I need a new accounting system

[Dahu371]

Hi all. I'm a qualified accountant but I only have a limited knowledge of small business accounting systems. I asked for advice on an accountant-specific forum but I get the feeling that posters there are more interested in pushing their services than giving unbiased advice, so I'm hoping I can get some help here.

I work for a small business, turnover £2m. It's a charity with a trading subsidiary so will need to handle two sets of books, but I don't need anything particularly aimed at charities.

There will be three users so a server/client system is required. We have a decent internet service so I'd consider some sort of cloud-based setup as well (not had experience with these so I don't know if they're any good).

It won't need to be scalable as there's little chance of us ever expanding, payroll is outsourced so I won't need this, and there is no significant stock or fixed assets.

So just a basic bookkeeping system with a purchase ledger and cashbook really. I have an aversion to Sage. Any ideas?

 

[neildigital]

I use Kashflow, and love it...
Cloud based, with a cost of £19 per month inc vat.

If you want to use it, give me a shout, because they also do a referral system which can pay £2 per new client per month towards the cost. ie I would love to reduce mine.

 

[David Griffiths]

Most of the online systems will meet the brief.

Xero allows for different levels of user access, which is irrelevant for a one person business, but much more important for a larger organisation. It also has great flexibility in the Chart of Accounts, so if you are used to a particular numbering system, that's easy to replicate in Xero

It's also easy to deal with a non-VAT organisation is Xero - unlike Sage where it still is not possible to switch it off completely.

Another plus is the ease of switching between two (or more) different entities. Most simple online systems are designed for small, even one man, companies, so that's not an issue for them.

 

[johndon68]

unlike Sage where it still is not possible to switch it off completely.

Curious to know what you mean by that - I'm not VAT Registered, use Sage and don't have VAT showing anywhere in Sage...

John

 

[Alan]

I use KashFlow, there is one issue that is being addressed, in that there is only 1 login per company. That is a pretty basic security issue in terms of sharing passwords / ids for anyone that has has multiple people handling the accounts.

As I said, it is being worked on, but not currently available.

 

[David Griffiths]

I
As I said, it is being worked on, but not currently available.

It was "being worked on" when I took a trial of the software in 2009!

 

[anthony_herve]

I would recommend Xero which would meet all your requirements.

Regards,
Anthony

 

[wkkk]

Check on VT Cash Book, its absolutely free and you can sync DB between servers if require.

 

[ITsoldUK]

Curious to know what you mean by that - I'm not VAT Registered, use Sage and don't have VAT showing anywhere in Sage...

John

Same here

Used it since 07 and NEVER had VAT related issues.

Just set to T0 in my Company Prefs >> Parameters.

Regards
Daren

 

[NSven]

I'm starting up my own small business without accountancy training. I noticed that Kashflow gets mentioned here a lot. Does this work for really small businesses also?

 

[NSven]

Sorry, follow-up question: does anyone also have thoughts on products like Clearbooks and Quicken as well? My business hasn't started yet and would just be a small range of assistant and administrative services so not very complicated products.

 

[Alan]

KashFlow is designed specifically for small businesses, it trys to use non accounting terms to make it easy to use (as much as an accounting system can be easy)

We use KashFlow and I recommend it from my non accounting experience small business experience.

 

[Blackberry]

we recommend Clear Books

a brilliant system and very easy to use our clients love it

 

[DuaneJackson]

Thanks for the kind KashFlow comments.

I'm not sure multi-user was being worked on in 2009, but it has been a long time coming. It should be going to private beta testing within a matter of weeks.

(We've basically taken the opportunity to re-write the whole UI to build it in - there's been a fair amount on the blog about the approach we're taking to it - but it's been a big job)

 

[David Griffiths]

I'm not sure multi-user was being worked on in 2009, but it has been a long time coming. It should be going to private beta testing within a matter of weeks.

I took a trial of Kashflow sometime between October 2009 and March 2010. I specifically raised the issue of user permissions , and that's what I was told. It was a complete deal breaker as far as I was concerned.

 

[pjoones]

I use Sage and it works really well for me. Never had VAT related issues either.