Business FInance Software

macfanuk

macfanuk

macfanuk

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I am starting up a website development business and I currently have a license to web based software which will handle all customer orders/invoices/etc but I was just wondering if anyone could make any recommendations regarding finance software.

Do I need finance software? I will be using an accountant when things take off so what am I likely to need to provide him with?

Thanks in advance
 
macfanuk said:
Do I need finance software? I will be using an accountant when things take off so what am I likely to need to provide him with?
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It might well be worth asking your accountants.

Generaly Sage is considered the standard, MYOB is another package I've heard of.

I'm pretty sure MS Money is inteneded for personal not business finances.
 
MS Accounting is the one you might want to look at.

Sage requires 25 years of training and 16 degrees in accountancy to use.
 
How big is this company going to be?

You can probably do everything in Excel. Sage, in my experience, is bloated. If you can avoid it, I would :)
 
Microsoft Office Accounting has been dropped by MS in the UK. Shame, becuase it was a good package.

I've run several businesses using Sage - different versions from Instant Accounts to Line 100. I have had no training and possess no formal accountancy qualifications - just a modicum of common sense and I can do most things with it. Sage is just a computerised double-entry book keeping system - understand that and it's a breeze to use.

However, you are best guided by what your accountant is best equipped to take. Some business people I know take a carrier bag with purchases invoices, sales invoices and expense receipts to their accountant once a month and let them take things from there, others give them a Sage backup file to work with and some accountants ask for hard copies of the paperwork and a printout of the Sage journal output for a given period.
 
Robbie G said:
Lols. Sage is dead easy to use. Intuitive, attractive Windows-based GUI, excellent help and support.
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I've been using Sage for years, and it's as much of a miserable chore today as it ever was. The GUI is absolutely horrible and it's about the least intuitive of any Windows program I've ever used. I'm convinced it's deliberately made that way so that Sage can continue to charge a fortune for their support...

Unfortunately, it's become the de facto standard for SMEs in the UK... accountants like it, and yours will probably moan at you if you use something else.

A few suggestions... first and foremost, take backups frequently (you'll be needing them). Don't try to create your own nominal structure or deviate from the inbuilt nominal codes unless and until you know the program intimately, as it uses certain codes for its own internal purposes which often aren't immediately apparent, and you'll end up in an unholy mess if you're not ultra-careful. If (or I should say when) you make a mistake, don't delete a transaction, ever, or it will bite you hard... use contra entries, or restore from your last backup and start again (did I mention taking frequent backups?)...
 
I would advise you to use a package which can manage each of your business operations: customer orders/invoices/etc as well as accounting and finance. It would make thing much more simple according to me since, for instance, you would never have to enter data twice.

I know a good platform which can do all this: TioLive.
It is a complete package, it is free and entirely online. Maybe you should have a look.
 
PhillyDee said:
MS Accounting is the one you might want to look at.

Sage requires 25 years of training and 16 degrees in accountancy to use.
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What rubbish, we setup a company 4 years ago. We used Excel for the first year, then moved to Sage and haven't looked back. No training etc required.

It's also most likely what your accountant will want your data as.
 
Sage is not easy for the layperson, and my accountant just uses Excel sheets.

I tried Sage and found it cumbersome (powerful, but waaay too advanced).
There are much easier systems out there, but not as feature dense.
Are you an accountant / book keeper or have done it regularly for a number of years?
 
MS Money is pretty good, you can integrate personal and small business finance with that etc. I haven't used it extensively but I know you can do that with it and it's designed for 'normal' people rather than accountants.
 
CaptainCrash said:
I've been using Sage for years, and it's as much of a miserable chore today as it ever was. The GUI is absolutely horrible and it's about the least intuitive of any Windows program I've ever used. I'm convinced it's deliberately made that way so that Sage can continue to charge a fortune for their support...

Unfortunately, it's become the de facto standard for SMEs in the UK... accountants like it, and yours will probably moan at you if you use something else.

A few suggestions... first and foremost, take backups frequently (you'll be needing them). Don't try to create your own nominal structure or deviate from the inbuilt nominal codes unless and until you know the program intimately, as it uses certain codes for its own internal purposes which often aren't immediately apparent, and you'll end up in an unholy mess if you're not ultra-careful. If (or I should say when) you make a mistake, don't delete a transaction, ever, or it will bite you hard... use contra entries, or restore from your last backup and start again (did I mention taking frequent backups?)...
Click to expand...

Are you talking about Sage 50? If so, I honestly don't know what you've been using but as far as I'm concerned, you're talking about a different programme. If it was that bad, you wouldn't have used it for years, whether or not your accountant 'moaned at you'.

I've been using it for five years and never once had to restore from a backup due to data corruption or a mistake.

I've completely tailored people's nominal structures, created new charts of accounts, changed the numbering and categories, without issue.

It's completely intuitive and the GUI is like any other Windows-based programme.

I've deleted hundreds of transactions without issue.

Literally the only things I don't like about Sage 50, are that you cannot control accounting periods and drill-down functionality is limited.
 
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