All About Accounting Software

As a small business owner, choosing the right accounting software is an important business decision. The accounting software necessary for a small business will need to be capable of budget planning, invoice generation, financial reporting, payroll management, account merging, and e-commerce. Some of the more popular small business accounting solutions are PeachTree, Quickbooks, and ACCPAC.

Even after the list has been narrowed down to just a few solutions for  small business accounting, it is still necessary to evaluate certain features to ensure that the software solution is the right fit for an organization.

A few features of accounting software solutions to consider are:

1. Price- When evaluating small business accounting packages, price is one of the first features to evaluate. Accounting software packages can vary greatly in price between the various deployment methods such as SaaS or On-Premise. There are also differences in price between various brands and vendors.

2. Adaptability- Small businesses tend to evolve over time and it is important for the accounting software to be able to adapt to the dynamic changes that occur within a company and the business environment. A highly versatile software solution with low cost and frequent upgrades is ideal for small business accounting solutions.

3. User Interface- This addresses the issue of how easy the software package is to use. There is absolutely no point in purchasing accounting software that is too complicated for users to manage.

4. Product Features- With every accounting solution on the market there will be numerous features, and it is necessary to understand which features are needed and which are not. There is no sense in paying for additional features that an organization will have no use for. Additionally, it is important to check to see if the features that aren’t needed at the present time can be purchased and easily integrated into the existing system in the future.

5. Customer Support- How effective is the product support? And what kind of support is offered? These are two questions that small business owners need to ask themselves before purchasing small business accounting solutions. If problems should arise in the purchased accounting system then support will need to be administered quickly and effectively to remedy any issues.

As one of eBay’s largest and most established golf sellers, with statistically 100% customer satisfaction, 3balls.com reputation was at stake when their sales volumes exploded. Luckily, Intacct gave them a financial back-office system that could scale and adapt to their ever-changing businesses needs.

3balls.com chose Intacct’s comprehensive financial management and accounting applications, delivered over the Internet. Instead of buying and supporting an internal IT infrastructure, 3balls.com pays a low, monthly subscription fee for employees to access Intacct’s financial applications anywhere, anytime.

3balls.com used Intacct’s integration service to easily fuse financial back-end applications with its existing e-commerce, order lifecycle management and inventory management system from CORESense, a provider of on-demand retail management software for companies with multi-channel sales strategies.

Today, sales data from 3,000 channel partners and 100,000 customers placing up to 400 orders a day on 3balls.com,
eBay and Amazon flows directly into the Intacct system.

Because all financial transactions are available in real time, managers can run channel-by-channel revenue comparisons and control the latest orders, inventory levels, shipping schedules and financial transactions without wasting significant time and effort on manual processes or report customization.

RedGear Technologies, developer of TaxWorks professional tax software, has partnered with CYMA Accounting Software to create a software package that will prepare the most complex tax returns as well as provide solutions for a broad spectrum of accounting needs. The new TaxWorks package will be available for the 2011 tax filing season.

RedGear Accounting, powered by CYMA, will be included with the TaxWorks software at no additional charge. The accounting and tax filing software includes general ledger, cash disbursements, cash receipts, after the fact payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, bank reconciliation, purchase orders and more. Additional modules, or upgrades such as live payroll, are available for purchase.

Including RedGear Accounting at no charge with the purchase of TaxWorks allows tax preparers to meet their clients’ bookkeeping and financial reporting needs. Tax preparers can increase their revenues, and save money doing so because they will no longer need to purchase a separate accounting or write-up software package. We feel that by working with CYMA to deliver RedGear Accounting we are giving our customers the best value on a full featured tax and accounting suite available in the market today.

Intacct is taking aim at services-based businesses with a new product and partnership.

Intacct’s Project Accounting application, now generally available, will help services companies keep better track of employee project hours and expenses compared to ad-hoc approaches done with spreadsheets or paper documents, according to the vendor. It also generates invoices based on that data, and provides users with role-based dashboards that let them keep tabs on a project’s progress.

In addition, the software includes a library of reports and graphs tuned for services businesses, allowing them to monitor benchmarks like “project delivery costs against plan.” It is also possible to develop customized reports.

Intacct also announced a partnership with SaaS (software as a service) project management vendor Clarizen that will result in an integrated product, according to a statement.

Overall, Intacct is tapping into a broad economic trend, according to one observer.

“A key component of every product company will be growing services revenues,” said Altimeter Group analyst Ray Wang via e-mail. “Today products are excuses to sell services. Project accounting provides one core component. Intacct delivers this piece. Clarizen delivers the resource scheduling, project tracking and task management.”

Demand for such software is growing since companies are more eager than ever to closely track project expenses amid the economic downturn, according to 451 Group analyst China Martens.

Intacct’s move puts it in closer competition with NetSuite, which gained software similar to Clarizen’s through its acquisition of OpenAir. Appirio is another player, with its project management software built on Salesforce.com’s Force.com platform.

The SaaS delivery model works well for services businesses because teams are often distributed, licenses can be added easily and deployment is rapid, Wang said.

Still, many companies are still getting by with Excel or using on-premises applications like Microsoft’s Dynamics SL, Martens added.

ArrowBooks Online Accounting Software recently announced the launch of Integrated E-commerce websites. This integration syncs web-based sales transactions with ArrowBooks accounting software, making it easier for users to access the latest information and eliminating the need to enter data twice.

With businesses moving to the online world, it only makes sense to implement a system that allows users to manage their online sales efficiently. ArrowBooks Online Accounting Software does just that by providing their customers with a comprehensive online accounting package. It’s no more a hassle to maintain items on the website or even ensuring that all the item sales have been accounted for. The entire process is automated with the integration of the e-commerce site with the accounting software.

ArrowBooks delivers users with various tools and features, to tailor the E-Commerce websites to their business needs. Using the Website console module in the ArrowBooks software, customers can change the look and feel of their website – from changing the layout, wording to colors and photos etc.  Users can even set/modify the accepted methods of payment, shipping costs, sales tax and more.

Further, the integration of ArrowBooks Online Accounting software with the E-Commerce website allows users to upload items onto the website easily with the help of the inventory module. Users just need to select the items they want uploaded and the inventory module does the job for them. There’s no need to upload items to the website again. The software also manages and tracks the online sales transactions as and when they occur, making the tracking process more efficient.

ArrowBooks’ integrated E-Commerce Website provides a simple and comprehensive solution to manage an online business. This application is ideal for any business big or small and increases productivity and efficiency.

Halfpricesoft.com’s 2010 edition of ezPaycheck payroll software makes it easier for small and mid-size businesses to calculate payroll and print checks. The affordable software offers users, the ability to print paychecks on blank check paper, including but not limited to printing company info, company logo, bank info, routing number and account numbers. This saves companies a lot of money on custom-printed checks.

Also, ezPaycheck’s intuitive interface makes it easier even for users with minimal computer knowledge to set up, use and understand the application. This takes a lot of load off a company’s back as they save time and money in training and other support activities. The ezPaycheck can be integrated with ezPaycheck payroll accounting software, so users eliminate the need to enter data twice and employees have access to the latest information.

Apart from the regular features, the 2010 edition includes updated federal and state tax tables, additional printing formats, additional reports and the ability to print Forms 940 and 941. This updated version of the software is ideal for any business, big or small. Companies don’t have to pay much for the software and can even try it risk free for 30 days prior to purchasing the software.

Commenting on the easy-to use feature the exPaycheck payroll software, Dr.Ge, co-founder of Halfpricesoft.com, said, “Complex payroll software does have its place to be sure, but with most payroll software today it’s almost as if the user needs an I.T. or accounting degree to operate it. Small business owners lack the funds to hire an AP department and they lack the time to learn the ins and outs of advanced accounting software. So we went to work making a payroll software unlike any other – one where small businesses can figure out the functions as soon as they start the application.”

Halfpricesoft.com, which strives to develop intuitive and simple software, also offers other solutions such as ezCheckPrinting, ezTimeSheet and ezW2.

Acclivity released the latest Mac version of their small business accounting software -AccountEdge2010. This new edition of the accounting software is ideal for businesses that need web store integration. The web store called EnStore, developed by Acclivity’s Checkout partner, Sofa, enables businesses to provide their customers with a good online shopping experience. It offers users, data on the detailed tracking of item information, profitability of sales analysis and bank deposit slip printing.

Irrespective of the size of the online store, EnStore is a easy-to-use application that can be seamlessly integrated with other systems. For instance – Information related to products, images, pricing and other details can be managed in AccountEdge and integrated with EnStore. This allows users to have the latest information and enhances workflow efficiency.

Further, the pay as you go, web store allows users to customize the look and feel of their store with the help of various templates the application offers. Users can add their own pictures, descriptions and even modify the store with automatic shipping, tax rate lookup, credit card payment options and more.

Apart from the customizable features, AccountEdge 2010 also provides businesses the ability to track and manage their online inventory with ease. For instance- they can track item weight, price, tagging functionality, brand association etc. What’s more, it even lets you analyze and monitor the profitability margin of every sale with the help of Show Profit Analysis button. It offers users a fair analysis of the gross profit margin, cost of each item, cost of the entire invoice, profit analysis from an order quote and an invoice. Users even have the ability to modify the prices of items to analyze how it affects the profitability.

AccountEdge 2010 offers a plethora of tools and features to effectively manage an online store. It comes integrated with good support manuals and user guides to help customers get started. Their Auto Update feature automatically updates the software for any new updates ensuring customers have the latest features to work with.

To make it easier for you to decide on the best accounting software in the market, we have developed a Top 15 Accounting Software vendor report, which lists the top vendors, product features and more.

Accounting Today named Intacct as one of its Top New Products of 2010. The list was made up of the top products in 16 different categories, and Intacct was chosen as the winner of the Top Accounting/ERP Solution category.

Intacct is an established solution and its latest edition was praised as being extremely user-friendly and effective.

Intacct is so highly regarded that ten of the top 100 largest CPA firms use the software with their clientèle. More that 3,300 companies use Intacct accounting software, in a wide rage of ways; from automating financial processes to improving transparency.

The company stated that they are continually improving and developing on their software, and hope to continue to provide superior accounting solutions in the future.

Sage North America, the Accounting Software Vendor, has announced the release of Peachtree 2011 and Peachtree Quantum 2011. The accounting software company is rolling out new features for service billing and job reporting at small businesses.

The accounting software updates in Peachtree 2011 include a new function that will help service businesses invoice customers for unbilled time and expenses. The unbilled items can also be filtered by date, customer name or job, and outstanding expenses can be directly transferred into an invoice. The accounting software also has a built-in dashboard that helps process large volumes of data about an item or service.

Peachtree 2011 accounting software also features customizable job status indicators in stoplight colors to help identify what is on or off track. Users can delete, rename, or change the stoplight buton colors as necessary.

The Peachtree Quantum 2011 accounting software has job management features for small business that give user s the information they need to take advantage of government stimulus opportunities. Peachtree Quantum is able to do so by enabling users to track the data required to comply with federal project parameters so that small businesses can take action.

The accounting software also includes a centralized dashboard that projects a list of jobs. Users can use job indicator stoplight buttons to sort the jobs by status. Peachtree Quantum also gives users the ability to build customized reports with real-time data on-the-fly. Another genius tool in the Quantum accounting software update is the job profitability module that compares estimated vs. committed jobs.  The updated software can also create several user-defined reports that can be exported to Excel, PDF or e-mail.

The accounting software allows users to proactively manage projects with access to job info in one place. The Job navigation tab will help provide a customizable dashboard view. Peachtree 2011 and Peachtree Quantum 2011 have been updated to simplify accounting and make your life a little easier.

It is no surprise that mega-corporations dominate the American business landscape. However small businesses are still relevant and can greatly benefit from business software usage. Small businesses often face a variety of problems because of their size, including undercapitalization leading to bankruptcy. It is extremely important for small businesses to carefully monitor their finances and establish a clear cut plan on what to do with their money. The impact of decisions made in small businesses is more severe than the impact of decisions made in larger companies. That being said, small businesses should focus on optimizing their business processes at the lowest possible cost. Small business accounting software can help alleviate some of your small business woes.

Step one in small business success is liquidity. Small businesses must have sufficient cash to trade and continue operations the next day; financial control is essential to small business management. One way small businesses can secure control over their finances is by using accounting software that specifically caters to your companies needs.

Small business accounting software is available to suit any and every type of business, therefore selecting the right option isn’t a difficult task. Implementing an accounting software solution will help business owners set and track sales goals, monitor gross margins, control expenses, and ensure all cash is accounted for. Accounting software is crucial for large businesses, but the benefits of using accounting software have been overlooked by many small businesses.

Another benefit of using small business accounting software is achieving sustained sales growth. Small businesses that record their sales can monitor performance and make decisions based on what works and what doesn’t and replicate actions that yielded higher sales. Without financial control, business owners would be making decisions based on hunches instead of financial facts.

Small business accounting software can help business owners decide what areas are underperforming and where action needs to be taken. By correcting underperformance early, small businesses will be able to maximize financial performance. It is critical for small businesses to figure out what is working and what isn’t because small businesses don’t have resources to waste. Using accounting software is crucial for small businesses to reach the highest levels of success.

For more information on selecting the best accounting software for your business, visit: www.Business-Software.com/Accounting