I see many startups using QuickBooks and QuickBooks Pro vs Premier
Accounting Systems for small businesses
Answers
I prefer Intacct. It is a complete SaaS accounting system that meets all our needs. It is user friendly and has excellent control features. We also use Adaptive Planning for forecasts and planning.
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I second that emotion on Adaptive. It is a great budgeting tool with out the risks of complicated spreadsheet models. After a review of 5 competitive systems AP came out on top. I have used it with a client that had 300+ cost centers across 12 locations.
What were the other 4 systems you review?
If you are a small business Peachtree is a better software for you than Quickbooks. Peachtree has better reporting and tracking capabilities and has a good support team. However, if you are a non profit organization you need to meet a different level of reporting as required by FASB For these organizations I recommend using either Sage MIP Accounting which is easy to use and very professional or Blackbauds The Financial Edge. Both very good software. Difference is pricing and functionality. One has a table driven chart of Accounts the other a linear chart. I recommend either one of the two. For help with any of these software just drop me a line.
I agree with Richard. I installed Intacct at my last company back when it first came out (2002) and was always happy with it. I actually still represent them, re-selling the monthly subscription to that company, even though I left my
In my more recent consulting roles, I still continue to recommend the program, to anyone who has a company that is going to grow to over 500k in revenue, and has sights on reaching between 25 to 75 million within 5-10 years. Another good competitor to Intacct is NetSuite; and I am using them with a new full-time controller role that I recently stepped into. Microsoft Dynamics is a good program also, especially if you are looking to coordinate with their CRM, Exchange, etc.
Intacct and NetSuite are very stable and secure programs and have a large user base now that they are established. If you want your staff to operate with freedom of access (anywhere in the world), and NOT have to deal with server/network issues, that is the way to go. It is also attractive from price standpoint, as you may per user and module, on a monthly basis for Intacct, quarterly with NetSuite.
Finally, each company is different and the software out there caters to different niches; some connecting better with your other systems. I suggest anyone perform a needs evaluation before jumping headfirst with the first shiny object. Your goal is to get a piece of software in place that will serve your needs for potentially many years; as it is significantly more work and headache when a changeout becomes necessary. I am happy to help out anyone with such evaluation steps and have some materials I can forward.
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Hi Paul,
I'm starting to look at replacing QuickBooks with something a little more substantial and would be grateful for any materials you might be able to forward my way to help with the evaluation process. Really enjoyed reading your post.
Thanks!
Jenny
Jenny,
My apologies - did I ever reply to you on your inquiry; are you still looking for additional insight? If so, please send me an e-mail to my linked account. All the best. - Paul
Netsuite has been a great tool for our company. We've been with them for about three years, and as our business grows and evolves we continue finding new ways to benefit from the functionality the system offers. We use it throughout our organization: accounting, sales,
I'm curious as to how large your company should be in order to consider NetSuite, Intacct or a similar SaaS product. My defaul has always been Quickbooks for the 20 person company, but QB is missing a lot of things that i would like just right out of the box (and believe me, I'm a QB fan, but it's far from perfect). Is it practical to use something like Netsuite for sub-50 employee companies? Does it make sense from a cost or integration/transition effort perspective? Thanks.
In terms of how big a company needs to be to get benefit from Netsuite, I'm not sure of a good employee count to throw out there. I think it's more based on the complexity of your business. We migrated off various legacy systems (some third party, some home-grown). The pain of dealing with those systems was significant - we needed a tool to centralize things like customer records. We were only in the 90-110 employee range at the time, but based on the fact that our needs were a little more complex than average, and we anticipated solid growth in the business, we wanted a system we felt could be flexible enough to grow with us. The Netsuite implementation is the only such implementation I've ever been through. There were some challenges, but over the past three years the aspect of Netsuite I've seen improve the most is their customer support. It went from downright bad, to now very solid.
I would echo Michael's comment about complexity over user quantity. I've implemented Quickbooks, Deltek Cost Point, Great Plains Dynamics, and NetSuite at different middle market businesses over the past 12 years. While Quickbooks does a great job for the money, there is a point where business becomes too complex. We reached this point when one subsidiary showed all stars in a P&L because Quickbooks reports couldn't handle $10M in sales! I'm sure they've fixed this now but if you have many subsidiaries that consolidate, multi-currency, project based accounting, or require a truly integrated single system, you need to step up from Quickbooks. I really like NetSuite's integrated internet based approach. This isn't for the everyone but it is years ahead of Great Plains core software which dates back to the mid 80's with the Internet functionality sloppily added on top.
I agree that it's not so much the size of the company, either in $ volume or # employees, that limits QB. In my experience it is the complexity of the operation and the need for financial information that quickly puts limits on QB. Our inability to integrate the transaction system with QB is what convinced me that it was just too simplistic and, as someone wrote earlier this year, really nothing more than a bookkeeping system. It cannot provide the financial analysis information that a true accounting system should.
I'd have to agree with Andrew here. While we do suggest QuickBooks for small clients that are looking for a way to track their finances, we find that it comes to a point where you need something flexible and robust enough to really scale with the business. In light of the different laws and regulations that exist for various countries and industries, QB will eventually be a resource sink in my experience.
Could you share some information the costs of Netsuite and the costs of customization>
Hello- we are looking to expand our Netsuite implementation from a single entity (US) to include our Europe branch and China branch this year. Do you use multiple entity or instance reporting to cover your worldwide needs? What has your experience been to date? We were quoted an outrageous ($50k - half for license and half for consulting) to add OneWorld to our NS application to cover the additional entities. While I think it would be easlier for consolidation and currency conversion, I cannot fathom why it would cost so much. Any alternatives or advice?
Kathie
Kathie,
I'm in a similar situation now in terms of a China subsidiary operation, and noticed this post from last year. I'm wondering how you resolved your problem.
Hi Kathie and Allan,
As a NetSuite partner located in Beijing, your question is one that we see from our clients with operations in China very often.
The quick answer is that "it depends", but with the proper setup, many of our clients are indeed able to use the Mid-Market Edition to cover all of their China operations as well as the US operations. It really depends on what you are doing in China more than how many users you have here or even what industry you are in.
For example, one of our clients has a factory here with only a few users, but they need OneWorld. Another client does sourcing and Trade with a large office of employees, but can get by using Mid-Market.
If you decide to go without OneWorld, you WILL most likely need to customize some parts of NetSuite's reporting or invest in another inexpensive Chinese software package for local reporting purposes, such as Kingdee/UFIDA.
My advice for you would be to very clearly map out your company operations and workflows, both now and in the projected future. You'll want someone who understands China tax law as well.
One thing Trigger has done in the past was a consulting project with the client, resulting in a document that maps out processes and helps clients make the decision.
We found that it's worth taking a bit of extra time to be sure before moving forward.
I'd be happy to chat with you more - let me know if you'd like us to get in touch.
Paul,
Appreciated your insight on Proformative relative to accounting systems. I have a client that is contemplating a systems change from a version of Microsoft Dynamics GP that is no longer being supported. They did $120M in sales last year and are growing rapidly. Any materials that you could send me would be greatly appreciated.
I have read through most of the posts here, but would like to ask your opinions on accounting software options given some specific company information.
Revenues $30 to $50 million. Service based business. Mostly e-commerce with credit cards, pay pal, etc. Has to handle upwards of 20,000 vendors. I definitely prefer a SaaS product. Total number of licenses 4 to 6.
Intacct and NetSuite are mentioned, and I will check their websites. I would appreciate any additional recommendations from the group. I would also appreciate it if you can point me toward sources of relatively independent info on the packages. (The ASA website has some good general info, but I found it dated).
I thank you all for your feedback.
We are looking for a system that does a good job with consolidations, inventory, BOM and WIP management at multi-locations, handles RMAs well and has a good deferred revenue module.
Do you have pros and cons for Intacct vs NetSuite
Hi Paul,
I would love to get your evaluation steps and materials that you would like to share on accounting software selection.
My company has outgrown of Quickbooks and am in the process of evaluating other viable accounting software. My company has contract manufacturers to make replacement LED lights. As a start-up, we have a small budget only. However, we do want to get a cloud-based and scalable solution.
Thank you.
Rita Leung
Controller, Private Company
Don't forget price. One of Quickbooks' greatest advantages is that you can get a pretty darn full-featured accounting platform for multiple users for a couple of hundred per user per year. That's pretty much free, when it comes right down to it. I have used QB at a number of small companies for years and have passed every audit and raised lots of funding based on those books. And BTW, you can, indeed, control monthly closes on QB and disable the ability for users to make postings in prior months. You can also set up audit trails - so the basic controls are there and if that is really all you need then I'd stick with it. Learn more about audit trails here: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/using-audit-trails-in-quickbooks.html.
No doubt both Netsuite and Intacct do more, are more powerful and more like "big company" systems, but they can get expensive very quickly (don't forget that there is pretty much always some customization and that costs a lot up front) if you have many users on the platform or if you use a lot of modules. The costs will certainly be in the tens of thousands per year and can run to the hundreds of thousands. Now that is still "cheap" relative to Oracle and SAP, but the ROI for QB in a company that can use it is very high.
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I have to disclose that I may be little biased here because I am advance QuickBooks (QB) Proadvisor.
Jim, you are talking in your question about startups and usually those companies don’t have large accounting department and one or two people do everything. It’s difficult to have any internal controls no matter what software you are using.
QB Premier has some better user rights setup and Enterprise has pretty good security setup.
I was a user of MS Dynamics (previously Great Plains) and it’s good application but it’s not easy. Bryan made great point about the price. Dynamics is expensive – in thousands, and the setup cannot be really done by you. Definitely not a software for a startup.
I disagree with Paul’s comment. Intuit (parent company of QB) created a product that can really take a company from one employee to 500. I have manufacturing clients on QB with 300 employees and good internal controls practice. I would suggest you give another look into QB. Here is the link that can provide a review of different Intuit products http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/quickbooks-comparison-chart.jsp and make sure you read what’s new in 2010 version http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/latest-business-accounting.jsp
I have done accounting on many platforms; including the off-the-shelf like QuickBooks. QuickBooks is by far one of the best that I have seen. Quite frankly, when one says $25M to $75M, it is all relative. I ran a multi-site produce distribution company on QuickBooks that had over $50M. This really isn't that big of a deal since each trailer of produce was worth $10K - $15K. It adds up fast. And, QuickBooks had a closed period date also. If I had a beef, it was that I could only show the Balance Sheet, P/L etc in certain pre-determined (changeable) columns. Other than that, it went well. One last thought, many municipalities and public agencies in PA have gotten some cheap or free copies of QuickBooks and will only accept a backup copy of QuickBooks as the required financials. Because of the audit steps, they can tell if you tried to fudge the numbers. Best wishes on finding the right software for you! We all need to do the search. Carl L. Snyder, Jr.
We've come very close to moving from QB to another ERP solution (contenders being Netsuite and Intacct) and hope to do so at some point in the future. That said, QB has not failed us (...we're a late stage start-up with solid revenues and 3 subsidiaries) and has made a lot of things easier than what would be the case with another ERP solution. And, as said by Bryan...the cost differential is huge. Our upgrade to QB Enterprise cost us next to nothing and we have over 6 users and great performance.
Jim et al;
My experience has a different perspective, Quickbooks is not a scaleable platform for an entity with revenues in excess of $10M USD. It certainly isn't a true mult-entity ERP system and the reporting capability is not very robust.
Considering that business today operates on a global scale, Quickbooks is not the long term answer rather a short term phase I solution in an early growth model.
I have administered and worked with all the 'A' tiered and most of the 'B' tiered ERP systems, in my opinion SysPro is one of the best alternatives. It is one of the only platforms that is truly multi-currency capable and can handle multi-entity models in either manufacturing and/or non-manufacturing environments. The reporting is extremely user centric and the implementation is less of an exercise in customization and more 'out of the box' functionality implementation.
Hope this helps.
John
Accounting Advisors: Accounting/Finance/
A couple of comments. First, I and others have found the following website useful when researching accounting and ERP platforms for companies.
The major ERP applications (Oracle, SAP, etal) are now coming out with service offerings for smaller-mid sized businesses.
Depending on what hardware structure or intends to invest in, the company has should weighing this capital cost vs. having web-based accounting applications that have taken hold in the marketplace. Significantly less capital cost up front, typically pay licensing and transaction fees.
www.accountingsoftwareadvisor.com
It has small-mid-large applications being reviewed in the context of price/value, pros/cons, industry preferences, etc.
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Hi Randal,
Thanks for the referral to www.accountingsoftwareadvisor.com. What a great site!
Just be careful with the information from that site. They have not updated a number of the products on there in 5+ years and software has changed significantly over that time.
Agreed. In fact if you look at their "top 40 systems" it lists QB 2003! Honestly, I just don't think you could trust info that is this old.
May I know how much is the cost of 100 licenses of quick books.
Rajesh
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you'll have to call them. they only list costs for the first few licenses on their site. http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/small-business-software.jsp
Intuit says only 5 people can simultaneously use QuickBooks Pro or Premier. Enterprise takes that up to 30. Maybe its me, but I can't see any use for 100 licenses unless you're going to resell them.
Also, I agree with the others, QB does not scale well, and Enterprise comes no where close to MAS 90 or MS Dynamics as the next step beyond QuickBooks.
I know a person at Intuit that can give you that information;
Corey Spear 214 387 2393
He'll be in 8:00 am Mon.
Seriously, if you have 100 users, you are WAAAAYYY too big for Quickbooks. Get away from the bookkeeping level systems and get yourself a true accounting/ERP system.
100 users and no audit trail? *That* would be terrifying. I get nervous at 2, and give up at 3.
Consider Quickbooks Enterprise as a migration up from QB and QB Pro. Enterprise has an audit trail, has some support for consolidated f/s. I am a certified Enterprise proAdvisor and I have used it to produce audited public company f/s and I believe it can be used in a manner that complies with SOX404. However Enterprise does not enforce the close as strictly as one might like therefore it is essential to run a full backup every time f/s are generated. It does include new and improved builtin tools for detecting prior period entries. Enterprise only supports weighted average inventory, the user count and transaction volume limits may be problematic for businesses above several million $ in revenue, and the maximum data field entry is $99M.
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Enterprise really offers nothing over QB or QB Pro except for the additional users. And having been through a SOX audit with several clients, all versions of QB - including Enterprise - would fail miserably. There simply is not enough accounting control built in to the product. QB really is nothing more than a glorified bookkeeping system. If your company is in a position to need a SOX audit, you are way beyond QB.
How well would QB work for a non-profit banking system of a university that tracks financials for over 100 budgeted campus organizations, committees, etc. where allocated and nonallocated funding needs constant updating?
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It would not work very well. Accpac and MIP work very good in that type of environment.
It would work VERY well with the proper setup, training and use. Same as any software system.
This topic has obviously struck a chord with lots of folks. I'll throw my two cents in as someone that is in the middle of converting off of the online edition of QB over to Microsoft Dynamics. I looked long and hard at several solutions (Netsuite, Intacct, Epicor) before deciding on Dynamics. I have been paying $45/month for the last 3 years and its been ok. I finally got to the point that I was spending more time managing data in external spreadsheets that should be housed in a real ERP that I had to switch, along with a host of other reasons mentioned above.
In my opinion, Dynamics has very good bang for the buck. Solid network of resources to call on if necessary. Good 3rd party network of application. All key when trying to keep pace in today's environment.
Anyone who wants to discuss the points that lead me here, let me know. Happy to share.
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Is Dynamics fully server based or is any SAAS available?
Look at the total costs for SAAS based products. They sound good at first, but pricing isn't always as good as it seems up front. SAAS is IMHO just a way for software companies to develop a nice continual revenue stream. The 2 most important things to look at when you look for an ERP system are 1) Quality and reputation of the VAR (yes, this is absolutely #1), and 2) How well does the software fit your business/solve your business issues. Don't limit yourself to SAAS based products - just find what fits best with the VAR that has great referrals (insist on some site visits to their existing clients).
fully server. that being said, there are lots of people that will host the server for you or can be hosted in a vm (which is what we are doing).
My former company implemented Nav (major integration with Saleforce.com to automate and integrate order
BTW, it took over a year to customize and integrate and probably the better part of $1 million but the end result is fabulous.
Although growing rapidly, NAV suffers from a lack of popularity in the U.S. For example, when implementing a NAV system in the SF Bay/Sacramento area a couple of years ago, we found only one qualified independent consultant within the area. In contrast, there were dozens who knew Great Plains (now Dynamics-GP).
If I were making a choice, local support would be something I would consider. While many of the less popular programs are very good, support may not be as quick or easy as with more popular applications.
We chose NAV for it's international/European strength. It does not seem to be a well-supported product (from third party standpoint). It is rock-solid, however.
There are definitely a number of options for Dynamics SaaS.
I agree with Mark, this topic has struck a chord.
Before you can plan your trip, you need to know where you are going and what's your budget. Even if Dynamics is your answer, if your budget is $2,500, you cannot get there. If you are facing budget limitations, your only decision might be which flavor of QuickBooks do I purchase. But for about the same money, you can get Peachtree, which does offer an audit trail and a flexible chart of accounts. It is a bit more difficult to implement than QB, but a superior product in my opinion.
One additional suggestion would be to plan, plan, plan. The more time you spend planning your chart of accounts and the reports you need from an accounting system, the happier you will be with the results. Hey, you can always purchase a migration tool and move to something else in six months.
Picking up on Randy's mention of Peachtree, my Company was able to use Peachtree Complete Accounting up until we outgrew it, which for us, meant 6-8 users, and 8 or so companies within the consolidated group. From my experience, Peachtree was similar to slightly superior to QuickBooks, however, if you require consolidations, robust reporting, and/or have foreign currencies involved, Peachtree is NOT the answer. Very efficient but not intended for FX and Consolidations. When we moved from Peachtree we migrated to MS Solomon (now called MS Dynamics). It is far more costly and much more robust than Peachtree. Depending on your Dynamic module selections => GL, AP, Budgeting, etc... you can easily spend $10k to $30k + installation.
I have over 10 years experience with Peachtree. For the money it is much better than the "competitively priced spread", has significantly better controls and is not more difficult to implement(sorry, but I disagree with Randy). It also has significantly better upside growth. I have small one or two person shops as well as 15+ multi-user clients on the various versions.
I agree with Randy that Peachtree is superior to Quickbooks. I am a Peachtree Certified Consultant and a Quickbooks Pro Advisor, who has worked with both products for years. In my experience, Peachtree is not any more difficult to implement than Quickbooks.They both do basic bookkeeping, but if you have advanced needs, e.g.departments, job costing, inventory, POS, importing data,custom checks and forms, etc.,you should review both products (or any other you consider) to see if they work the way you do and have features that accomodate your business. Both Peachtree and Quickbooks have free trial versions available throgh their website.
I would recommend Sage software. Their MIP package is great. It integrates with their Sage Fundraising 50 smoothly and has many sophisticated reporting options are an inexpensive price. I also got the allocations module that is a life saver.
QB has audit trails and can be closed on a monthly basis. I have passed many audits with big 4 firms with QB and we were over $10M and growing with international currency consolidations using FASB52. I worked for another company and wanted to try Netsuite. The old bait and switch were it sounded like it was going to cost about $1,000/month and it turned out to be over $100k/year vs $1,000 one time payment for QB. I also like QB since I can install, backup and do most sys admin items on my own.
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One advantage to QB that we should not overlook is the ready availability of experienced staff. Unlike some other (probably equally good systems) it is very easy to find people who know QB.
As one who has passed a public company audit with QB, I recognize its limitations. At the same time, for the price of QB, I was able to do the additional work required to comply with SOX.
Those looking to upgrade to any new system should start by identifying the shortfalls in their present system. In other words, what present problem will be solved or future problem will be avoided with the new system. A key is to ensure that the software vendor then describes (preferably in writing) exactly how the new system will address the issue (vs. the more typical "...the new system will handle that..." While the software resellers can be valuable resources, they also don't get paid unless they sell a new system.
I am surprised not to see any mention whatsoever of the SAP Business One product suite. It is the only integrated solution where you get all the functionality and can turn off what you don't need, instead of installing what you need now and have to go back and upgrade to get what you need later. In other words, unlike other systems, it is NOT modular but integrated. It comes with a full ERP solution of manufacturing, distribution, Bill of Materials, Property, CRM and financials. It is completely integrated with Crystal reports, giving you full drill down through all of your reports. You can execute queries which are also drillable and easy one-button exports to
Since it is from SAP, the world's largest supplier of ERP solutions, it is solid and stable, fully tested. There are certified add ons for specialties and industry-specific solutions. It runs on SQL Server, so virtually any company can manage it, but is also available as a hosted solution or even SaaS. Having used the Sage products in both for profit and non profits, Dynamics/Great Plains/Solomon as well as SAP in a large company and Quickbooks Enterprise in smaller environment, SAP B1 provides the best of all worlds: a solid solution backed by a large stable company focused on providing software to enterprises, a flexible and scalable implementation and an incredibly fast ROI. Together with ease of implementation and support, it's a solution that cannot be beat.
While many systems require extensive work every time a new version comes out (-- I have spent tens of thousands upgrading Dynamics to a new version), this is a quick exercise to upgrade -- usually seamless to the users and very inexpensive in terms of time and money.
I would be delighted to discuss at greater length offline and demonstrate how we can implement this system in your business in a very short period of time, with a payback in many cases measured in months. It's not $3000 like QB Enterprise, but you would be surprised at the cost vs its competitors when you break it down.
If you are looking for an accounting system to deliver numbers, stick with QB. If you are looking for a system to run your business and provide valuable information, check out SAP Business One.
Steve Filreis
[email protected]
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I always had the understanding that SAP is not for small business. Is that correct? If yes, why?
Anna
but after discussing with SAP analysts, the supplier agreed that $300k meant $600k.
A running joke in the industry is that your SAP implementation is done when you are out of money.
The Business One product shares nothing with SAP's tier 1 product. SAP bought the package from a developer in Israel. It was really designed more for the European and Eastern markets. In fact, for a long time it didn't have the out-of-the-box functionality to create a paper based check. The mid-market is relatively new playing field for SAP and they are still trying to learn how to deal with customers and support. The US market still is NOT the primary focus of B1 so be careful if you are considering it.
One thing I would recommend with any software is that you investigate the availability of local support before deciding. At a former employer, we moved to MS Dynamics-NAV (formerly Navision). While the software was fine, it was almost impossible to find local support professionals in the metro Sacramento/SF Bay Area. Unless you can do everything you want yourself (which is unlikely given the power of many systems), you will likely want/need help. Support costs enough without incurring the additional expense and delays of travel.
Put Accufund on your shopping list. Its a great product. I can recommend an experienced VAR if you need one.
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Has any one utilized this software? I currently work with QB 2009 for a NFP with about $85K in revenue. At that level I produce fairly straight forward financial statements and did their 2009 Form 990PF.
Your comments are welcome!
For small business I have found QuickBooks one of the best software platforms available. For a low cost, you get a complete system, easily corrected and adaptable to changing needs. Yes, it does have an audit trail. It resides in the background. I have taken many businesses off of other software and put them on QuickBooks. I highly recommend it. You may just need a bit of customizing and training to get it to do what you want.
I have used Quick-books in a separate operation, and it did have limitations. Especially if someone likes to have the audit trail capability, and double entry. pcMRP is a package that is very inexpensive, can have virtually unlimited seats, and a whole bunch of different add on modules. They have a website at PCMRP.com.
If you've outgrown QB or will in a relatively short time frame, make sure you take a look at MAS 90 /200. This package is relatively simple and I've implemented it for a global ecommerce retailer as well as a start-up manufacturer with good results. Additionally, the package is highly scalable with many third party apps available as well.
You will pay consideraly more than QB.
I've got a 25 person, <$10M manufacturer looking for a software system. They have nothing now. Needs to have accounting, manufacturng, BOM, Sales...Needs to be easy to use considering there is no experience in the company.
Any recommendations
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Mike
Yours is a good question but not really answerable in the way you need an answer:). Here are a couple of tips (I do software evaluations for a living):
1. Define/clarify the business model (not just whether process manufacturer, made to order/engineer to order, discrete etc)- how do you need to interact with customers, vendors etc?
2. What are your key business needs (expressed ideally in terms of business scenarios that vendors must demonstrate)? If you don't have this defined, don't start looking. This covers both transaction entry and management oversight/reporting etc.
3. What pains are you trying to address-convert to business scenarios-how you want to work in future.
4. Involve key users-make them have skin in the game-they may as well start learning now, because they will be better equipped to cope with the new system and the change that will impact their lives.
There is a bunch more to do, but these are key first steps.
Best regards
Len Green
How do they grow to that size and have "nothing"?
IMHO they are already pushing the limits of entry-level products like QB and PT. Sage MAS90 would be something to look at. Go back through this entire thread and read the recommendations on selecting software.
Mike,
At my previous employer, a small agribusiness <$10M with 40 employees, I was running Peachtree Premium and was very happy with it. I was using all modules except "Jobs" and I can tell you I had no problem whatsoever running Payroll on my own and using all the functionalities of the Inventory module. I found the latter very flexible and whatever I couldn't do well with it (like in-depth cost-accounting), I could still "trick" the system to integrate and report what I needed.
As a matter of fact, I would recommend Peachtree to any small manufacturer, precisely because of the flexibility of the Inventory module (with bill of material capability), while I would not recommend QuickBooks when a solid Inventory module is needed.
Regards,
Didier
I am looking for an ERP solution. We have 10 entities being reported in 5 different currencies, multiple software product offerings, more intercompany relationships than I care to count, etc. The US and APAC entities are on QB and the EU entities Sage. Intercompany reconciliations, consolidations, revenue recognition, financial planning and analysis, etc. are done in MS Excel (2007 is buggy and keeps corrupting our files). I need a small/mid tier ERP solution with consolidations, foreign currency, revenue recognition, (ideally) automated intercompany transactions, and a financial planning and analysis tool. Because of the resource contraints of our IT guy (and the lack of desire to add headcount), a cloud computing solution is going to be my only option. In my past experience, Softrax's Sales Operations and Revenue Recognition module was superb; however, they only offer an enterprise solution. I'm going to speak with NetSuite and Intacct. Has anyone had experience with aplicor? Other cloud solutions known that could address my company's needs? Does Dynamics - GP offer a cloud solution?
Many thanks in advance,
RSW
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Speaking from direct experience, both Intacct and NetSuite can address your needs; having forex, consolidation and revenue recongnition capabilities. I've used Intacct since 2002, almost its inception and it gets stronger each year. NetSuite is also right up there. If there are specific questions on either system feel free to give me a shout - as I have active accounts/use on each platform for companies that I work for. Thanks. - Paul
I am a recruiter assisting two east Texas firms and both need CPAs and staff accountants and I only have a couple of weeks as they are in the tax season. Anyone know or recommend a place to search for candidates? I am fairly new to this industry but know the best way to find experts is to talk with other experts. If you have a referral, I can be reached at [email protected]
I was exposed to Intacct during my last contract assignment. Was extremely impressed. Highly reccommended. A application that is up and coming is Workday. I would look into it but keep in mind it is relatively new. Workday has a great upside as it has a Human capital and payroll apllication as well.
Iam working with Sage MIP and there is a field called varGLALastCheckNum in table DIM_GLA. Does anyone know what varGLALastCheckNum is?
In considering solutions for small business accounting, the thing that we can all be assured of is that the company will make at least one more purchasing decision in finance/accounting solutions during the business lifecycle. This is one of the reasons that I have a hard time recommending a pure SaaS/Web framework app for really new businesses. While the web offers a lot of capability that localized IT and software can't, it also creates somewhat of a limitation on innovation and exploration in terms of functionality.
QuickBooks is nice recordkeeping software, Peachtree and other Sage products are better at actual structured accounting... NetSuite is a strong accounting solution. But QB and PT offer something that NetSuite doesn't... somewhere to go from there.
I have used many different systems (AccPac, Solomon, Navision, 4th Shift, Quickbooks, Peachtree) over my career and they all have pros and cons.
I have found that finding the right fit for a small business is tough. Personally I will never use Quickbooks again and I did like using Peachtree. But I am loving using SaaS now as it makes everyone's life easier.
I was looking at two companies Kashoo (www.kashoo.com) and Xero (www.xero.com). I settled with Xero because of their bank account reconciliation. I have over 100 escrow accounts and it makes life a lot easier for me.
I think we all need to look at new sources as I have found that the traditional sources are not the best and want far too much for how little they do.
Just my 2 cents. :)
We use Quick Books Enterprise at our office. There are usually only three people using it at the same time. My computer is hosting it so I run fast but the other pulling from me are very slow. Our file size is 628 KB. Does anyone have a recommendation on the best way for set it up to increase speed.
Yanira, You should really install Enterprise on it's own dedicated server. They have instructions in the documentation that came with Enterprise how to set it up on a dedicated server. Our files size is similar and speed is pretty good. We have all sorts of things hung off of QB and they run fine with the dedicated server setup.
NetSuite - Extremely flexible, easy to use, fully integrated modules, not very difficult or costly to customize. Very weak with respect to controls (payables, general ledger reporting - don't underestimate the importance of this.
Great Plains - A great system, very flexible, no need to customize, endless modules, great support and scalable beyond $100M. Unfortunately, it is costly so evuate your needs carefully.
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Just came across your post from a year ago. I don't know where you got your information but the controls in NetSuite are far from weak. Perhaps your information is outdated.
Regarding NetSuite, a good way to justify the costs are to estimate staff time savings if you go with NetSuite. For example, if you have 10 employees, and you could save 1 employee's time with NS, that could be cost savings in the range of say $40,000 per year. You would not necessarily need to terminate 1 employee in 10 to pay for NS, but you could likely gain revenues and other efficiencies by all the time savings that NS provides.
Also, think of NS as more than an accounting system, as it can be used for Sales, Marketing, Warehousing, Customer Support, etc. If you gain more benefits from it than just accounting, you can more easily justify the costs.
I've had good luck with Peachtree for small companies. The next step up would be something like MAS90, which I used extensively in a couple of past companies. It is definitely a hardcore accounting system with solid controls. I never had bugs or instability issues. It integrated well with Adaptive Planning too. I was able to mirror the MAS90 chart of accounts structure in Adaptive Planning 1:1, so my report users in the business units and the executive suite never knew whether the source of a report was MAS90 or Adapative Planning. We used FRx to write our MAS90 reports by the way, which is a great tool.
Jim,
This high-energy and no-right-answer discussion of accounting software aside, your fundamental assumption is incorrect. QuickBooks does have an audit trail and it is easy to block a period from being changed.
Regards,
Jaime
Wouldn't Xero be in consideration at under $10MM in sales? I imagine the of going to a mid-level system like Intacct or NetSuite would be cost prohibitive or even risky given how the Company may not support the capital investment needed in training and implementation.
It's very difficult for an SMB to justify $50K+ spend on an ERP vs. a couple of thousand for a system like Xero that can automate a lot of backoffice pieces (e.g. - AP, Cash Recons, Payroll, etc). I think that's why so many fast growing SMBs stick to QB and never switch.
Try kpi.com Accounting Software for your business. It is suitable for a small business requirements, and you can use other modules of a software within the subscription package. http://www.kpi.com/accounting/
Problem with accounting systems is a common occurrence. To avoid this kind of difficulty, I turned to software support professionals. Opted for this purpose team Codenetix and hade made the right choice. It is not always better to change the accounting system, sometimes it is necessary to apply for technical support to the professionals, I trust Codenetix in this regard.
You should try HDPOS Smart Billing software it's a leading billing software with proven features, accuracy, and functionality. It handles your time and expense tracking, project, and client management, invoicing, online payments and reporting, leaving you more time to focus on what you do best, your business. HDPOS provides audit trail also with free unlimited demo and 30 days free trial.
HDPOS SMART Online offers a range of features for all types of small businesses. This includes freelancers, consultants, online merchants, store and restaurant owners, service providers and more. Whether you're just starting out, expanding or have an established business, HDPOS Smart accounting software is packed with basic and advanced features to meet your accounting needs.
Nowadays most of the CPA and others are using Quickbooks, it is user-friendly and easy to use.
QuickBooks Premier provides advanced options suitable for most small businesses. The ability to view customized sales and profitability reports provides options to track your biggest sources of income. The Inventory Center makes it simple to access, edit, delete and manage all of your inventory in a single location. I have more details in this article- https://www.apps4rent.com/quickbooks-cloud-hosting/
I hope this will help
Best Regards
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