Accounts

[Steve Bullman]

i went for quickbooks originally as i was advised it was more user friendly that sage

[Gareth Dalzell]

i went for quickbooks originally as i was advised it was more user friendly that sage

 

Yes, its funny that. Sage think they got the most user friendly accounting software on the market (they would) and yet everyone that uses it says the same thing - great software, very clever, frustrating to use and you need a wall to punch. I'd agree

 

If anyone is into their spread sheets and formats, you could create a basic one in an evening.

[windfall]

Small Business Accounting Software for Mac & Windows

 

Online system i have been using it for 3 businesses for the last few years, i really rate it.

[John Russell]

i went for quickbooks originally as i was advised it was more user friendly that sage

 

I would agree with that. Sage if you want to take up accounting or book-keeping professionally, or Quickbooks if you just want to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible.

 

As to which version -- I would say start with the simplest version (as someone has said there's a free trial version you can download) and then upgrade if you need to.

 

I use a version that was superseded in 2002 but it does everything I want and I know it backwards. A colleague of mine has kept upgrading as newer version come out. Each to his own.

 

Best wishes,

 

John Russell

[ScotClayShooter]

All ive ever done is list all my reciepts/Income etc on a Excel spreadsheet and put it in to the Accountant, Who over the years has not saved me anything as far as i can tell but has put their price up 10% each year!

 

I did think about doing my own the first year then saw the Tax return form!

 

So would something like Quickbooks make it so i could do this myself?

[henchard]

 

I did think about doing my own the first year then saw the Tax return form!

 

So would something like Quickbooks make it so i could do this myself?

 

I used to use Quickbooks (I've now retired) and like someone else just kept using the old 2002 version (the only point of upgrading I could see was if you had a payroll to do).

 

It won't, however, complete your tax return as it doesn't know all the other stuff you need like investments, allowances etc.

 

I just used to print of several reports like profit/loss and general ledger(as instructed by my accountant) at the end of the year and give her the info with all the personal info she needed. She then did my tax return. Accountants tend to charge on time so if you have all the info in one place in the correct format it will be cheaper than when they have to keep chasing you for clarification/bits of paper.

 

Quickbooks does, however, make doing your VAT return pretty painless (my return used to take about a minute including filing the form out!).

 

The main thing, I think, is to become obsessive about using it; I used to enter everything daily (however busy I was) even if it was only a book of stamps bought on petty cash. That way for the sake of 5 or 10 minutes a day I never had to worry about scrabbling for bits of paper at the year end.

 

The disadvantage is that it is not the industry standard (like Sage) and many accountants do not use it (if they do you can just give them your accounts in electronic form at the year end.

 

Well worth it in my case as I never bought any updates and it's easy to use after a bit of initial 'head scratching.'

[ScotClayShooter]

I I just used to print of several reports like profit/loss and general ledger(as instructed by my accountant) at the end of the year and give her the info with all the personal info she needed. She then did my tax return. Accountants tend to charge on time so if you have all the info in one place in the correct format it will be cheaper than when they have to keep chasing you for clarification/bits of paper.

 

 

Cheers that makes things clearer, I dont have to worry about VAT for now.

 

Think i might give it a go and see if it makes things easier.

I was given SAGE when i started up but it was beyond me then.