I've used Xero, my wife has used Sage (uses Excel for work) and in my work my boss prefers to use Excel. Which one is the most popular with you?
I keep getting adverts pop up on youtube for Xero or Quickbooks. I haven't used Quickbooks yet so not a clue honestly.
I was told that once you know bookkeeping and accounting basics enough it doesn't matter which system you use as it all works the same. Oops didn't include VT Accounts.
For those hardworking Bookkeepers here, have some wine or chocolate (Maybe not on a Monday) after yesterdays snow.
It would be interesting to know which one is popular. Looking through advertised Bookkeeping jobs they want Sage, Excel and Quickbooks. Thanks!
As far as accountancy software goes VT+ and VT Accounts for me.
I spend much more time in Excel though although such is automating processing, accounts production, management accounts, etc. Probably don't use it the way that most people do though as my world lies behind alt + F11.
I generally avoid Sage as not a great fan of nominal codes and closing off periods, but I can use it.
Tried Quickbooks but wasn't particularly keen.
Won't have anything to do with cloud offerings.
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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.
VT Accounts is an annual licence and if always up to date with the latest changes in legislation. A lot of accountants use other software for bookkeeping (i.e. Sage, Quickbooks, Xero, Kashflow, etc.) and then enter the trial balance into VT Accounts.
Personally I use VT Transaction+ for bookkeeping as the link between that and VT Accounts is just the click of a button (provided that you remember to get out of the clients books first before trying to import it which I keep forgetting).
Cloud software is back to pay per client. There are all sorts of other reasons to avoid it. Just look up some of Vinces old threads and you'll get a feel for the divisiveness of cloud offerings.
Hope that you enjoy reading those books. Personally I prefer the David Cox book but it's all a matter of teaste. I know that Bill (Wella) always swore by the Frank Woods book.
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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 use QuickBooks desktop and online as well. i resisted online for years but decided to get with the programme. i have to say, 6 months on I actually like it. I went on the QuickBooks advanced training and that was really good. I'm loving the bank feeds, the automation of transactions. It's no fun not having more than one screen open at a time but I've bought another monitor and am working around that. Once you get used to it, it's a lot quicker. I've started looking at Autoentry to automatically enter bills into QB and although that looks good I can't see how I would make money out of it at the moment as the cost is more than I would charge to do the bookkeeping manually. times are achanging and I fear we will all have to go online eventually...
If the likes of Sage and VT disappeared from desktop usage then I would just build them myself and sell them (writing bespoke accounts reporting packages for companies is basically what I do anyway).
There's two theories, Destructive Creation (Schumpeter (1949)) and Disruptive Innovation (Christensen (1995)... And perhaps Guerrilla Marketing (Levinson (1994))... Which are the basis of change by small, new entrant companies into established markets. Their insignificance makes them invisible to the incumbants who they cannot hope to compete against on an equal footing so they attempt to disrupt the market.
I did my dissetation proposal based on the ICBs and IAB's use of these theories to enter accounting unnoticed by the big boys. I could have equally chosen Uber, AirBnB or indeed any of the cloud offerings who have all employed similar business models.
The truth is that the cloud is disruptive innovation that nobody wanted, nobody asked for. But clever spin has now made too many believe that they are somehow being left behind if they use their existing, often much loved software. And the more people who believe that slower, less dependable, pay per client, ransomware is actually somehow better then less and less the market for software like VT and Sage desktop.
As Joanne says, you're not going to see cloud offerings in real corporate environments which are predominantly SAP, Sage or bespoke (My experience is predominantly SAP except banks which are predominantly bespoke).
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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 did my dissetation proposal based on the ICBs and IAB's use of these theories to enter accounting unnoticed by the big boys. I could have equally chosen Uber, AirBnB or indeed any of the cloud offerings who have all employed similar business models.
Hi Shaun
The difference is though that where Uber and Airbnb have in one sense undercut their market and opened up new revenue, the accountancy cloud has actually increased costs for the client. As you know I use VT+ so non of my clients are charged any extra for something they neither need or care about. That said, if they want to use cloud I'm equally happy to accommodate it, but it will be their choice and they will ask for it, I won't force it upon them like some accountants have.
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
I use whatever the client wants me to use but not a fan of them all.
For my practice generally:-
VT+ and Accounts.
Sage Pro (the one with all bells and whistles as I have clients with foreign currency, stock and VAT margin scheme requirements)
Industry is still massively pro Sage or SAP if they are not using a bespoke system. (Albeit often with semi bespoke add ons/ins, eg Sage was doing bank feeds into top end sage products long before the cloud companies even existed.)
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
