small business accounting software

[DuaneJackson]

Hi All,

I've just discovered this site. I've found many others like it but they all seem to have not been used for eons - like a ghost town! I'm glad this place seems active. I'll be reading some more posts and joining in where I can.

The purpose of my post is this:

My small company has just developed a bookkeeping system specifically for small (well, micro) businesses. It's not a complicated, full-blown accounts package like Sage. It's meant for your day to day needs such as creating invoices and recording purchases. Then, at the end of any period you can print an activity report for your accountant.

We use it internally as do a number of our customers. I love it, but I'm biased. The other users tell me they love it but I suspect they'd be too polite to tell me if they didn't!

What I'm looking for is impartial feedback on it from a small business owners point of view. It's free to use for 60 days. just visit www.kashflow.co.uk to sigh up and try it.

Any feedback would be much appreciated, no matter how critical! :)

If any of you are interested in actually using it in your day to day business then please let me know and I'll make sure you get a hefty discount.

Thanks for your time

Duane.

[Rob Holmes]

Duane,

I'd say it's great, very intuitive and natural to use - I like it... BUT my business really needs a repeat billing feature.

Back to the excel spreadsheets <sigh>

Rob

[Rob Holmes]

YAY I just found a re-occurring invoice feature tucked away !

Rob

[DuaneJackson]

Hi Rob,

We do a lot of hosting and need repeat billing too. The system can do that, it's just not publicly avaiable yet as it's still being beta tested and developed. It does work though as we use it ourselves and we have given a charity access to it and they use it to do their mothly billing (they provide subsidised office space and bill for rent monthly)

I've just added the module to your account, if you log in and have a look atthe top right you'll see a new pink button. Bear in mind that if you create a recurring invoice with todays date, it won't get created - the invoices are created at 00:01, so set the date for tomorrow if you want to test it.

Thanks for taking the time to have a look and post a response.

[Rob Holmes]

Hi Deej,

Yes I noticed it just after posting - thanks for adding it!

I actually run multiple businesses so it could be a little on the expensive side unless they all fit into a single account?

Rob

[DuaneJackson]

Unless you were happy with the invoices for them all looking the same then you'd need seperate accounts, if this is the case and you're keen to use the software after trying it out for a while then PM me with info on how many accounts you think you will need and we might be able to arrange something.

[Rob Holmes]

No they need to be different invoices, ones a limited company and 2 aren't

I notice you only offer annual billing, had you considered a monthy option?

I also notice our main businesses are in identical markets which could be a little difficult.

Rob

[Rob Holmes]

I think I've posted more in the Accounts and Finace forum tonight than I have in total up till now :)

I detest Accounts and Finance so generally stay out of here!

Another question if I may?...

Do you backup your systems, if so how, how often and where to please?

I'm also looking for a backup / restore feature so I could take copies myself just in case ;)

Rob

[DuaneJackson]

Hi Rob,

The servers are backed up daily. The main servers are housed at Harbour Exchange - www.interhouse.net. We have another server in the states to which the database is mirrored and a backup of the database is SFTP'd to our office at London Bridge daily.

I understand your concerns about us being in the same business - but hosting isn't something we push to non-clients at all really - it's more an incidental/value-added service to SEO and development clients.

The vast majority of our hosting clients are hosting with us becuase they first had other services with us and to take full advantage of them they needed to host with us.

Monthly billing would be a good idea. I can't remember why we're nto doing this! I'll have a chat with my business partner tomorrow and see what we come up with.

I'm away on a much needed holiday next week so forgive me if I'm unresponsive for a while on the forums here! But the support system for KashFlow will still be manned.

I think most people detest accounts (I know I do), which is exactly why we've come up with something that isn't a pain in the arse to use!

[MinuWeb]

Is there an option for currency ?

We would be interested in using this for another product if € could be used :D

[barry.hynd]

Hey,

I'm gonna have a look at this is well. I'll keep you all posted as to how I get on.

[Rob Holmes]

Duane,

Any chance of pre-populating the email address field on the email invoice pages with the customers email address ?

Looking good!

Rob

[DuaneJackson]

Hi Rob,

If you've recorded an address for the customer in the customer record it should already do this.

If you haven't included an address for the customer on their record then when you provide one on the email form you should get a check box appear that lets you update the customer record with whatever addressyou entered,

I forgot to address your back up question before. You can export a list of all customers and all transactions from the reports section. I don't think a SQL backup would be of any use to most users. Do you have any suggestion on how to provide a more comprehensive back-up facilty for users? IE, what format should the backup be in?

[DuaneJackson]

Hi Barry, thanks for taking the time to have a look.

It was probably stupid of me to ask you guys to look at it now as I am away all of next week and won't have a chance to respond to your comments until the following week : /

Tony, there is currently no facility to use other currencies.

[Rob Holmes]

Yea - I thought I'd put one in but hadn't!

hmm - I emailed myself one last night and don't remember deleting it. Never mind.

I would say backups are not much to most people use without a restore facility. Then the format isn't so important just the ability to restore.

Rob

[DuaneJackson]

Oooh! My first ever post here! I only found it becuase someone just clicked through from it to sign up to KashFlow