Accounting Software
Accounting Software
Author
Discussion

Chops9

Original Poster:

69 posts

178 months

Tuesday 11th November 2014
quotequote all
I'm in the process of setting up a construction firm and looking into accounting software.

I'll be needing it for the day to day stuff and an accountant will be doing the end of year stuff. I've seen Quick Books and xero mentioned in other posts on here. Does anyone recommend any other and know the pros and cons of the other two?

Any help would be great.



Gorgonzola

27 posts

174 months

Wednesday 12th November 2014
quotequote all
The issue which you will come across I have found with the two off them is they don't cater for CIS or retention as a standard off the shelf product and are very expensive bespoke bolt on tools / third party application.

Terminator X

20,964 posts

235 months

Wednesday 12th November 2014
quotequote all
I really like this and it's free, yes FREE!

http://www.quickfile.co.uk/

TX.

AndrewCrown

2,505 posts

145 months

Wednesday 12th November 2014
quotequote all
Chops
Xero is good... we use Clearbooks for some of our businesses... Cannot fault them...
A

Chops9

Original Poster:

69 posts

178 months

Wednesday 12th November 2014
quotequote all
Thanks for the help guys, it'll get me started in my research. I'll run it by the account I'm having a sit down with also as needing to make sure its suitable for a construction company.

Trailhead

2,628 posts

178 months

Wednesday 12th November 2014
quotequote all
Sage

C Lee Farquar

4,233 posts

247 months

Wednesday 12th November 2014
quotequote all
Excel for us

MrSparks

655 posts

151 months

Wednesday 12th November 2014
quotequote all
Sage, and a separate, very expensive, software package for estimating, applications, retentions etc. They do talk to each other as well so we export all invoices to Sage etc etc.

I also use Kash Flow for my other business. I much prefer KF to Sage if I'm honest! Far easier to use, but doesn't integrate with as many other packages so sometimes Sage is the go-to software if you need to integrate it with something.

jammy_basturd

29,778 posts

243 months

Wednesday 12th November 2014
quotequote all
Can't go much wrong with Xero, Kashflow or Quickbooks.

I've used Xero for about a year now, though the reporting/dashboards are pretty basic.

Chops9

Original Poster:

69 posts

178 months

Thursday 13th November 2014
quotequote all
Thanks for the help guys.

Edited by Chops9 on Friday 14th November 05:32

Alec

333 posts

257 months

Friday 14th November 2014
quotequote all
I use http://www.freeagent.com. Really good with top class support by actual accountants.

tight fart

3,616 posts

304 months

Saturday 15th November 2014
quotequote all
Barclays offered me an accounting package, I'm sure it was Sage, at a very reasonable rate.
Maybe worth checking at your bank to see if they do the same.

2 sMoKiN bArReLs

32,040 posts

266 months

Saturday 15th November 2014
quotequote all
Sage is good, but you'll need to find workarounds for AFP, retention, CIS etc.

V8OW

1,632 posts

228 months

Saturday 15th November 2014
quotequote all
Xero is a good option.

From my experience a lot of accountancy firms are now offering this as a platform for their clients, along with one of the big four who are working with them on their own system.

I expect it to only get better.

jammy_basturd

29,778 posts

243 months

Saturday 15th November 2014
quotequote all
V8OW said:
I expect it to only get better.
Don't get your hopes up too much, they are notoriously slow to develop new features. I think in the year that I've been using Xero, the biggest feature they've released it being able to my own reference numbers for clients!

Shirt587

360 posts

166 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
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One of the most efficient construction companies I know (did up to £90m t/o in 2007, then fell off a cliff, now back to ~£12m t/o a year) ran the whole thing in Sage and Excel.

FD was relatively good with Excel so each contract had a book which tracked cost and value (and did all the subcontractor retentions management and CIS). Sage was used to process all invoices and payments, which then could be reconciled back to Excel.

Top tip from him was each subcontractor gets a discrete purchase ledger account for each contract. So Jones & Sons working in Oxford was JSOxford1, Jones & Sons in Reading was JSReading3, etc etc etc. That way it was reasonably simple to track back to which subbie was owed what on which contract.

Good luck! smile

jammy_basturd

29,778 posts

243 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
quotequote all
I hate to rely on a system that was vulnerable to an accidental and unnoticed hit of the space or delete key that could then knock formulas out resulting in figures being misreported by a large amount (Excel).

That said software is just a tool. It's your process that gains you efficiency.

Luke640d

65 posts

166 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
quotequote all
We currently use Sage.

Although we are developing our own ERP system which features a basic accounts software.

Dick Dastardly

8,326 posts

294 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
quotequote all
We are about to change from Sage to Xero and I cannot wait. Sage have really let the market get away from them and Xero are mopping up at the moment. It's so much slicker and for my business it gives me the vital information a lot quicker and with less hassle.

C Lee Farquar

4,233 posts

247 months

Wednesday 19th November 2014
quotequote all
jammy_basturd said:
I hate to rely on a system that was vulnerable to an accidental and unnoticed hit of the space or delete key that could then knock formulas out resulting in figures being misreported by a large amount (Excel).

That said software is just a tool. It's your process that gains you efficiency.
Ironically that is one of the primary reasons that we've stayed with Excel. We find it easy to check for anomalies with it being there in table format.