Acounts

[j.paul]

Yep we use base, only available to SSAIB tho as far as im aware.

Isn't "Base" a cut down version of Alarm Master

Edit: Base Software

BASE SOFTWARE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

The BASE Administration Software is only available to current SSAIB members and ongoing current membership of the SSAIB is a condition of the license agreement.

The license to use BASE Software is valid for 12 months from the date of purchase and is renewable by purchasing a further 12 months maintenance and support contract.

Payment for the program is to be made to the SSAIB.

The Annual Maintenance and Support Package is COMPULSORY or the software will not function.

The annual support fee will cover all upgrades to the system and BASE software telephone support. All upgrades will be at the request of the SSAIB.

The BASE software is not networkable and is sold as a single user copy for use on one PC only. BASE is not licensed for use on terminal services or any other form of network (LAN/WAN/VPN etc.)

The BASE software is a right to use license and is licensed to the purchaser and must not be sold, copied or lent to any other persons or company.

[Guest]

I'd start with Sage. I know Whistle's not short of a few bob and as the saying goes, 'start as you mean to go on'. It's worth paying for Sage now so as your business grows you don't have to retrain on new accounts software. Sage isn't an easy straightforward package compared to others but it is professional software. This is why you don't just press buttons randomly to see what they do, you get the training to use the software and you do it properly.

[xx badwolf xx]

i use quickbooks have found it very good and used it for over six years

Sage is very good but there is a lot of additions to require that can really start to mount the costs up.

[esp-protocol]

We use SAGE - If you want teh tech support it can be bloody expensive, but if you can get away with it it isn't bad.

I know SAGE is acceptable to the TAX man as you basically can't fiddle it, don't know about he other packages.

It's also a good idea to talk to your accountants and see what they use. Saves a lot of time and money if you have compatible software.

[whistle]

New question

Here go's Do you record the cheque numbers in your accounts of all the cheques payed to you by customers? Or can i just record the amount on my exec file and have all the paper work in my files ??

[esp-protocol]

At the end of the day, when you have to reconcile the bank balance, or when something doesn't add up, it pays to write down everything about everything !!

Don't the cheque numbers come up on the bank statement... just cross reference??

[arfur mo]

New question

Here go's Do you record the cheque numbers in your accounts of all the cheques payed to you by customers? Or can i just record the amount on my exec file and have all the paper work in my files ??

hi whistle, i think accounts software is such an important issue it's worthy of its own 'sticky' thread, as it can soon get way of track with advice comming from all directions and becomming disjointed.

early days i originally used a 'borrowed copy' of Sage accounts and FC run on an old 'clam' amstrad, moved on to legitimate version TAS Books (as it offered a free data conversion from sage) and i have used Quickbooks and later Quick Books Pro with payrol. my wife uses Sage Finacial Controller and Sage Payroll at her firm (Accounts Manager), and we have battles royal in which software is best.

just as with any equipment we all have our favourites but IMO sage is that much more difficult to get a handle on, and far less forgiving if you make a mistake, but but they do continue to offer support for older versions - if you pay for it.

Intuits quickbooks have a very under advertised policy of 'sunsetting' earlier versions at arround 4 years or 2 - 3 versions, and then refusing to offer any further support on older versions including bug fixes (not nice, but at least automatic updates for new facilities or bug fixes are free even if you do not buy a support package until sunser occurs)

intuit do give you a discount on upgading to a later version. this will not be a real problem, unless you have integrated payroll enabled. this you need to update for the yearly budget at least, and if you main program is 'sunset' you can no longer have seemless intergration without updating.

i personally 'like' quickbooks as it allows easy error correction and in a simple way making any audit trail entries in the back ground. it works just ike a word processor and in the 'pro' version you can create estimates, then invoices for progress payments or deposits.

if you have a property agents as customers, who usually have several sites but pay on one cheque monthly. you can have different site address and invoice address for each site as several levels are allowed for eaqch client so Intuit deals easily with The ABC tenants association of bloogs house C/o boggit & leggit Property Manegement far better than any other package i have looked at including M.Y.O.B..

.

both Sage and Intuit are recognised by the HM Revenue & Excise man for both acrual and cash accounting schemes. my local tax office had nobody available trained in Quickbooks so after 18 months closed an investigation, never have found out what they thought they had found wrong .

in the early days of using sage the VAT inspector did a routine inspection on my books, he declared he did not know Sage (i just can't win) he resoultely stated "it was for me to present and explain my accounts proceedures, in a way he understood and could check my figures" but it's SAGE the defacto accounts package . i had no option but to go on the attack, spent several days typing all my records into a spread sheet, delivered the resulting 'tomb' to his desk - he never came back i wonder why? he's probalby still reading it.

some good advice has already been given - backup regularly using incremental references based on date and a,b, c etc, do it before you start entering (so you can get back to were you were), then every 15 minutes making a final backup when completed - DO NOT OVERWRITE earlier backups, there will be a day comming when you want to go back a little, and the backup is corrupted.

good tip is to photcopy every incomming cheque with its advice sheet (if you get one), it makes life a lot easier to find unallocated deposits - and it will happen! and its a real help for the VAT inspections. they always ask for records 3 - 5 years old, and you will not be able to remember. enter cheques into the bank individually, not in a group, if one bounces its far easier to identify the deposit from seperate records at a much later date.

example you receive a cheque for

[Zak]

As others have said:

Quickbooks is reputed to be more user friendly and cheaper than SAGE. SAGE is more expensive and unforgiving - I would definitely use a proper package but you should speak to your accountant first and foremost and then use what he is happy with as he will need to know how to use whatever software you go with.

We also use Alarm Master for day to day invoicing but it is not an accredited invoice package. We have SAGE Financial Controller and a few other SAGE bits that we don't use. (it was between that and Quickbooks).

[arfur mo]

We also use Alarm Master for day to day invoicing but it is not an accredited invoice package. We have SAGE Financial Controller and a few other SAGE bits that we don't use. (it was between that and Quickbooks).

hi Zak,

frankly thats a real bombshell, i'm astonished that Alarm Master is not acredited, it has never occured to me to ask when it has beem mentioned to me by others. i know those who use it speak very vary highly of it, but i wonder how many users do not know or appreciate this issue? i'm curious as to the cost of the package?

has AM got a data export facility, if so could you not import it into Sage, as i beleive you can with Excel? at least that way you can have the data in an 'acredited' form.

incidentally for quickbooks there a 3rd part program called mobilpos which links to the data and can be viewed on a smart phone or PDA, still a bit raw arround the edges but allows you to see the client account status, enter invoices on the go (so you don't forget), even produce a screen statement and enter supplier invoices.

regs

arfur_mo

[Zak]

hi Zak,

frankly thats a real bombshell, i'm astonished that Alarm Master is not acredited, it has never occured to me to ask when it has beem mentioned to me by others. i know those who use it speak very vary highly of it, but i wonder how many users do not know or appreciate this issue? i'm curious as to the cost of the package?

has AM got a data export facility, if so could you not import it into Sage, as i beleive you can with Excel? at least that way you can have the data in an 'acredited' form.

incidentally for quickbooks there a 3rd part program called mobilpos which links to the data and can be viewed on a smart phone or PDA, still a bit raw arround the edges but allows you to see the client account status, enter invoices on the go (so you don't forget), even produce a screen statement and enter supplier invoices.

regs

arfur_mo

I doubt very much that anyone using Alarm Master for their ALARM database would be dopey enough to think that it is an accredited accounting package (from an HM Customs POV). It doesn't purport to be and it is not. Yes, all data can be exported out. The writers of Alarm Master are SAGE re-sellers as well.