The Aussie Pinball Arcade
Aussie Pinball Forums => General Chat - Non Pinball/coin-opp Discussion => Topic started by: Pop Bumper Pete on February 05, 2014, 05:44:21 PM
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Business accounting software
Time I joined the cool kids and stopped using pen and paper to do my accounting for my business.
I am a small business, I do not need anything fancy
I know there is software that I can put on my PC, but it seems expensive
My accountant has told me of some sites that I can do it on line, but I am wary of keeping my accounts on somebody else's server
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Pete
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My wife runs my books and a couple other of her clients on MYOB. I have looked at this with her early on and seems relatively easy to navigate.
I think the other major one is Quick Books which I remember we used with one of my businesses a while back and the accounts people didn't like it much (no idea why).
I agree about server/cloud hosted stuff - no matter how secure the systems are, nothing beats a local instal (with an auto back up system in place) for security in comparison.
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My wife runs my books and a couple other of her clients on MYOB. I have looked at this with her early on and seems relatively easy to navigate.
I think the other major one is Quick Books which I remember we used with one of my businesses a while back and the accounts people didn't like it much (no idea why).
I agree about server/cloud hosted stuff - no matter how secure the systems are, nothing beats a local instal (with an auto back up system in place) for security in comparison.
Although I've been out of the game for the past 13 or so years, both MYOB and Quicken / Quickbooks are pretty much the main players.
Just a word of warning though...Generally the software purchase is for a single years version. All the tax updates etc you won't get automatically unless you pay the yearly fee to keep the software up to date.
Having said that, MYOB is popular and certainly easy to use.
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What sort of cost are you looking at for MYOB?
Is it something you can teach yourself or do you need to do a course?
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What sort of cost are you looking at for MYOB?
Is it something you can teach yourself or do you need to do a course?
It depends on what you want out of it...MYOB has simple invoicing programs which were around $100.00 right up to several thousand for the premier versions (network sharing etc)...
http://myob.com.au/products/small-business/pc-accounting-1257830102546
Yes MYOB offer courses and many Tafe's do as well. MYOB is the sort of package that once you've set it up correctly it is not hard to use (day to day functions).
However, again it depends on whether you are doing all your BAS submissions yourself, tax, super, wages etc, or have a book keeper come in once a week to do these functions for you (on your software)...
Its probably worth the time to speak to a consultant to see what is best for each individual and your business. Just make sure to ask what your yearly ongoing fees are for the software and about updates etc....Again something that may seem cheap can add up quick...
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What sort of cost are you looking at for MYOB?
Is it something you can teach yourself or do you need to do a course?
I have only had a quick look
there seems to be a version that sells for $350
another one that is just under $1000
there also seems to be a version that is $65 per month
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What sort of cost are you looking at for MYOB?
Is it something you can teach yourself or do you need to do a course?
It depends on what you want out of it...MYOB has simple invoicing programs which were around $100.00 right up to several thousand for the premier versions (network sharing etc)...
http://myob.com.au/products/small-business/pc-accounting-1257830102546
Yes MYOB offer courses and many Tafe's do as well. MYOB is the sort of package that once you've set it up correctly it is not hard to use (day to day functions).
However, again it depends on whether you are doing all your BAS submissions yourself, tax, super, wages etc, or have a book keeper come in once a week to do these functions for you (on your software)...
Its probably worth the time to speak to a consultant to see what is best for each individual and your business. Just make sure to ask what your yearly ongoing fees are for the software and about updates etc....Again something that may seem cheap can add up quick...
invoicing is not needed
just wages and BAS statements
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I use MYOB for my business and it's pretty easy, particularly once you are set up. I don't have a book keeper, and lodge the BAS/GST myself. I also do all the payroll and data entry myself too. Well, I have now trained my wife up on it and hand balled her a lot of the day to day stuff with it now it's all in place. That's the thing once you set it up it's a piece of cake to maintain, plus doing your BAS/GST takes a matter of minutes if you are up to date with your data entry. You can also use it on a very simple/basic level or make it as detailed as you want. Depends how much information you want from it as to how detailed you set it up and make some of the data entry.
At the end of the financial year I just email the MYOB file to my accountant. He then comes back to me after he's done my tax returns with the adjusting journal entries and I put those in. Works pretty easy.
If you have wages then you will need the version with Payroll in it. I think my version is Account Edge Pro which has the payroll. I paid for an annual sub******ion which was about $695 from memory, but looking at their site now it seems it's up around $1,000. There is a trick to the annual renewal tho. The annual payment effectively gives you access to any updates that they give you during the 12 months. The main updates typically happen at the end of the financial year when they add in any legislative changes, e.g. changes to tax rates etc. Rarely are there significant changes during the financial year.
So what does this mean, well if you purchase your 12 months sub******ion in say early July 2014 then obviously it won't expire until July of 2015. Consequently in July of 2015 you download your next financial years update with tax changes etc just before your sub******ion expires, then you are pretty much set for the 2015 financial year and don't need to renew your sub******ion. Then in July 2016 you pay again and get the update for that financial year and start again. Effectively it means you only need to pay every second year. It's worked fine for me - hope that makes sense.
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I would never have thought Marty knew stuff like myob but he's spot on. You need to decide what you want to control/untilize. Whether you want to track debtors, creditors, keep inventory, payroll, etc etc. Premier is the multiuser networking package and I think its not much chop. It can be quite unstable and if one person crashes its all off the system for that user to get on again via deleting a .lok file.
Its a good package though for the Low end market of which you are in. I don't think you're planning on being a multi national any time soon.
Yearly service agreements are a must if you plan to run payroll otherwise being out of date shouldn't be a drama unless your version is bug ridden and causes you grief.
Btw I'd buy it if I needed it even though I think its not great but it does the job it was intended for. Holdens aren't Ferraris but they get me to work if you get my drift
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Thanks Rob...I think!
Ahh long ago before my male modeling career took off I actually spent a few years working in one of Australia's largest accounting firms (not as an accountant) and had lots of hands on experience with every accounting package available at that time.
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Quikbooks is set up for a more basic business and costs less from my past efforts years n years ago.
MYOB tends to be sooo much more expensive but it does offer FULL packages for far bigger businesses.
See what sort of deal you can get on the software at JB Hi Fi or say the Good Guys. I never buy software off the net. Pirated n not the real deal. With a walk in purchase you can always take it back if u don't like it or if its not working correctly.
I would go for Quick Books. It is a lot easier to use. I used it many many yeears ago n it was idiot proof back then before I was trading too much and had to use an accountant full time.
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Thanks Rob...I think!
Ahh long ago before my male modeling career took off I actually spent a few years working in one of Australia's largest accounting firms (not as an accountant) and had lots of hands on experience with every accounting package available at that time.
it was meant as a compliment as you're multi talented but accounting was something I wouldn't have associated you with. It seems too boring for someone like you. Now the modelling career.......I'm struggling to come to grips with this or do you have a grip on a certain part of your body as we speak %$%
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Cashflow Manager is a good program. You can download a demo from their website and see if it suits you.
http://www.cashflow-manager.com.au/
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my wife ( book keeper ) uses mircosoft excel spreadsheet for our small biz, our cpa gave us a basic template, quick, easy & cheap, works ok for us, may be different depending on what sort of biz your in #@#
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Thanks every one
Glad to see nobody suggesting that I use the online prograns
Seems myob is the go,
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Thanks every one
Glad to see nobody suggesting that I use the online prograns
Seems myob is the go,
I have yet to find anyone in business that I know who is confident with fully cloud based systems, and have way too many horror stories to be prepared to go that route with anything important.
The provider of our client control software developed the software into a cloud based system.....
I was invited to evaluate it just prior to first release - and lost a lot of time and work. I gave them my input and they have redesigned it incorporating my primary fix, so that it is less completely cloud based, but I am still very wary of it. To the extent that I am reviewing the competitors to source a local instal based system to replace it.
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Thanks every one
Glad to see nobody suggesting that I use the online prograns
Seems myob is the go,
Definitely worth spending time talking to them first, to make sure its the right option for you. Generally their consultants have a good understanding of accounting practices.
As for the cloud solutions....I'm not sold on this for accounting / book keeping stuff. If customer details got out / leaked you would be in the firing line first.
As long as you password protect your MYOB company file (or which ever program you end up with) is first level protection.
Obviously is someone was to steal your computer, the data would be on it but a complex password will slow them down and shows due care has been taken.
The good thing about MYOB is that it pretty much forces you to do a backup everytime you shut it down. A friend I help setup has a two stage backup. An external hard drive is connected to the computer and does a backup every morning. He has a USB drive that backs up the MYOB file when he closes out each night and takes that home with him. That way if the computer / backup hard drive are lost there is still a copy at home.
Local storage (ie hard drives) will be a thing of the past in the next few years. Cloud storage is taking over and certainly has its advantages, but time will tell.
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There is a $10 trail version
Might try that
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Cloud worries me too just like when shopper petrol dockets came out, banks and the big boys not charging credit card fees, an so on. Once we lose another option in purchasing kinda rings bells for me. !@#
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I too use a basic Excell spread sheet.
List date... customer.. amount invoiced.. GST.. total with GST.
Add columns at end of every quarter and Bobs your uncle.
I haven't found an easy way to do a BAS yet apart from just handing over a ton of receipts to someone else to do, but it all gets logged in a different spread sheet and my accountant gets both at tax time.
Bottom line.. ANY paperwork is painful if like me you were not born to do any type of office work.
I bloody hate it with a passion
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Honestly once you are set up initially in MYOB, if you enter your transactions regularly (which isnt much more difficult than entering them into an excel spreadsheet), running your reports and filling out your BAS takes a matter of minutes.
I take a bit longer than a few minutes at BAS time (but not much) simply because I like to double check stuff and make sure it all looks intuitively correct.
As I said before you can make MYOB as simple or elaborate as you need. You can run most transactions through only a handful of accounts or make it as detailed as you want, using lots of accounts and card files etc etc if you feel that helps or your business really needs to break stuff up a lot more for say analysis and planning.
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I use Xero in my business and love it. Anyone can log in from any PC, my accountant, business partners etc. pay a low monthly fee ....simple
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One the business owner forums I'm on has a lot of Xero users. Unfortunately it also has some Xero reps so it's hard to get a good judge of quality.
But I haven't heard anybody complain yet...