Accountancy software
Discussion
Hi,
Could anyone recommend what they use and are happy with in terms of accountancy/ bookkeeping software/ apps.
I’m waiting far too much time and money grappling with excel files and bank statement downloads. I run a small art dealing business that invoices circa 10 times a month, nothing too complex.
Cheers
Could anyone recommend what they use and are happy with in terms of accountancy/ bookkeeping software/ apps.
I’m waiting far too much time and money grappling with excel files and bank statement downloads. I run a small art dealing business that invoices circa 10 times a month, nothing too complex.
Cheers
Eric Mc said:
Accountants like Sage as it is very reminiscent of old style, traditional accounting methods and terminology. For the non accountant, however, it can be a bit clunky and mysterious. It was great in 1989.
Not used anything else for nearly 25yrs, that’s why we’ve stuck with it despite accountants recommending Xero. I moved to a large firm of accountants and they recommended Xero which I've been using for two years. It would serve the OP well I think.
For me though there are some annoying aspects.
1. You can't set credit limits for customers.
2. The inbuilt email system is very poor. So if you email invoices, quotes, purchase orders from within Xero they're seen to come from message-service@post.xero.com rather than your company email. This can end up in spam folders. Also there is absolutely no formatting ability for email text, not even bold and italics. Neither can you attach anything other than Xero documents.
3. If you use the product or service inventory function, the content of this can only be edited by high level users who have access to full reporting and financials. So if you don't want administration staff to see how much you're paying yourself, you're in charge of the product and service inventory.
They aren't developing the core product but instead work on APIs to integrate with third party software to make themselves even more money.
I'm sure there was something else, but I've let off enough steam. I may copy and paste this into a Word document for the next time Xero comes up
For me though there are some annoying aspects.
1. You can't set credit limits for customers.
2. The inbuilt email system is very poor. So if you email invoices, quotes, purchase orders from within Xero they're seen to come from message-service@post.xero.com rather than your company email. This can end up in spam folders. Also there is absolutely no formatting ability for email text, not even bold and italics. Neither can you attach anything other than Xero documents.
3. If you use the product or service inventory function, the content of this can only be edited by high level users who have access to full reporting and financials. So if you don't want administration staff to see how much you're paying yourself, you're in charge of the product and service inventory.
They aren't developing the core product but instead work on APIs to integrate with third party software to make themselves even more money.
I'm sure there was something else, but I've let off enough steam. I may copy and paste this into a Word document for the next time Xero comes up
RegMolehusband said:
I moved to a large firm of accountants and they recommended Xero which I've been using for two years. It would serve the OP well I think.
For me though there are some annoying aspects.
1. You can't set credit limits for customers.
2. The inbuilt email system is very poor. So if you email invoices, quotes, purchase orders from within Xero they're seen to come from message-service@post.xero.com rather than your company email. This can end up in spam folders. Also there is absolutely no formatting ability for email text, not even bold and italics. Neither can you attach anything other than Xero documents.
3. If you use the product or service inventory function, the content of this can only be edited by high level users who have access to full reporting and financials. So if you don't want administration staff to see how much you're paying yourself, you're in charge of the product and service inventory.
They aren't developing the core product but instead work on APIs to integrate with third party software to make themselves even more money.
I'm sure there was something else, but I've let off enough steam. I may copy and paste this into a Word document for the next time Xero comes up
You missed one. There is no notification when an invoice is paid online using the Xero payment options.For me though there are some annoying aspects.
1. You can't set credit limits for customers.
2. The inbuilt email system is very poor. So if you email invoices, quotes, purchase orders from within Xero they're seen to come from message-service@post.xero.com rather than your company email. This can end up in spam folders. Also there is absolutely no formatting ability for email text, not even bold and italics. Neither can you attach anything other than Xero documents.
3. If you use the product or service inventory function, the content of this can only be edited by high level users who have access to full reporting and financials. So if you don't want administration staff to see how much you're paying yourself, you're in charge of the product and service inventory.
They aren't developing the core product but instead work on APIs to integrate with third party software to make themselves even more money.
I'm sure there was something else, but I've let off enough steam. I may copy and paste this into a Word document for the next time Xero comes up
Eric Mc said:
Accountants like Sage as it is very reminiscent of old style, traditional accounting methods and terminology. For the non accountant, however, it can be a bit clunky and mysterious. It was great in 1989.
There is more than one Sage product out there, not just the 'old' style desktop software.Sage Cloud is a more modern 'app' type software, with live bank feed, login from anywhere, accountant able to access etc. It was pretty rubbish when first released (called Sage One), but it is far better now. I have a few clients that use it and get on fine. Pretty inexpensive too.
I use Kash Flow on my main business and Xero on my second.
Personally I can't stand Xero, I hate the flow of it, I struggle with it. Maybe it's because I'm not used to it.
Kash Flow is a dream, super easy, love it.
But Xero integrates with everything, Kash Flow doesn't (natively) so if you want to automate it with an app then Xero may be the best way forward, if it's more manual or with ecommerce sites then Kash Flow is great and there are a few API tools out there that can link popular ecommerce platforms with Kash Flow.
Personally I can't stand Xero, I hate the flow of it, I struggle with it. Maybe it's because I'm not used to it.
Kash Flow is a dream, super easy, love it.
But Xero integrates with everything, Kash Flow doesn't (natively) so if you want to automate it with an app then Xero may be the best way forward, if it's more manual or with ecommerce sites then Kash Flow is great and there are a few API tools out there that can link popular ecommerce platforms with Kash Flow.
https://www.quickfile.co.uk/ used it last week for the first time for VAT MTD return. Free to a point. recommended!
I used Kashflow for several years and liked it a lot. The only reason I changed to Xero was that Kashflow didn't support multi-users with different levels of access. This may have changed.
Kashflow also had a virtual terminal so that you could take card payments from within the program whilst looking at a customer's invoice. I was really annoyed when I found Xero didn't have this and so had to get a desktop terminal contract from Cardnet.
Kashflow also had a virtual terminal so that you could take card payments from within the program whilst looking at a customer's invoice. I was really annoyed when I found Xero didn't have this and so had to get a desktop terminal contract from Cardnet.
Edited by RegMolehusband on Monday 9th September 17:29
RegMolehusband said:
I used Kashflow for several years and liked it a lot. The only reason I changed to Xero was that Kashflow didn't support multi-users with different levels of access. This may have changed.
Kashflow also had a virtual terminal so that you could take card payments from within the program whilst looking at a customer's invoice. I was really annoyed when I found Xero didn't have this and so had to get a desktop terminal contract from Cardnet.
Kash Flow does now have multiple user roles. They aren't 100% customizable but there's a few covering the main roles.Kashflow also had a virtual terminal so that you could take card payments from within the program whilst looking at a customer's invoice. I was really annoyed when I found Xero didn't have this and so had to get a desktop terminal contract from Cardnet.
Edited by RegMolehusband on Monday 9th September 17:29
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