Online accounting systems

[Rolo Tomasi]

Hi

I am currently evaluating the various online accounting packages and would appreciate subscribers thoughts on the advantages/disadvantages of the different offerings. My main worry is that there are so many at the moment and that the market cannot sustain all the different companies in the long term.

Many thanks

[Williams lester]

Many of them are very similar, we went through the process of evaluating as many as we could try about 6 months back and decided on www.accountsportal.com (http://www.accountsportal.com), we found that the system was quick, had all the features we needed, had extremely good customer service and they have responded positively to suggestions we have made on enhancements and extra features we would like to see in a system.

[Maslins]

We did the same thing as Dave, but decided FreeAgent (http://www.freeagentcentral.com/) was the best!

I'm guessing by "the market cannot sustain all the different companies" you mean you reckon some will disappear within the next year or two, leaving you high & dry? Most have fairly good data export facilities, so you should be ok on that front (famous last words?!)

Go for one of the established names and you should be ok.

[David Griffiths]

There is only one way to make your mind up and that is to try them.

I've tried four, and settled on Xero. The others all had issues with various matters, including not having different levels of user access, having a poor chart of accounts which couldn't be edited properly, having a clunky user interface, poor customer service

Little things will matter. Can you import customer and supplier names and addresses, or do you have to set them all up from scratch? On one system that I looked at it was impossible to override the invoice number - you had to go back into settings to change the number of the next invoice - that made setting up opening balances a real chore.

As you say, presence in the market place and sustainability is also an issue.

Finally, there is one big drawback with all of these systems - they will log you out after ten minutes or so of inactivity. That means that you can't keep your records open on your machine - if a client calls and you want to check the balane you have to log in again. Or if your working on something and get interrupted, you have to log in again. Choose a short password! With a normal system it can be open all day and ready to access at once.

[Arithmo]

All the system offer variances that are attractive to different users, from the small number of replies received so far all have settled on different systems. All of which are very good products

No matter which systems you test I would recommend that you try the software and the support, call or email, ask for a demo of the software, discuss your needs and how that sofware can meet those needs. You can then make an informed decision that best suits your needs.

Thanks

[accountancyextra]

We also did the same as Dave, Chris & David......and decided on Kashflow!

So, it seems like it's horses for courses. Everyone will ahve their own preference

[lr89]

I don't know which is your industry, but I have to say that the insurance accounting (http://www.idit-technologies.com/category/insurance_accounting) software that we have is very good, we have no complaints at all. If you are in the insurance market, I definitely recommend it.

[Rolo Tomasi]

Thanks for the replies.

I have been trialing software for the past week. I did not like freeagent as it appears that you cannot change the chart of accounts. I quite like Xero and Kashflow although I am struggling with the bank rec feature on each of them. I had not heard of accounts portal so will add that to my list. Are there any other main players that I have missed?

[David Griffiths]

The bank rec is the best bit! Saves me a lot of time each month.

Other players - E-conomic, Liberty, Fusion, Brightpearl, Liquid accounts

[Rolo Tomasi]

The bank rec is the best bit!

I'm sure it is, its just so different from what I'm used to (Quickbooks, Sage etc).

Do you find that clients like Xero or is it basically just your practice using it?

[David Griffiths]

At present it's just the practice, but I've shown to a couple of clients who look likely to take it up.

One has a relatively large number of credit card transactions and simply list them all on Excel at present - the import and reconciliation routines will save them loads of time.

I've also got about three or four where we do the basic bookkeeping for them and an online system with them able to log in and see balances will be good, so I'm going to transfer those jobs. (We do have other simpler jobs where this isn't an issue so will continue to do those on desktop software) One uses HSBC where we can set up live feeds from the bank directly into Xero - never enter another bank transaction ever again!

I used to be concerned that importing bank statements was the wrong way round - in other words that the transactions need to go into the system when the cheque is written, and then reconciled when it hits the bank. But in reality, I doubt if I issue two dozen cheques over the course of a year - everything that I can is paid by internet banking. So I pay them today and tomorrow import all the transactions

Xero's bank rec routine is great at matching transactions with invoices. For example if I get a banking for £1175 it will look up all sales invoices unpaid for that amount and suggest the match - accept with one click, or allocate to a different one if needed

I wanted to use it myself for a few months before rolling out to clients and I certainly wouldn't suggest something that I wouldn't use. I'm happy to take things forward now

[apacarada]

We have had an extensive trial of quite a few packages that are available and we have settled with KashFlow.

There are many reasons:
1. The software does everything that any SME will ever need.
2. It is easy to set up and to use.
3. It links with 3rd party products like CRM systems, e-commerce systems, payroll systems, postage systems etc.
4. API is available to develop any extras or link it to any of your online systems.
5. They have a great support.
6. The company is based in London very close to where we are.

One draw back is access levels but it is an issue KashFlow is working on.

We are an accountancy firm and we use it for our company and give it to our clients for FREE. Most of old clients have moved to the KashFlow and they like it and find it easy to use.

Hope this will help you make a decision.

Arber Pacarada
solidlimited.co.uk

[Strontium Dog]

I looked at the main providers a while ago, but decided none were particularly attractive to the accountant from a financial perspective.

What I mean by this is that they either have a large upfront fee, such as Kashflow, which costs £799 just to participate, or you have to pay for a full years licence when you sign a client up, with the attendant risk they might decide they don't like it after a few months, after which you have only collected a few months installments from the client.

I think I could sttle for less functionality if the deal was more attractive from the accountants perspective.

I think that accounts portal might be better in this respect, but it wasnt around when I did my original comparison.

I also share the views expressed by some that the accountancy practice is making a leap of faith in building a business model around a particular software, as no doubt there may be some rationalisation to come, with the number of providers out there.

Also its not for everyone, as I have taken a straw poll of clients and some express the view that they dont want to pay a monthly subscription for accounting software, as they just see that as additional cost on our fees.

[K2012]

Quite simply the best one is Xero - www.xero.com - I don't usually do free marketing but they are worth it.

K

[mit74]

try solar accounts. One off payment and no 'online' servers to rely on.

[David Griffiths]

try solar accounts. One off payment and no 'online' servers to rely on.

But the OP specifically asked about online systems :rolleyes:

[mit74]

But the OP specifically asked about online systems :rolleyes:

Yeh was late. sorry

[Steven Tucker]

There are lots of online accounting sites out there, so I can see the sense in avoiding the ones who don't have enough customers to sustain themselves for long. Even if they have the backing of a big company, they are likely to pull the plug if they are making a loss every year.

I looked into this a while ago and I reckoned that KashFlow and Xero had the most UK customers, out of all of the competing companies - they had several thousand UK customers each. That doesn't mean that the others are insignificant - at the end of the day, you can make your own judgement based on the functionality you need and the risk you are prepared to take.

[ElliottRoss]

Hi

Have you considered/researched Brightpearl? This is am integrated, modular system that allows to your add modules as you require them.

You don't state what your requirements are (except online) but I would be more than happy to discuss how Brightpearl might be the solution for you.

Please either send me a PM or call me on: 07536 044 949.

Regards
Elliott