Small Business Accounting Packages Reviewed

At the click of a button a maintained, but basic, accounts package can provide you with, for instance, year end accounts (known as a trial balance) and a precise report of your cash flow.

Another extremely good benefit is showing your bank manager that you have control over your company and cash flow: this is a major help when seeking finance or an overdraft facility.

There are a number of accounting packages that offer the small business owner a fighting chance of being able to maintain a meaningful computerised record of standard transactions, being: sales, purchases, cash flow, VAT, and for the really brave, basic stock control. Payroll is usually extra for all small business packages.

When you choose an accounting package you must take, as a minimum, a medium to long-term view, that ensures the decisions you make today will compliment your business performance of tomorrow. For example, a software system that only works with businesses of less than 10 employees is OK today, but probably useless in two years time requiring a new software purchase, and a total re training of your staff.

Consider the following points when buying ANY software:

1. Analyse what you need from an accounting and payroll application: if you come to the conclusion that a shoebox is more than adequate, so be it!
2. Assess who is best suited to maintain the system, and who will act as a back up to input information: get them involved in the initial training (its cheaper to train two than one).
3. Buy software that will work on your computer: Windows, MAC or some other strange OS. Do you need your accounts package to work with, say, Microsoft Excel or Word?
4. Consider telephone support, especially with end of year actions and reports, and, of course, government legislation on payroll: S age will send you ch anges to payroll legislation on a floppy disk which does provide a comfort zone.
5. Only buy software that is upgradeable, for instance: from no stock capability to full stock movement, from under 10 employees to 50 employees with personnel records, from one company accounts to group accounts capability.
6. Find out from your own accountant which package they use: the idea being that you give your accountant a back up floppy disk of all your transactions which the accountant ‘easily’ converts into your yearly accounts (it should also cost you less for the accountants work).

Consider the following after your purchase:

1. Will you maintain your manual system in tandem with the new package for, say, the first 2 – 3 months?
2. Consider hiring a local bookkeeper to come in once a week for a few hours to teach your staff (or you).
3. If you put off updating the accounts package week after week you will wish you had maintained your shoebox system, but you wont even have that to rely on: stay committed and focused.
4. Constantly check that your staff are fully conversant with the package: you will not know if your staff have problems until it is too late!
5. If the trading figures shown by your new package look unbelievable, they are probably wrong!