What accounts package are you using?

[Jamie Jones]

I was wondering what software people use for doing all their business accounts... Invoicing, Stock Management, VAT, Customer Statements and tracking of unpaid / overdue accounts?

I have made a decision that I need to be far more organised this year. With a mixture of customers with a very small regular accounts or with larger accounts. In fairness the majority are good at settling their invoices but the odd invoice slips through the net with my 'manual single document per invoice' system.

Out of about 290 invoices issued 2019 I have about 21 invoices that have not been settled for the year. I seem to spend a lot of time manually creating customer statements and going over bank statements retrospectively to collate information before sending the customer statements out.

This is a big waste of valuable time and some thing that any business needs to be efficient at...

 

I am there looking for an accounts package that will work on an Apple Computer System and allow me to do the following:
- Create Invoices
- Create client statements of account
- Mark off payments on account (Possibly with use of electronic bank statements)
- Track overdue accounts
- VAT Accounts
- Stock control
- Asset / Equipment depreciation.
- Hold and Manage Customer Details (For accounting purposes)
- Manage everything required for HMRC Self Assessment 
- Profit and Lose Forecasts - Business Planning
- With the ability to potentially do payroll (I don't employ anyone yet)

So what accounts package are you using?

Edited January 26, 2020 by Jamie Jones

[Khriss]

I have been waiting fr an answer to this also.  ( from my accountant no less ?) k

[Peasgood]

I use Quickbooks for my business.

It doesn't do stock control and nor does it collate with banking. I think it can do the bank thing but haven't wanted to give it access to my bank account.

[Peasgood]

I have given my accountant access and they can see if I am putting things in the right columns etc

[scraggs]

I did use a custom built package, but thanks to MTD we either had to pay a fortune and have it rewritten to submit VAT returns how HMRC wants them, or change over to something else.
Most accounts software is now cloud based which I didn't want as we quite often loose our net connection, and also the chance of fraud, I also didn't want to pay monthly to use it, so after loads of going through MTD software chose what appears to be the only offline one off payment accounts software now available which was Adminsoft accounts.
It has taken loads of getting used to but the support is good and once you get the hang of it does everything we need, it doesn't link to your bank account though as far as I am aware.

Edited January 26, 2020 by scraggs

[Steve Bullman]

7 minutes ago, Peasgood said:

I use Quickbooks for my business.

It doesn't do stock control and nor does it collate with banking. I think it can do the bank thing but haven't wanted to give it access to my bank account.

I have quickbooks. It certainly does do stock control and collates with banking. Perhaps you are using a very old basic version?

 

 

[htb]

I do mine old fashioned and simple, a spreadsheet on Excel, been doing it this way for last 20 yrs. Mind you I am not VAT registered so that simplifies it a bit.

[Peasgood]

9 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

I have quickbooks. It certainly does do stock control and collates with banking. Perhaps you are using a very old basic version?

 

 

More likely I am not using it properly

[daveindales]

I use sage one. Does the job fine, but takes a bit of getting used to.

[Bunzena]

We use QuickBooks and have done for nearly 20 years.  The learning curve was pretty steep to start with - but now we're 'comfortable' with it.  Accountancy - like all professions - has a 'wall of jargon' that you have to get through before anything makes sense. 

 

Now I even know what double-entry really means.

 

We've tried Sage and Xero - neither of which we could get on with.  But it will come down to personal preference.  Most packages come as a trial version.  Just set aside a fair few hours and get out the swear box.  All have versions that run on some version of Windows and Mac.

 

Like you Scraggs, we didn't want to use a cloud service - and QuickBooks does has a desktop version that doesn't rely on t'internet.

 

We also didn't want to use 'subscription software' - which virtually all accounts packages now are.  Pay £x per month this year then £x+10 next year.  QuickBooks 2016 is the last version that you could buy outright.  Occasionally new-old copies come up on Amazon - so if that matters - it's worth looking out for one of these.

 

Customer support from QuickBooks has always been pretty good too.  All this matters.

 

If you do have a package that's not entirely up-to-date [and those will all be subscription based] and therefore won't file VAT via MTD - simply use bridging software to file VAT.  We use a very simple package by NJT [Google 'Neilson James Technology' - other software packages are available] - and that works pretty well.  People say that bridging software is just 'temporary' - but HMRC will almost certainly accept it as a means of submission for many years to come.  I think they have 'other fish to fry'.

 

Overall, my best advice would be - that if you have an accountant - ask them what they use.  Then put that package to the top of your list.  If you get stuck - they will probably be able to help you.  You can also send them a 'copy' of your accounts and they can run 'year end' and send it back to you 'complete and adjusted'.  That makes life a whole lot simpler. 

 

Most of these packages are very capable.  Certainly QuickBooks does have stock control and many other features.  Automatically issues invoices from quotes, can reconcile banking, file VAT, highlight ageing debt, etc. etc.  It even reminds me when I need to order a new cheque book. I don't ever enjoy 'doing the accounts' - but at least I stay on top of things.

 

It also looks a whole lot more professional to clients - and - heaven forbid - if we ever get a VAT inspection - it should make that slightly less painless as everything is ordered and correct.