Comments on: Accounting: QuickBooks, SAGE, Peachtree or Microsoft Office Accounting? – Part ONE http://www.asifism.com/opinion/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/ A blog about fact & opinion Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:21:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: asiimwe davis http://www.asifism.com/opinion/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/comment-page-1/#comment-7646 asiimwe davis Tue, 03 Aug 2010 08:22:49 +0000 http://www.asifism.com/news-about-this-site-and-me/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/#comment-7646 does sage have an interface with microsoft office? does sage have an interface with microsoft office?

]]> By: Asif http://www.asifism.com/opinion/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/comment-page-1/#comment-4540 Asif Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:47:10 +0000 http://www.asifism.com/news-about-this-site-and-me/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/#comment-4540 John, Microsoft Great Plains is more like an enterprise class software, and although I think it works really well, it may not be worth the cost for many small businesses. I've used Tally, and I really wasn't that impressed. There are always multiple pieces of software you can use to fulfill multiple requirements, but the idea is to find one that covers most requirements, and those are relatively hard to come by. John,

Microsoft Great Plains is more like an enterprise class software, and although I think it works really well, it may not be worth the cost for many small businesses.

I’ve used Tally, and I really wasn’t that impressed. There are always multiple pieces of software you can use to fulfill multiple requirements, but the idea is to find one that covers most requirements, and those are relatively hard to come by.

]]> By: John http://www.asifism.com/opinion/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/comment-page-1/#comment-4536 John Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:54:58 +0000 http://www.asifism.com/news-about-this-site-and-me/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/#comment-4536 I'd like to mention that there are better accounting packages to take care of multiple locations. One of this software in Microsoft GP, another one I have used is called Sage 500, and another is called Quick Business Manager, and yet another is called Tally if you like DOS-like software! Of course there are advantages and disadvantages of using any of these. For example, if you would like software to cost less and manage your multi currency, multi locations and also take care of your receive/paid cheques I recommend Quick Business Manager from Business Aim company. I’d like to mention that there are better accounting packages to take care of multiple locations. One of this software in Microsoft GP, another one I have used is called Sage 500, and another is called Quick Business Manager, and yet another is called Tally if you like DOS-like software!

Of course there are advantages and disadvantages of using any of these. For example, if you would like software to cost less and manage your multi currency, multi locations and also take care of your receive/paid cheques I recommend Quick Business Manager from Business Aim company.

]]> By: Sam K http://www.asifism.com/opinion/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/comment-page-1/#comment-4143 Sam K Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:39:35 +0000 http://www.asifism.com/news-about-this-site-and-me/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/#comment-4143 I only very partially agree with this article. I 100% agree with the fact that all (I mean All) accounting packages on the market suck. They do not suck because they lack the above mentioned features (drill down, prepayments, Payroll, depreciation) but simply because they all suffer from the same flaw. They are flawed the day they were born. This flaw is simple: none of them is made for your business, they are made for every business, any business, all businesses, but not yours. Quickbooks/Simply Accounting/MYOB/Peach Tree/etc... are general purpose tools. And as such should be used in general purpose businesses only. Nevertheless, I see all the time these programs being used in businesses like travel agencies, ISPs, event management companies, freight forwarders, shipping companies, etc..etc...etc... The only way these programs can be used in a variety of companies is to run parallel systems (spreadsheets, databases) to make up for their shortcomings. This tells me one sure thing: these packages really fit the company's needs... like the right shoe on your left foot. These programs can handle a very limited and simplistic sales/purchase model. If the model is outside the Quantity X Price formula (as they most are) you have to do your calculations in a spreadsheet and input the results in your Quickbooks. I have a client whose pricing depends on the quantity the customer purchased during the last 3 months (so you have to cumulate the quantity per product for the past 90 days for every customer). How can you handle this in a general purpose program? You cannot. You have to do your yuca yuca in a spreadsheet and input the data in Quickbooks. I have another client who has a funny way of pricing: price for a given item varies all the time depending on the market availability. When he invoices John Doe for 10 cases of apple juice in 1lt, as soon as he enters the customer name and product name he want to see the last 4 instances this customer bought that item, when and at what prices so he can slap the price depending on purchase history and market conditions. How can you handle this in a general purpose accounting program. You cannot. You have to run a parallel system. How sane is it to use a SA for a bookseller that sells on consignment. It is insane. Yet it is being done everyday. Same story on the purchases side. Same story on their security features (so basic that it's a joke). And all these businesses are med to small size outfits whose margins are skinny and an error here translates instantly into a loss on a shipment. Features like prepayments/depreciation etc... won't fix that. They would be nice for the accountant but not for the business. In fact if you know how to program an accounting system, all these extra features can be added with little programming. You can drill up, down, right, left, sideways as you like. However, these are not “must haves”, they are “nice to haves”. The “must haves” are a direct consequence of the company's business processes. No software on the market can give you that. Some of my clients have very little assets; for them, I do not overload the system with an extra Assets table and depreciation schedules. If the Asset activities become such that we need an Asset module, I can add this feature in 2/3 hours of work. Same with Payroll. By the way about Payroll: There is no reason for any software producer to charge for payroll taxes upgrade beyond a nominal fee of $40/$50. New payroll taxes is public info that is provided for free by your local tax authorities. It takes me a few minutes to download the new tables and an hour or so to reprogram my system. At my next visit it takes me 15/20mnts to update the client's payroll module. There is a reason why most accounting packages lack Asset/Depreciation and Payroll modules. From a programing aspect GL/AR/AP/Payments are of the same nature. Assets/Depreciation is a different beast; Payroll yet another different beast. Combining these into one homogeneous product is a daunting task. Some of my clients have a Payroll module, some don't. Regarding accruals for expenses and revenues: If the business is an ISP, yes you definitely need a bill back/bill forward feature whereby all the user has to do is create the invoice for ,say, 8 months billing in a single entry/invoice (5 mths back, current month and 2 mths forward) and the system takes care of the adjusting entries for accrued revenue. For a business that has very little accruals, there is no need to overload the system for just a few adjusting entries that can be easily taken care of at the end of the period. Again, using a general purpose accounting program for an ISP is insane. One of the dumber myth that people (especially business owners) carry in their back pocket is the company's evolution versus their Quickbooks' upgrades. They figure that they are one and the same. How dumb and silly. The way a company does business today is not the same way it was 4 mths ago. It looks the same but it is not. I experience this on a weekly basis when my clients ask me to take away a feature or add a new one simply because the way they do business has changed (they price differently, security issues have changed, they have new salesperson that need to use the system, payroll taxes have changed, a new product is introduced and only certain customers can buy it, etc..etc...). Upgrading your general purpose picassoware will not do it. Yet, when businesses buy new upgrades they figure it's all for the better. How silly. They don't feel it simply because very slowly and gradually they bent their own processes to fit their software without realizing it at all. I don't want to rant about their reliability but how many times have I seen a QB or MYOB produce financial statements where A/R or A/P do not tie with their corresponding modules. How is it possible that the total of receivables in AR module is $3500 and the balance sheet shows $3950. I don't know, only their Gods can tell you how. I don't want even tell you the horrors I use to find in MYOB payroll modules. I stopped using any of these picassoware many years ago, so I am not really familiar with their current features. But I was really surprised to read in the last section (4. Viewing Vendor/Customer statements) that they can't display a customer's statement on the screen without forcing you to print it. I am having a hard time believing this. From a programing point of view once a report is designed you have the option of simply displaying it on the screen without printing (4 your eyes only) or both. If this is really the case, then the problem is not with the company that produced it but with the buyer. There is no law against producing garbageware; but you have to be a genuine sucker to buy it. I am not a programmer, I do not sell accounting software at all. I provide accounting services to specific businesses: only those that are sick and tired of the using one size fits all type of products that force them to do business the software way instead of the no nonsense way. I provide the service with system and the system with the service. One does not go without the other. I only very partially agree with this article. I 100% agree with the fact that all (I mean All) accounting packages on the market suck. They do not suck because they lack the above mentioned features (drill down, prepayments, Payroll, depreciation) but simply because they all suffer from the same flaw. They are flawed the day they were born. This flaw is simple: none of them is made for your business, they are made for every business, any business, all businesses, but not yours. Quickbooks/Simply Accounting/MYOB/Peach Tree/etc… are general purpose tools. And as such should be used in general purpose businesses only. Nevertheless, I see all the time these programs being used in businesses like travel agencies, ISPs, event management companies, freight forwarders, shipping companies, etc..etc…etc… The only way these programs can be used in a variety of companies is to run parallel systems (spreadsheets, databases) to make up for their shortcomings. This tells me one sure thing: these packages really fit the company’s needs… like the right shoe on your left foot. These programs can handle a very limited and simplistic sales/purchase model. If the model is outside the Quantity X Price formula (as they most are) you have to do your calculations in a spreadsheet and input the results in your Quickbooks. I have a client whose pricing depends on the quantity the customer purchased during the last 3 months (so you have to cumulate the quantity per product for the past 90 days for every customer). How can you handle this in a general purpose program? You cannot. You have to do your yuca yuca in a spreadsheet and input the data in Quickbooks. I have another client who has a funny way of pricing: price for a given item varies all the time depending on the market availability. When he invoices John Doe for 10 cases of apple juice in 1lt, as soon as he enters the customer name and product name he want to see the last 4 instances this customer bought that item, when and at what prices so he can slap the price depending on purchase history and market conditions. How can you handle this in a general purpose accounting program. You cannot. You have to run a parallel system. How sane is it to use a SA for a bookseller that sells on consignment. It is insane. Yet it is being done everyday. Same story on the purchases side. Same story on their security features (so basic that it’s a joke). And all these businesses are med to small size outfits whose margins are skinny and an error here translates instantly into a loss on a shipment. Features like prepayments/depreciation etc… won’t fix that. They would be nice for the accountant but not for the business. In fact if you know how to program an accounting system, all these extra features can be added with little programming. You can drill up, down, right, left, sideways as you like. However, these are not “must haves”, they are “nice to haves”. The “must haves” are a direct consequence of the company’s business processes. No software on the market can give you that.
Some of my clients have very little assets; for them, I do not overload the system with an extra Assets table and depreciation schedules. If the Asset activities become such that we need an Asset module, I can add this feature in 2/3 hours of work. Same with Payroll. By the way about Payroll: There is no reason for any software producer to charge for payroll taxes upgrade beyond a nominal fee of $40/$50. New payroll taxes is public info that is provided for free by your local tax authorities. It takes me a few minutes to download the new tables and an hour or so to reprogram my system. At my next visit it takes me 15/20mnts to update the client’s payroll module.

There is a reason why most accounting packages lack Asset/Depreciation and Payroll modules. From a programing aspect GL/AR/AP/Payments are of the same nature. Assets/Depreciation is a different beast; Payroll yet another different beast. Combining these into one homogeneous product is a daunting task. Some of my clients have a Payroll module, some don’t.
Regarding accruals for expenses and revenues: If the business is an ISP, yes you definitely need a bill back/bill forward feature whereby all the user has to do is create the invoice for ,say, 8 months billing in a single entry/invoice (5 mths back, current month and 2 mths forward) and the system takes care of the adjusting entries for accrued revenue. For a business that has very little accruals, there is no need to overload the system for just a few adjusting entries that can be easily taken care of at the end of the period. Again, using a general purpose accounting program for an ISP is insane.

One of the dumber myth that people (especially business owners) carry in their back pocket is the company’s evolution versus their Quickbooks’ upgrades. They figure that they are one and the same. How dumb and silly. The way a company does business today is not the same way it was 4 mths ago. It looks the same but it is not. I experience this on a weekly basis when my clients ask me to take away a feature or add a new one simply because the way they do business has changed (they price differently, security issues have changed, they have new salesperson that need to use the system, payroll taxes have changed, a new product is introduced and only certain customers can buy it, etc..etc…). Upgrading your general purpose picassoware will not do it. Yet, when businesses buy new upgrades they figure it’s all for the better. How silly. They don’t feel it simply because very slowly and gradually they bent their own processes to fit their software without realizing it at all.
I don’t want to rant about their reliability but how many times have I seen a QB or MYOB produce financial statements where A/R or A/P do not tie with their corresponding modules. How is it possible that the total of receivables in AR module is $3500 and the balance sheet shows $3950. I don’t know, only their Gods can tell you how. I don’t want even tell you the horrors I use to find in MYOB payroll modules.

I stopped using any of these picassoware many years ago, so I am not really familiar with their current features. But I was really surprised to read in the last section (4. Viewing Vendor/Customer statements) that they can’t display a customer’s statement on the screen without forcing you to print it. I am having a hard time believing this. From a programing point of view once a report is designed you have the option of simply displaying it on the screen without printing (4 your eyes only) or both. If this is really the case, then the problem is not with the company that produced it but with the buyer. There is no law against producing garbageware; but you have to be a genuine sucker to buy it.

I am not a programmer, I do not sell accounting software at all. I provide accounting services to specific businesses: only those that are sick and tired of the using one size fits all type of products that force them to do business the software way instead of the no nonsense way. I provide the service with system and the system with the service. One does not go without the other.

]]> By: Keith Edmunds http://www.asifism.com/opinion/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/comment-page-1/#comment-4063 Keith Edmunds Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:24:29 +0000 http://www.asifism.com/news-about-this-site-and-me/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/#comment-4063 For outsourcing payroll in the UK, try http://www.thepayrollsite.co.uk/ - £5/month for up to 5 employees, and £1/month for each additional employee, and there's a free trial. Have used them for a few years now, and they have excellent email support too. For outsourcing payroll in the UK, try http://www.thepayrollsite.co.uk/ – £5/month for up to 5 employees, and £1/month for each additional employee, and there’s a free trial. Have used them for a few years now, and they have excellent email support too.

]]> By: bloggingzoom.com http://www.asifism.com/opinion/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/comment-page-1/#comment-3315 bloggingzoom.com Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:50:17 +0000 http://www.asifism.com/news-about-this-site-and-me/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/#comment-3315 <strong>Accounting: QuickBooks, SAGE, Peachtree or Microsoft Office Accounting? - Part ONE</strong> This is Part 1 of an article about Small Business Accounting Software. It discusses what Small Business Accounting Software should ideally have, and what features are desirable and practical. It also discusses some of the misconceptions about small b... Accounting: QuickBooks, SAGE, Peachtree or Microsoft Office Accounting? – Part ONE

This is Part 1 of an article about Small Business Accounting Software. It discusses what Small Business Accounting Software should ideally have, and what features are desirable and practical. It also discusses some of the misconceptions about small b…

]]> By: Asif http://www.asifism.com/opinion/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/comment-page-1/#comment-3125 Asif Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:55:02 +0000 http://www.asifism.com/news-about-this-site-and-me/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/#comment-3125 Thanks for the info. Although it's a little steep cost-wise (USD 9,000.) for the small business, especially since it's not probably not something a business owner would use without an accountant. To be very honest, I think QuickBooks is the most comprehensive software available in the market. It is user friendly, has superior functionality to the others, and has quite a bit of support available. It is definitely my preferred medium for most small businesses, although not for all. Thanks for the info. Although it’s a little steep cost-wise (USD 9,000.) for the small business, especially since it’s not probably not something a business owner would use without an accountant. To be very honest, I think QuickBooks is the most comprehensive software available in the market. It is user friendly, has superior functionality to the others, and has quite a bit of support available. It is definitely my preferred medium for most small businesses, although not for all.

]]> By: mark thompson http://www.asifism.com/opinion/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/comment-page-1/#comment-3122 mark thompson Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:19:52 +0000 http://www.asifism.com/news-about-this-site-and-me/accounting-quickbooks-sage-peachtree-or-microsoft-office-accounting-part-one/#comment-3122 Regarding multi-location products and inventory control...Check out QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions (works with 20 users over Terminal server or Linux) with the Velocity Inventory package. THis will solve for many of the difficulties mentioned. Regarding multi-location products and inventory control…Check out QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions (works with 20 users over Terminal server or Linux) with the Velocity Inventory package. THis will solve for many of the difficulties mentioned.

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