Been a while since i last posted on here, i'm in the process of purchasing a boutique gift shop and have had past experience of using Sage Line 50 and Sage Instant and the Sage Payroll when i was last in retail back in 2006. I will be vat registered and will also require accounts for a sole trader, might change to Ltd in 12 months or so, payroll and possibly a simple stock control option. One thing i did not like was the support i got from Sage, not always great and then there was the cost of support.
I have taken a look at various accounts packages, Kashflow, Xero, QuickFile, Quickbooks, Clear Books etc. along with the latest offering from Sage.
I guess because i am familiar with Sage i am looking at this more closely and i'm going off the idea of cloud based accounting as you have to pay for it ongoing, although not ruled it out completely. I have been looking at Sage Instant Plus, one feature that i like is the Cash Register which appears to make it easy to process till receipts for retail businesses. Not sure it the stock control will be easy or suitable for me. It would appear that there are a couple of buying options, buy off the shelf with 45 days support and you own the software or you can pay monthly, £10 per month to include support and upgrades, not sure which option would suit me best, I am assuming on the pay monthly you download the software but if you stop paying the monthly fee you would loose access to the software. With the purchase outright you would loose support after 45 days and if there was a problem have to take out additional support, anyone no how much it is?
Are there any other packages that i should consider which would be suitable for a retail shop?
I'm going to tentatively suggest VT Transaction + @ £125 + VAT or even VT Cashbook which is free. (suitable if you intend using an accountant who also uses VT) (1)
It carries a 60 day trial and the only thing missing is stock control. Takings are a doddle to key in and once you get used to it you should find it quite easy. Some find it difficult (especially if you're used to Sage) though so it may not be to your taste.
http://www.vtsoftware.co.uk/
(1) Shaun on here (Shamus) is one such accountant
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
I would prefer an accounting package with stock control.
Currently looking at QuickBooks Pro or Premier and would prefer a desktop program rather than cloud based. Does seem to be some very good deals on QuickBooks on Amazon at the moment. Does anyone know if there is any training for QuickBooks online that i could do to become familiar with it, also would welcome any reviews on either Sage or QuickBooks to see which one will suit my purposes.
John, apologies, your not the first to recommend VT Accounts and to be honest i shied away from it at first because it didn't look flashy etc, but just downloaded the free trial of vt transaction plus and just had a scout about and actually it looks nice and simple to use, downloadable instruction manual to read which i like and quite a few youtube video's showing you how to do various things. O.K does not have stock control but i guess i can always get a stand alone one, plus i'm pretty shore my accountant will like it.
I would prefer an accounting package with stock control.
Currently looking at QuickBooks Pro or Premier and would prefer a desktop program rather than cloud based. Does seem to be some very good deals on QuickBooks on Amazon at the moment. Does anyone know if there is any training for QuickBooks online that i could do to become familiar with it, also would welcome any reviews on either Sage or QuickBooks to see which one will suit my purposes.
I would recommend QuickBooks Premier because it has retail industry-specific features such as inventory control and sales/expense reports.
If you are looking for the online help/training, this link might help you: http://quickbooks.intuit.com/tutorials/
Hope that helps,
-- Edited by Kundan Lal Rana on Wednesday 3rd of February 2016 06:17:59 AM
