On the "why look at this other stuff when Sage have a cloud offering?" front - SageOne is incredibly incredibly basic and has nothing like the depth of functionality and features KashFlow or Xero have. Nor is it ever liekly to based on the speed they're developing it.
Re bank feeds - before you recommend them to your clients, make sure you're aware of the facts
-- Edited by DuaneJackson on Tuesday 6th of November 2012 01:58:44 PM
Just wondered if anyone had used or had experience of KashFlow software. I have a client who had been recommended it and asked me my opion but to be honest I had not heard of it!
What would you say is so great about xero? I have a client that uses it and I had to access it when doing the year end accounts. I have a SAGE background and therefore found it a bit difficult to navigate. But once i get the change i am going to download the free 30 day trial and have a play about with it. Also going to do the same for other online packages like kashflow, fresh book, etc before make my choice of recommended online package.
interested to know why you would be looking at third party products over Sage One?
This isn't one of my have a go at Sage posts, it's a genuine question as my feeling was that now Sage have a cloud presence would that not knock other options aside for those who know and like Sage products already.
The same would also be true of Quickbooks users considering the cloud. Why would they move away from the Intuit online offerings if they already know how to use the software.
the above two are espechially considering that the banks give away that software to even the smallest new businesses. (Barclays supply better versions (Sage 50, QB Premier) to bigger start ups)
For cloud offerings both Sage and QB seem to have the feature that you can gain access to the clients data although I'm not sure whether one would be able to manipulate it using Sage Client Manager / QB Accountant edition.
I will admit that the cloud features of QB are what is swinging me in their direction as well as VT that has no equivalent.
Anyway, just interested as to reasonings for going down alternate paths rather than widening your Sage coverage to offer their cloud service?
kind regards,
Shaun.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
As you know I am a SAGE fan for desktop bookkeeping but I am open to look at various different options of cloud systems of which sageone will be one.
From what i have heard although sageone is under the SAGE banner it is nothing like Sage instant or 50 and have heard from those in the know that the best online option is xero which has much more functionality than sageone. Also understand you cant use sage client manager to access sageone, instead you need to use a separate SAGEone accountant package.
As said going to look at probably half a dozen online options in the next year and make my decision then as to what one would recommend to those looking at a online option.
At the moment I would recommend clients to use SAGE instant or 50.
Only three of my clients uses a bookkeeping package, two use SAGE the other xero. All the rest I either do their bookkeeping for them or they maintain themselves on excel or manually.
Lots of great things about Xero. Automated bank feeds, bank rules, easy bank reconciling, foreign currency processing, nothing to download or update, online invoicing which is great for credit control, Xero touch mobile app and lots more, the navigation is a lot easier than other online accounting software packages I tried. I used to be a massive QB fan but having moved online Xero is by far the best out of 6 or 7 that I trialed for a client a couple of years ago.
QB online is rubbish and that's being polite. All they have done is move a desktop version online whereas Xero has been developed for online use right from the start.
If you do the Xero training and become a certified partner you get a partner edition for free - like Sage client manager where you access your clients data via the one log in. It has changed the way I work with my clients as well as how I work with Accountants.
I did a demo of Xero at a recent ICB regional event and the majority of attendees were using SAGE but they all came away really impressed. Xero have a different approach that, in my opinion, blows the others out of the water. For me, being a Certified Partner, gives me an edge over other bookkeepers that are using the traditional desktop packages.
Re automated back feeds what does that mean? Can you automatically download your bank statements and it posts it all for you?
From all the comments I have heard xero seems to be the best online product at the moment. I have used it once for a client to do their year end accounts and found it difficult to navigate. Though guess this is because I wasnt familiar with it.
Automated bank feeds and 'feeds' from your bank accounts into Xero. HSBC are automated but the others need to have the feeds 'refreshed' which is a simple process. The bank statement lines appear in a 'to do' list on the bank rec screen. You can set them up for bank accounts and things like PayPal too. You can match A/R and A/P easily by search fields (if Xero hasn't already done it for you), create new transactions too and notes if needed.
Bank rules are where you can set conditions for Xero to match to transactions in bank statement. You choose whether to apply the rule or not e.g. bank charges
There are 'cash coding' options too which is great for bulk processing card payments e.g. fuel receipts.
You can upload documents within the sales invoice or purchase invoice too, meaning you can attach a pdf of a bill within that bill so you can easily reference the actual bill.
Expense claims - you can take a photo of your receipt and add it to the claim.
They have webinars (all their training is done online). There are customer focused ones 'an introduction to running your business on Xero' and then partner focused 'an intro to Xero for Accountants and Bookkeepers' - all FREE.
I use Kashflow for one of my clients - or rather they use it and therefore I have to. Some of it is pretty simple but some of it is completely bizarre - others areas really hard to navigate, plus myself and their accountant are finding we are constantly having to add things in the nominal ledger under the bank heading or for journals in order to get things to reconcile or post to the correct place - for instance in the bank you can't automatically pay an amount that will reduce the amount in your HMRC account - you have to go back and create that nominal account in the bank despite it having already been created under the main nominal ledger (its much easier to describe when you can see what I am seeing). Also you can't instantly post journals - you have to set it up to allow journals to be posted. Surely that is a fundamental part of an accounts programme. In addition to daily usable parts missing in the past, there were also some really bizarre additions to it, although they have recently updated it all, so the general reports look to be much more in line with what you would need.
I'm starting to get the hang of it now though, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I would love to know if there are any shortcuts for navigating between the sections, as I spend half my time coming out of something to go into something else, then come out and go back to the page I was originally on. Not like Sage or QB where the windows are just at the bottom and you can flit between them easily (hope that make sense).
Re bank feeds - before you recommend them to your clients, make sure you're aware of the facts
Thanks for that link Duane, it made interesting reading.
From previous conversations with Bob (Crunchers) it would seem that the bank feeds are one of Xero's main selling points but that discussion would seem to blow their viability out of the water.
kind regards,
Shaun.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Don't forget ClearBooks guys, comparable features to Xero (including bank feeds) and a partner price of £7.50 + VAT per client per month for unlimited users and unlimited transactions. At that rate you can resell it with 100% mark-up and still beat Xero and SageOne on price. It's not perfect, not much of an inventory module yet, but show me an online system that has has (please, lol). Will also have integrated RTI compliant payroll by April 13 (basic payroll there already, min. £2.50 per month for two employees). Fixed assets module, with auto-depreciation, multi-line journals, online VAT filing, multi-currency, csv import/export (I've done a full data load from Quickbooks desktop, including transactions) and so on. 30 day free trial so no reason not to take a look.
I'm a ClearBooks training partner, but other than that just a customer of theirs with about a dozen of my clients on it. I also use it for my practice.
Have you contacted our support team about any of those issues/niggles? There are settings that deal with a lot of what you mentioned (accessing codes from all areas, etc) The software is easy to use for small business owners, which can often mean its counter-intuitive for bookkeepers/accountants.
Also, our free Orbit product for accountants and bookkeepers at www.kashflow.com/orbit may be worth looking at
