticpig said:

neilski said:

Microsoft Office Accounting Professional. Free to try for three months and about £95 on Amazon if you decide to keep it.

http://www.msofficeaccounting.co.uk/

I started up at the beginning of this year and for a complete non-accountant I find it really easy to use.

Thats SQL based though.

I only say "nothing SQL based" because, from what I've seen of our Sage system at work, it seems to add needless complications for a one-man-band.

I'll have a look at the above.

[DavidY]

QuickBooks

[Mobsta]

DavidY said:

QuickBooks

Does the job.
Very easy to use.
The entry level version is as cheap as chips, and comes with one fantastic free tech support call to India, should you need it!

[Red V8]

Goochie said:

plasticpig said:

neilski said:

Microsoft Office Accounting Professional. Free to try for three months and about £95 on Amazon if you decide to keep it.

http://www.msofficeaccounting.co.uk/

I started up at the beginning of this year and for a complete non-accountant I find it really easy to use.

Thats SQL based though.

I only say "nothing SQL based" because, from what I've seen of our Sage system at work, it seems to add needless complications for a one-man-band.

I'll have a look at the above.

Which sage system are you using... try Instant Accounts, this isn't SQL based

[Goochie]

Red V8 said:

Goochie said:

plasticpig said:

neilski said:

Microsoft Office Accounting Professional. Free to try for three months and about £95 on Amazon if you decide to keep it.

http://www.msofficeaccounting.co.uk/

I started up at the beginning of this year and for a complete non-accountant I find it really easy to use.

Thats SQL based though.

I only say "nothing SQL based" because, from what I've seen of our Sage system at work, it seems to add needless complications for a one-man-band.

I'll have a look at the above.

Which sage system are you using... try Instant Accounts, this isn't SQL based

Sage 1000 - looks and behaves like a dinosaur.

[Galileo1]

We use solar accounts (& moneysoft)S.A is simple, easy to use does everything and more. One off payment (£99 if memory serves) plus months free trial initially. Does invoicing, VAT etc. Best software we've used.

[Plotloss]

Ask your accountant what they use and are familiar with.

Then use that.

FWIW Sage Instant Accounts Plus works flawlessly.

[roadsweeper]

We use Sage 50 Accounts 2009 and whilst the GUI is a little old fashioned (IMO) the functionality, help files and support is impressive.

[maser_spyder]

Depends where and how you do business, who you are selling to and how you accept payment.

Most accounts packages are better and worse in certain areas, a but more information would be useful if possible?

[Goochie]

maser_spyder said:

Depends where and how you do business, who you are selling to and how you accept payment.

Most accounts packages are better and worse in certain areas, a but more information would be useful if possible?

Importing goods from the Far East, selling through a website to Joe Public and to other businesses on 30 day terms.

[Red V8]

Goochie said:

Red V8 said:

Goochie said:

plasticpig said:

neilski said:

Microsoft Office Accounting Professional. Free to try for three months and about £95 on Amazon if you decide to keep it.

http://www.msofficeaccounting.co.uk/

I started up at the beginning of this year and for a complete non-accountant I find it really easy to use.

Thats SQL based though.

I only say "nothing SQL based" because, from what I've seen of our Sage system at work, it seems to add needless complications for a one-man-band.

I'll have a look at the above.

Which sage system are you using... try Instant Accounts, this isn't SQL based

Sage 1000 - looks and behaves like a dinosaur.

Sage 1000 is most definately not for the small start up business... Try Sage 50 if you need multi-currency and there are lots of people out there (eg Internetware) that can connect it to your web shop or to ebay so all your transaction processing is automatic.

[Goochie]

I've just had a thought - I will probably need multi-currency ability as I will be most likely be buying in dollars.

[maser_spyder]

Goochie said:

I've just had a thought - I will probably need multi-currency ability as I will be most likely be buying in dollars.

Unlikely you'll need a multi-currency system for this.

You'll effectively buy in ££ as the transfer will be done at your normal bank? (HSBC best for this as International payments can be done online - the only UK bank that offers it).

i.e. if you pay a factory in $$, your UK bank will debit your account in ££, sending you an advice note of what the rate amounted to etc. You enter the purchase in your accounts in the ££s that it cost you, there's no need to enter the cost price in $$ and what rate you made the payment at. It makes no difference to your accounts.

You only need multi-currency accounting if you're accepting payments, and holding an account in a foreign currency.

Sage is a cumbersome, ugly brute for retail sales, but OK for B2B.

Kashflow (awful name I know) is excellent for paypal as it auto-updates and enters all sales automatically, creates customer invoices etc. Not so great for B2B, although it will do it.

[Goochie]

maser_spyder said:

Goochie said:

I've just had a thought - I will probably need multi-currency ability as I will be most likely be buying in dollars.

Unlikely you'll need a multi-currency system for this.

You'll effectively buy in ££ as the transfer will be done at your normal bank? (HSBC best for this as International payments can be done online - the only UK bank that offers it).

i.e. if you pay a factory in $$, your UK bank will debit your account in ££, sending you an advice note of what the rate amounted to etc. You enter the purchase in your accounts in the ££s that it cost you, there's no need to enter the cost price in $$ and what rate you made the payment at. It makes no difference to your accounts.

You only need multi-currency accounting if you're accepting payments, and holding an account in a foreign currency.

Sage is a cumbersome, ugly brute for retail sales, but OK for B2B.

Kashflow (awful name I know) is excellent for paypal as it auto-updates and enters all sales automatically, creates customer invoices etc. Not so great for B2B, although it will do it.

Thanks for the advice.

I've noticed that Micrsoft's package also handles PayPal directlty but diddnt think much of it at the time. Do you get many people paying by PayPal? I'd always thought of it as an EBay payment system rather than something for general online shopping.

[Ali_D]

neilski said:

Microsoft Office Accounting Professional. Free to try for three months and about £95 on Amazon if you decide to keep it.

http://www.msofficeaccounting.co.uk/

I started up at the beginning of this year and for a complete non-accountant I find it really easy to use.

Or Microsoft Office Accounting Express which costs nothing (you obviously lose some functionality, I think stock handling but if you don't need that its a bargain!)

[rpguk]

I've just moved over from Sage Line 50 which we've begrudgingly used for a good 10 years to Quickbooks Pro. We're paying the same for Quickbooks Pro (including support) as we were for Sage support alone and so far it seems much easier to use and we're using a lot more of the features. I don't generally use the accounting software myself anymore but always found sage a total nightmare and I'm tech minded (although far from an accountancy man!)

Someone above mentioned that Sage support was good and there was mention of Quickbooks support being in India. In my experiance although Sage support was good, there were also a long wait on the phone anytime we called them which was unacceptable when paying something like £180/month for the privillidge.

My recent encounter with Quickbooks support was more positive though and the person I spoke with was certainly in the UK.

[Mobsta]

rpguk said:

Someone above mentioned that Sage support was good and there was mention of Quickbooks support being in India. In my experiance although Sage support was good, there were also a long wait on the phone anytime we called them which was unacceptable when paying something like £180/month for the privillidge.

My recent encounter with Quickbooks support was more positive though and the person I spoke with was certainly in the UK.

I bought the entry level version of QB, after my antiquated version became too old to update. My accountants were good enough to go and buy themselves a copy too, the product is dirt cheap. Calls are answered quickly, but with the entry level version (Think I paid £50ish, dont remember) you only get one free call.

I believe I got 2 free calls, at least they didnt charge me for the time spent helping move over to the 15% temporary standard. But wanted £30 the next time I called with a query. At least the support is there, phones seem to be answered quickly, and the Indians I spoke to seemed knowledgeable enough.