Accounting Software

Within the software industry, one can expect to find a great many different software packages. Choosing the one that is right for you as an individual or business depends on your needs.

Accounting Software Overview
With so many different types of account software available in today’s market, it’s difficult for individuals and businesses to decide which one will best suit their purposes. It comes down to weighing each and every little aspect of the process to know what type of software you need. You want to have the best product that you can purchase for your needs, but you don’t want to buy more than what you need. The most cost effective way to buy accounting software is to buy a product that does what you need it to do and nothing more. This will differ from company to company, though most individuals can rely on a simple home product such as Quicken to handle their bookkeeping software needs.

The easiest way to figure out what you need in accounting computer software is to evaluate your own needs as an individual or business in order to determine the purpose for which you will use the software. An individual who also runs an at-home business will have different needs than someone who is only looking to keep track of the family finances. Likewise, a product-oriented business will have different needs than a service-oriented business. In order to obtain the product that is the most beneficial to your needs, you will need to take the time to evaluate your own needs.

Conduct Market Research
Before you do purchase any kind of accounting computer software or bookkeeping software, you want to take some time to evaluate the market. You can do this on the Internet or by visiting a local store where you can browse the products and talk to the sales staff about the products that are for sale. While you are browsing, make some notes for yourself in a notebook indicating the capabilities of each product, the requirements for running it (memory needed, for example), and the price for the product. You may also want to indicate any other important information about the product such as whether it is capable of integrating with your bank account for example or can be imported into your income tax returns.

While you are working on your product research, this gives you an opportunity to eliminate any products that you know won’t work for you or have more than you need for the price. Quick books, for example, is more useful for a business that maintains inventory, so if you are looking for personal accounting computer software, this product has more features than you will ever need to keep track of the family budget and assets. Always think in terms of purchasing a product that is going to come closest to doing only the functions that you need it to do.

Product Comparison
After you have researched all of the available accounting software and eliminated those products that you know are not suited to your needs, take the remaining products on your list and compare the products against one another. Look at the features each one has, capabilities, price, compatibility with an existing program you may be running (this is important if you want to avoid having to re-enter key information), how much memory it will take to run the program, and the stability of the program. When you do a price comparison, don’t do it just on the initial cost of the product but rather on the features it has that contribute to that price – a product that costs less is not worth the price if it doesn’t perform the functions that you need it to perform.

One of the key issues you want to discover in regards to stability of the product is whether it has a tendency to change often, thus requiring extra expense for updates. You don’t want a product that changes so dramatically that you are required to purchase a newer version in order to keep up to date. On the other hand, if the product provides updates with the purchase, you are safe to purchase that product. That brings into perspective the new Windows Vista operating system that is not compatible with all software that users installed on the Windows 2000 or Windows XP systems.

Compare the Accounting Software to Your Needs
After you compare the products against each other, compare each one to what you need in accounting computer software. In order to do that, you will need to sit down and make a list of what you need even if you are looking for personal bookkeeping software because you still need to evaluate your needs. The best way to do that is to make a list of what you expect from the software or what you would like it to do for you such as tracking household expenses, tracking assets, maintaining inventory of important records, balancing a checkbook, check writing capability, and anything else that you may desire. If you have an at-home business, you will require more features than for a personal accounting.

On the other hand, if you own a business, you will need to evaluate the needs of your company, and those will vary depending on whether your business is product-based or service-based. For a product-based business, you will need software for tracking sales and inventory such as Quick books, Peachtree, or Solomon. With a service-based business, you may not have a large inventory, depending on the kind of service you perform, and some service business may have no inventory at all such as tutors, freelance writers, specialty teachers (driving, musical instructors) and other types of business that do not require any kind of equipment to perform the service. Repair personnel, on the other hand, have a certain amount of inventory on hand at all times.

Choosing the Best Accounting Software for Your Needs
So many different accounting software packages are on the market today that it makes it a real challenge for someone who is new to accounting computer software to make a choice. The importance of pre-evaluation cannot be stressed enough, and it will save you a great deal of time and money if you evaluate your needs against available products before you make the choice. In fact, if you conduct Internet research as well as in-store research, you will find some web-based products such as People Soft and Oracle that you may also want to evaluate. Each product on the market has different capabilities, so you want to choose the one that matches closest to your needs.

Should you choose a product that has inventory tracking for a service-based business? That depends on the kind of service you provide. If you’re a plumber or other type of repairman, you will likely maintain a certain amount of inventory so that you don’t have to run to the supply house every time you have a job. In order to keep track of what you have on hand and know when to reorder, you will want to have a program that can track inventory. Quick books is good for that, but it’s a little more complicated to use than Solomon in the opinion of this writer who has used both.

Functionality
It’s important to figure out just what you need your accounting computer software to do. Some of the products are integrated like Peachtree and Solomon which means that entries into one program will affect certain accounts into other programs. For example, in Solomon, you enter an order into the Purchasing module, and it automatically sets it up for payment through the accounts payable module as well. When you receive merchandise into the Purchasing module, it adds it to inventory and prepares it for payment. Likewise, within the customer service module, orders from a customer deduct the product from inventory and prepare the customer’s account in the Accounts Receivable system for billing.

If your business does not require the maintaining of inventory or is for home use only, you may want to look at a different product. You will pay a higher price for integrated accounting software, and yet you will not need to make use of all of the functions of the software. This is why it is so important to weigh your needs before you purchase any accounting computer software or bookkeeping software in order to be certain just what you require. Buying a product with more functions than you need does not make good financial sense.

Accounting Software for Home Use
If you are looking for simple accounting or bookkeeping software to track your bank account balance, debt, and assets, make certain that you look for products that can perform those functions without much difficulty. One of the best home based-based system is Quicken, however, you may also find that a simple spreadsheet on Excel or table on Word will suit your needs just as well. The key is finding a product that performs the functions that you need without overburdening you with many functions that you will not use. This is the reason many people make use of simple products for their home, ones that are inexpensive (under $100) and can track bank balances, loan balances, amortize your mortgage, keep track of home inventory, and import information into your tax returns. Qucken can perform all of these functions and integrate with your online banking website in order to keep your bank balance up to date. Even if you run a small business from your home, the software will still perform quite well with the Home and Small Business version instead of just the Home version.

Another home product that is quite popular and is usually pre-installed on many home computers is Microsoft Money. This program is quite similar to Quicken with some of the same functionality but is a Microsoft product instead of Intuit like Quicken and Quick books are.

Combining Home and Business Use
You’ve seen some of the accounting computer software products for both home and business, but if you are a sole proprietor with a small product and inventory-based business, is there a product that will work for both your home and business needs? The truth is that any of the products on the market will work for home use, but unless you have a business as well, it doesn’t make financial sense to pay the extra money for a product with so many features that you do not need. On the other hand, if you use the features for your business, you certainly do not have to buy a separate product to keep track of your personal finances. Again, that would not be a sound financial move. The key to purchasing financial accounting software is to buy the product that is going to meet your needs the best. Thus if you only need it for personal use, you want something that is directed toward the home budget and record keeping, but on the other hand, if you have a business as well, you want a business-directed product that you can adapt to tracking your personal finances as well. In the end, you must weigh what works best for you at a cost that is not prohibitive for either your home budget or your business expenditures.

The Need for Accounting Software
Whether you have a home or a business, you need to choose accounting computer software that is going to suit your needs the best. Both Quicken and Microsoft Money will work well for those who need only a home accounting program, but integrated programs such as Peachtree, Solomon, and Quick books work well for both inventory and service businesses as well as tracking personal expenses for the sole proprietor. There are also web-based programs such as People Soft and Oracle that are simple and functional business tools. You have to conduct the research and use the product that is going to work the best for you. Sometimes the products have a free trial period, so if you are unsure, take advantage of that in order to test the product and see if it provides you with what you need. Even if you have a business, try it along with products you already have in place on a test system before you invest the money and find out that it is not what you want. By taking the time to conduct complete research on the accounting software programs on the market, you will save a great deal of time and money when you choose the product you will use for your home, business, or both. Don’t be in a hurry, but rather take the time you need to make the right decision.


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