Quickbooks or Sage Accounting for start-up ltd company?

[poorlittlefish]

I'm in the process of starting up a limited company that will be manufacturing and selling online. I have looked at a number of accounting packages and Quickbooks and Sage Accounting seem to be generally well-regarded. I've had a play with both and am having difficulty making sense of Sage, whereas I like the 'workflow' facility of Quickbooks. Sage, however, seems to be better known?

Is there any particular advantage that one holds over the other? Would accounts entered in either package be accepted by most accountants and if not, which is favoured?

Many thanks.

[elainec100@cheapaccounting]

both equally as well used by accountants

[Rolo Tomasi]

Personally I prefer QuickBooks as I find the reporting side of it much better than Sage however there will be an equal number of people who prefer Sage. You should really make your decision on whats right for you.

As an aside did you look at the online accounts packages that are now available. These are growing in popularity and some people see that this will be the future of all accounting packages.

[Chris Ashdown]

Many e-commerce software packages like Actinic interface directly into Sage, but I don't know of any why do into quickbooks latest issue

[Philip Hoyle]

"Manufacturing" may require features of an accounting package that aren't available from all providers - if you want particular features, such as stock control, order processing, bill of materials, etc., then you have to look very carefully at your accounts package - not just as to whether or not they offer the features, but how user-friendly they are. Can't recall the exact details, but I once had a client using Quickbooks which was absolutely fine for the accounts/book-keeping side of things, but was a real pain in the neck for the sales-force as they couldn't search on products in the way they wanted - at that time (old version, hopefully corrected now), you could only search on certain parameters, i.e. search by product number but not by product description, or something like that. It really affected the sales personnel, slowed things down and sometimes resulted in lost sales if they couldn't find the product a customer wanted.

Same with "selling online". Ideally, you want something that integrates with your website database so that stock control can be kept up to date across both systems and also so that sales via the website can be automatically transferred through to the accounts side of things. Many e-commerce platforms have built-in links to accounting software to facilitate this, so a good place to start would be asking your e-commerce provider for a list of supported accounting packages. There's little point in getting the best e-commerce package and the best accounting package if they won't "talk" to eachother!

I'd suggest you look at some of the online accounting packages as they seem to be more switched on to e-commerce and online trading. Google for "Kashflow" and "xero" which seem to be the two most popular at the moment.

Sage & Quickbooks may be the most popular, but that's because of historic market dominance. I don't think either are regarded as "the best" these days and both seem to be high cost and high maintenance when you factor in the ongoing support contracts and the need for program updates every few years.

[MyAccountantOnline]

Would accounts entered in either package be accepted by most accountants and if not, which is favoured?

Many thanks.

Most accountants have packages they prefer (I'm not a Sage fan;)) but will work with any of them. At the end of the day most packages are broadly similiar and a lot is personal preference.

The best thing you can do is to speak with your accountant and work with them on this.

You may find your accountant can offer you a discount on a package they use/promote and working with your accountant on a package you both like can be very helpful.

[KidsBeeHappy]

For manufacturing, i'd go with sage, because there are so many developers out there (and in sage too) that will build bolt ons and interfaces to interact with any of the other manufacturing systems or information systems that you have. With sage you're never going to hit that brick wall where you can't get it to do what you need.

[Ingrid]

Most accountants would be ok with both Quickbooks and Sage. I personally much prefer Quickbooks. You might want to check with your accountant before making a decision.

[kulture]

There you have it. Everyone has their own preference. Your accountant will have their preference too, BUT I would not put TOO much weight on your accountant's preference, although its worth asking.

In the end it is you who has to work with the chosen package day after day. Dont be put off by a package seemingly clumsy. After a few weeks it will be second nature.

What is more important is how well the package fits your business needs. Do you really want the accounts to interface with your online site? Do you want stock control? How long does it take to do the everyday tasks (i.e. is it one step or five to enter a delivery, raise a bill, enter a payment, enter a sale etc).

Do not choose a package that makes your accountant's life easier if it means a couple of hours extra work a day for you.

Don't be put off by upgrade costs, first check if an upgrade is necessary. I have run quickbooks 2003 for many years and have never needed to ugrade.