Am looking for book keeping and tax software at the moment. Already have sage 50, but only for one client version, so looking to either extend that or try something new. Also looking for tax software for self assessments, then to move on to corp tax. Can anyone give me any advise as to their preferences and possible reasons for this. Am just starting up, so obviously want to keep costs under control, but also need to get the right tools for the job.
don't be put off by the title as the debate is a lot more balanced than the title suggests.
There are also brief discussions in there in relation to payroll software.
My practice uses VT Accounts (including VT Transaction+ for bookkeeping) and I intend to also offer Quickbooks within the next twelve months.
Sage remains banned in my practice until they change their licensing as I see no reason why I should pay more for one person to use the same software dependant upon the number of clients that one has. I have no issue with licenses based on number of users but ther Sage license is just a client tax and unless Sage have some hand in finding me my clients they have no right to tax me on them.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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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.
I work with BrightPay and you can check us out here; http://www.brightpay.co.uk/
We are fairly new across the UK (the past year and a half) and we have had great feedback in terms of customer satisfaction. There is the free nversion for 3 employees or less if you want to try it, or of course the Bureau version which I'm sure is the one your looking for? The prices are listed and some good reviews.
I think that Debbie's message is aimed more at bookkeeping software than Payroll although it's important to have the best for our practices of all of the main four (Accounts / Bookkeeping / Tax / Payroll).
do you want to post a separate introductory message.
Sure that you know Tom from 12pay whose already on the site. We don't have anyone on here from Moneysoft yet but we do have a few users of that one.
Might be a good idea in your intro to mention RTI in relation to your software as that's going to be the major selling point in the next couple of months.
Make your intro more about yourself than the product as it's people who sell their businesses rather than products alone.
Looking forwards to you joining in with some of the site Payroll questions in the coming months.
Hope that you enjoy being here.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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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.
Thanks for the link. I've had a good read through it and at the moment am still undecided!! Think that is the general feeling from most people, that all the systems have their advantages and disadvantages. I did see another option called Kwickbooks. Has anyone used that at all.
Many thanks for your reply. I will have a look into your system when I get clients needing payroll. At the moment its end of year accounts and self assessments that are being asked for.
The only mention of Kwickbooks that I can find is a bookkeeper in Gloucestershire. Do you mean Quickbooks?
If so it's the worlds best selling retail bookkeeping package and Intuit who produce it are quite a bit bigger than Sage.
That said, Sage still have the lions share of the UK market at the moment although there are a growing contingent of people on here that are moving to Quickbooks and that move is certainly being helped by the banks (Barclays especially) now offering Quickbooks as an option for new businesses rather than just giving away a copy of Sage Instants which is one of the main (but not only) reasons that they have gained the market share that they have.
If Sage do not change their licensing I can see a complete game change in the UK accountancy software market within the next ten years in a similar manner to the Lotus / Excel change during the 90's.
One thing against Quickbooks is that the bulk of the books out there are geared towards the US market and it seems that Intuit almost move on to the next version of the software before the publishers come out with the UK editions. Fingers crossed that will improve now that Intuit have actually noticed the UK and are making a concerted effort to develop their market here.
Shaun.
p.s. If that wasn't a typo and there really is some software called Kwickbooks can you post a link please and I'll have a glance at it.
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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.
My mistake - so many alternatives out there. It was Kashflow, which looking at it again, appears to be an online provider, rather than sitting on my laptop. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer to have hold of something, just in case. Just been on the chat online with quickbooks and they are trying to sell their proadvisor programme. Any feedback on this would be appreciated. They weren't very helpful, wanting to give me the sales blurb, rather than answer my questions. Think this is probably the way to go, as age quoted me £2253 this morning, without payroll or corp tax!!
I was really impressed with the Intuit roadshow and can see them toppling the current top of the heap who may have become somewhat complacent in their assumption that they can keep putting up prices and people will pay whatever ridiculous figure they ask..
Quickbooks Accountant edition that comes with QB Premier is £519. Pro is cheaper and probably all that you would need. Whichever version you go with it's unlimited clients.
One downside to Quickbooks is that there is no iXBRL facility for filing accounts. At the meeting this was explained away that Quickbooks is a bookkeeping package and to file accounts you would need additional third party software such as VT or Sage.
And there's the rub, if you've purchased VT why would you need quickbooks.... Well, that goes back to what clients know and what the banks put in their mits when they open a new business account which will either be Sage or Quickbooks and which is why I'm determined to have at least one of those (and it's not going to be Sage).
I'm sure that at some stage I will be joining the Pro adviser program as I'm seeing that as another way of finding more clients.
Rather than QB payroll you could try 12pay which a lot of people on here use.
Taxcalc is really good but can come in a little expensive. My impression is that it's main selling point is the way that it walks you through the tax return.
Personally I use a combination of HMRC software and the VT corporation tax tabs in VT accounts but there have been times when a bit of hand holding by the software would not have gone amiss.
One final thing. Sage can be negotiated with. I am sure that you can get that price down from their first quote if that was the way that you wanted to go.
It won't come down to QB territory but the client base that you are turning your back on needs to be considered in any decision you make.
HTH,
kind regards,
Shaun.
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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.
Many thanks. You've been a great help. Just nice to chat it over with someone who isn't trying to give the sales pitch, but is seeing it from the workable position.
Those of you who have said VT, do you mean VT or Viztopia (does that even exisit anymore?).
I use VT+ and love it, over Sage any day. I can set up as many clients as I like and I think I was allowed 4 users for my initia fee which was less that a couple of hundred. It's so easy to use. I use it for book-keeping and year end accs prep.
I pay £238 per year (incl. VAT) for VT Accounts and VT+ which is a single user but instal on as many PCs as you need licence so got it on two at home, all of them in the office and the laptop. At east means that all I needf to take with me from PC to PC is the data which is simple enough.
like yourself, I absolutely love it above all other software as unlike the others it's aimed at those who know what they are doing rather than trying to do all of the thinking for you which the others seem to try to do in order to make their products more end user as well as accounting professional freindly.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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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.
Hi to all I still use Sage but also Quickbooks and mybrightbooks for cloud system - its free and works brilliantly for basic entry between myself and customers. payroll - I changed over from Sage this year to Iris as I found the reports and switching between clients easier - still a few problem however I would say this is my being so used to sage.
Hope useful in your choice.
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Donna Curling - Complete Book-Keeping Ltd (CBKLtd) - 07939 101900
Payroll has got to be Moneysoft for me www.moneysoft.co.uk
I have used Sage but expensive, Iris lost the plot although I think they are now on track but Moneysoft is so easy to use, multicompany and relatively in expensive, ideal if you have several clients. Never had a problem with updates and ready to comply with RTI. You can have a free trial if tou visit thier web site.
