Firstly, I have experience with many accountancy packages. Overall, I would say that about 50% of our users use MYOB, about 35% use QuickBooks, and the rest use a range of products.
Anyway, today I was hit with several questions from our users about our accountancy link, which is a free product with no cost to you.
Overall, I think this link is excellent, for example,
when you make a sale in our software, the following information is transferred by the accountancy link.
- The amount of taken for the sale and the payment type
- The Income you received
- GST collected on the goods sold
- The cost of the sale (the wholesale value)
- A deduction from the inventory (stock holding)
When you buy product
- The inventory account for the dissection of the item is increased by the ex-GST wholesale or cost amount which ever one you prefer.
- The GST Paid account is increased
- The Trade Creditors account is increased by the GST inc wholesale or cost amount
- The balance of the Supplier’s card is increased by the GST inc wholesale or cost amount
When an item is returned:
- The inventory account for the dissection of the item is decreased by the ex-GST wholesale or cost amount
- The GST Paid account is decreased
- The Trade Creditors account is decreased by the GST inc wholesale or cost amount
- The balance of the Supplier’s card is decreased by the GST inc wholesale or cost amount
It can handle gift vouchers, laybys and stockless sales, e.g. Phone Cards.
It can handle multiple shops and customers buying in one shop and paying in another.
If you have not got an accountancy system and want to try one out free, most packages have a free trial period. Another alternative is Microsoft Office Accounting Express. I found it very good, and it is free. It is a comprehensive small business management system. It does have a problem that it is an American package and also that it is no longer supported by Microsoft.
From what I have seen overall, the well-known ones are all fairly similar. They do the same thing, use the same principles, etc.
But there are things I like in one and in another.
For example, I like QuickBooks's flexibility in reports very much. Its "Memorised reports” function can save a lot of time and is extremely beneficial from a management perspective, which is why I use it.
If I were looking for an SMB business, I would budget about $200 to $450 for a suitable accountancy system, and I think most would do the trick. What would probably swing me is the local support. This is where MYOB and Quickbooks are extremely strong in Australia.
It should be stated that most accounting systems have a cloud solution, too, which is worth considering. If pressed for a cloud solution, mainly because I am used to QuickBooks, I would recommend QuickBooks Online ("QBO"). It is an excellent product, with local support. It is a fully functional QuickBooks Online plus version with inventory, budgets, and payroll included. It's available from $12 per month here.
I hope this answers the questions.
