Bookkeeper, Public Accountant

 

List Of Top accounting & bookkeeping Software For Your Business

Simply put, accounting & bookkeeping is the lifeline of a business. accounting & bookkeeping deals with summarizing, analyzing and reporting the financial data and information about a business. An accounting & bookkeeping software records and processes the accounting & bookkeeping transactions of a business within its functional modules. Financial statements consisting of the balance sheet, profit and loss account, and statement of changes in financial position can be easily prepared with an accounting & bookkeeping software.

An accounting & bookkeeping s...

top accounting & bookkeeping software, accounting & bookkeeping software list, modules of accounting & bookkeeping software, types of accounting & bookkeeping software

Simply put, accounting & bookkeeping is the lifeline of a business. accounting & bookkeeping deals with summarizing, analyzing and reporting the financial data and information about a business. An accounting & bookkeeping software records and processes the accounting & bookkeeping transactions of a business within its functional modules. Financial statements consisting of the balance sheet, profit and loss account, and statement of changes in financial position can be easily prepared with an accounting & bookkeeping software.

An accounting & bookkeeping software is all about the various functional modules that it has. Some of them are- General ledger which takes care of the company's financial dealings; Accounts Payable where the company enters its bills and pays the money it owes; Accounts Receivable where money received is entered.

The different categories or types of accounting & bookkeeping software are as follows:

a) Small business/personal accounting & bookkeeping software which are mainly meant for home users. They are simple and inexpensive with simple functioning such as management of budgets.

b) Low end accounting & bookkeeping software are for small business markets that are capable of serving a single national market. Such software are characterized by 'single entry' products.

c) Mid market accounting & bookkeeping software are for companies with large businesses. These software are capable of serving the needs of multiple national accountancy standards and facilitate accounting & bookkeeping in multiple currencies.

d) High end accounting & bookkeeping software are complex and expensive business accounting & bookkeeping software that are also known as Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software.

However, you have to keep certain things in mind before buying an accounting & bookkeeping software, like the prices of the software, its different features, its after-sales support and alike. Most of the accounting & bookkeeping software include all the important accounting & bookkeeping modules. The more specialized features a software has, the more expensive it becomes. Your software features must be compatible with your business. Also, the after-sales support is important like FAQ package, local service center and others.

There are a lot of top accounting & bookkeeping software available in every category. So, it is not easy to select the best ones. Below are top five accounting & bookkeeping software in every category.

A. Small business/personal accounting & bookkeeping software:
1. ePeachtree (Best Software)
2. MYOB Plus for Windows (MYOB Software)
3. Peachtree Complete accounting & bookkeeping (Best Software)
4. QuickBooks Online (Intuit)
5. Small Business Manager (Microsoft)

B. Low-End accounting & bookkeeping Software:
1. BusinessVision 32 (Best Software)
2. MAS 90 & MAS 200 (Best Software)
3. QuickBooks Pro 2003 (Intuit)
4. ACCPAC Pro Series (ACCPAC International)
5. Vision Point 2000 (Best Software)

C. Middle-Market accounting & bookkeeping Software:
1. ACCPAC Advantage Series Corporate Edition (Best Software)
2. Great Plains (Microsoft) MAS 90 & MAS 200 (Best Software)
3. Navision (Microsoft)
4. SouthWare Excellence Series (SouthWare)
5. SYSPRO (SysproUSA)

D. High-end accounting & bookkeeping ERP Market:
1. Axapta (Microsoft Software)
2. e-Business Suite (Oracle)
3. MAS 500 (Best Software).
4. Solomon (Microsoft)
5. ACCPAC Advantage Series Enterprise Edition (Best Software)

In compiling the above list, a variety of factors such as feedbacks from customers, scalability of the software, and after-sales support are used. Also, the different attributes for different categories have been considered like for ERP software, attributes such as manufacturing solution, supply chain solution and database solution. The above compilation may not be all inclusive and some people might choose to differ with it but it is almost near to perfect list.

 

How To Choose The Best accounting & bookkeeping Software For Your Business?

With more and more people self employed and setting up businesses from home accounting & bookkeeping software are becoming much more of a necessity. If your business is lucky enough to be growing rapidly you may have trouble keeping a track of all your finances. If you don’t want to spend every evening yourself going thorough the accounts you could pay an bookkeeper, public accountant to do all this for you, but this is costly and not feasible for small businesses that are starting out. The best way is to bu...

accounting & bookkeeping software,

With more and more people self employed and setting up businesses from home accounting & bookkeeping software are becoming much more of a necessity. If your business is lucky enough to be growing rapidly you may have trouble keeping a track of all your finances. If you don’t want to spend every evening yourself going thorough the accounts you could pay an bookkeeper, public accountant to do all this for you, but this is costly and not feasible for small businesses that are starting out. The best way is to buy reputable accounting & bookkeeping software. And if you get this right is could be a major investment for your business. But you don’t want to spend a lot of money on accounting & bookkeeping software only to find out that a few months down the line your business is growing so rapidly and your accounting & bookkeeping software cannot handle it.

The problem with accounting & bookkeeping software is that there is no single best product that suits every businesses needs. To find the best software you need to evaluate what your needs for your particular business are. Some of the questions you need to ask are:

• What exactly do you want the software to do?
• Will it cope if my business trebles in a year’s time?
• Will the software meet my current and future needs?
• Does the package provide web integration?
• Can the software be customized? If so will it be capable of meeting your full requirements?
• Is the vendor reputable and do they offer customer and technical support?
• Does the software produce the reports your business needs?
• Is it easy to use?

The best way forward is to research your particular business accounting & bookkeeping needs. Read reviews and find similar companies to yours and find out what software package they use and ask all the pros and cons of that particular software. There are many websites that evaluate and review software for you, but remember many businesses have different needs and are of a different size. And if your business is successful and growing rapidly then your accounting & bookkeeping software needs to be able to have the resources to take on the extra accounts that it might produce in the future.

You must be careful not to buy accounting & bookkeeping software because of its price. You may find some software that is very reasonably priced and then only to find out you have to upgrade it to it can run your business effectively. But this does not necessary mean that the more expensive software packages are any more suitable for your business. This is why you must be careful before you buy any software, research is a must. You might find all the different software packages on the market quite daunting and be put off and just buy one that’s in the price range you have available. And you may also use the excuse that you have little time to research what software package is most suitable. But a little amount of time spent before you purchase your software could save you an awful lot of hassle and time in the future. Don’t be afraid to ask companies for advice, they may tell you some horror stories they had and how to avoid these yourself.

 

accounting & bookkeeping Professionals: Are They Necessary?

Does your business needs an outside bookkeeper, public accountant?

It all depends. If you require an audited or reviewed financial statement, then, yes, you need a CPA. In any event, it is always a good idea to maintain a relationship with an bookkeeper, public accountant no matter how small your business. Whether your bookkeeper, public accountant is a CPA is up to you. The real question is: To what extent do you need outside accounting & bookkeeping services? That also depends on you and the nature of your business.

I always start with...

bookkeeper, public accountants, accounting & bookkeeping Professionals, CPA, Non-CPA

Does your business needs an outside bookkeeper, public accountant?

It all depends. If you require an audited or reviewed financial statement, then, yes, you need a CPA. In any event, it is always a good idea to maintain a relationship with an bookkeeper, public accountant no matter how small your business. Whether your bookkeeper, public accountant is a CPA is up to you. The real question is: To what extent do you need outside accounting & bookkeeping services? That also depends on you and the nature of your business.

I always start with the admonition: The Buck Stops With You! You cannot afford to dissociate yourself from understanding the meaning of your financial statements. If you solely rely on your accounting & bookkeeping staff or bookkeeper, public accountant for completely accurate financial data, then you are asking for trouble. If you are going to own or manage a business, then you have a responsibility to learn how to speak the language of business. The language of business is accounting & bookkeeping knowledge.

How involved you become in the accounting & bookkeeping process will be determined by time schedules, your mental pre-disposition, desire for control, cash flow, etc. One scenario, if you can afford it, is to hire an internal accounting & bookkeeping staff to prepare financial statements on a monthly basis and have an external bookkeeper, public accountant check them over. Another common scenario is to prepare part of the compilation yourself, such as preparing a sales journal and a cash disbursements journal, and then hire an outside bookkeeper, public accountant to prepare a bank reconciliation and the financial statements for you. Some do this on a monthly basis, others quarterly. Some business owners do the books themselves all year and turn them over to the bookkeeper, public accountant at the end of the year to verify the balances and do the depreciation entry for tax purposes.

There are numerous ways to work with an bookkeeper, public accountant. Regardless, you should learn enough about accounting & bookkeeping to be able to communicate intelligently with your bookkeeper, public accountant. Since you are intimately involved in your business you may recognize danger signals that not even your bookkeeper, public accountant will see.

Selecting an bookkeeper, public accountant

Relying on the yellow pages to find an bookkeeper, public accountant can be risky. The best way to find any professional is by a referral. However, you need to interview prospective bookkeeper, public accountants before signing on. One of the first priorities is to find out what their experience level is. Your business may have very specific accounting & bookkeeping and tax issues that require a certain amount of expertise. Perhaps you have a manufacturing concern. What does the bookkeeper, public accountant know about raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods inventory accounting & bookkeeping? Does the bookkeeper, public accountant know how to set up job-costing and overhead burdens? Ask for references from other like-kind businesses.

Keep in mind, that you may go to an established firm with a good reputation, but with whom are you going to have a relationship? Is your account large enough to warrant a relationship with a partner? You need to feel confident with the person assigned to your account. Perhaps a smaller firm with four or five bookkeeper, public accountants who are all seasoned veterans might
work better.

You will also want someone with whom you can relate. The ability to communicate is a crucial factor. Your bookkeeper, public accountant may be technically proficient but can you understand what he or she is telling you? Does he or she listen when you ask questions? Don’t be afraid to ask for someone else if you are having difficulty communicating.

Another important criterion is “accessibility”. Is your bookkeeper, public accountant too busy to talk to you? Can you get your questions answered within a reasonable period of time? Do you feel important to him or her? Situations may arise where you need information immediately to make an important business or tax decision, will your bookkeeper, public accountant respond quickly?

Last, but not least, are the bookkeeper, public accountant’s billing practices. Billing practices vary from firm to firm. Some firms are very aggressive and put tremendous pressure on staff and partners to bill every minute they can. Some firms require a review process before any work goes out the door. This means that every person who performs
any work on your account, including the person who puts the stamp on your envelope, bills you for it.

Find out in advance what happens if you call the firm to ask a simple question that takes less than five minutes to answer. Are you billed for five minutes or are you billed in increments of fifteen minutes even though you only talked for five? Some firms justify this increment billing by explaining that you are paying for the bookkeeper, public accountant’s expertise that may have taken years to acquire, therefore, they say, it’s worth it.

Some accounting & bookkeeping practitioners charge a flat rate for services rendered or a combination of flat services and hourly charges. For instance, an bookkeeper, public accountant might charge $200 a month to prepare a monthly financial statement but charge $100 an hour for special projects. Within the monthly fee, the client can call to ask questions that last fifteen minutes or less for no additional charge. This way the client is not reticent about calling. Getting your question answered may prevent little problems from later becoming bigger more expensive problems.

Very often projects take longer to complete than anticipated. Complications arise and the practitioner should be paid for his or her work. Always insist that, if there are going to be additional charges over and above what has been agreed upon, that the bookkeeper, public accountant gets your approval first. Be sure to clarify these procedures before engaging an bookkeeper, public accountant in an “engagement letter”. This is a document that spells out the responsibilities of both parties and how the relationship is going to work.

Remember, there is absolutely no reason to be intimidated by your bookkeeper, public accountant. After all, you are paying for the services, and I promise you, the bookkeeper, public accountant wants your business.