I am currently studying AAT level 3 and work as a volunteer bookkeeper for a small charity. We recently migrated our accounts from Excel to Wave Accounting which has been wonderful and free but I've just read an email which sounds like Wave are preparing to close their UK
service.
Does anyone have any suggestions for software? It's a community group so event-based/membership fee income (I loved that Wave would let me run each event and workshop as a separate business).
VT Transaction+ would allow you to run each event / workshop as a seperate department.
The software was originally Excel based and still feels that way although you don't need Excel uinstalled to run the bookkeeping package (You do for the final accounts). Costs £180 per year.
I actually advised a business that was on Wave not to use VT as VT needs you to understand bookkeeping where a lot of the modern software is geared towards end users rather than professionals but as you are the charities bookkeeper you would understand how to maintain the double entryt. (VT isn't difficult. I found it much easier than Sage and now can't even remember how to use Sage!).
I really never understood the Wave business model. Was their plan all along just to build up a customer base then sell the customers to Zoho? Or is this a cash grab so that they can try and break into Quickbooks territory on their own turf? I did mention that to my client before they went down that path but you know what clients are like. Once they decide that they want something there's no stopping them with little issues like what happens if this company that I had never heard of before just disappeared overnight.
Try a one month free trial of VT Transaction+ and see whether its for you. (try to ignore the Excel 2003 feel to it, under the hood its a really good bit of kit.
All the best,
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.
Thank you so much, I've just had a quick look at VT - it seems perfect - for the charity and for me and there's nothing wrong with a retro feel.
As far as Wave's business plan, at the moment I am going with them harvesting our hopes and dreams then making us pay to buy them back. I was considering Zoho and also another freebie, Zip Books, just because the Trustees like to go in and look at colourful dashboards but I'll work around that. You're right of course - who'd ever have thought that a company offering free software could suddenly disappear?
Thanks again from me and on behalf of the charity - I really appreciate your reply, your suggestion will no doubt have saved us a lot of time and my sanity.
I wasn't aware of Wave closing which is a pity as I was planning on using it for some clients, but never got beyond setting it up.
One of my major bugbears though with VT (and I think the program is brilliant) is it crashing with runtime errors when using the universal input sheet. Apparently it's something which VT are aware of but I had it happen last week and it badly corrupted the file. Luckily I had a back up but it needed the the work re-entering which I had dome that day. As I'm using the uis more and more this is why I'm toying with the idea of moving some clients to different software.
Just a slight correction to what Shaun said, VT + is only £75 + VAT a year (only need the accounts version if preparing Company Tax Returns or Agent VAT. £150 + VAT a year)
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
Touch wood I've never had an issue with VT crashing... Is this a recent thing as I've not downloaded an update for months. Already got multiple versions of client files on and off PC but thanks for the heads up, another interim backup isn't going to hurt!
My issue with the accountant Excel add onis that it needs 32 bit Excel. However all of my other Excel work uses serious sized files with Power Query and needs 64 bit Excel to accomodate the larger files. Appreciate thats not an issue that most will have but my only workarond has been to have 32 and 64 bit Excel co-existing (32 bit Excel 2007 and 64 bit Excel from office 365).
I really can't see why VT can't sort that out so that I can drop Excel 2007 and just remember the VBA syntax that works with the latest Excel.
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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.
As of yesterday Wave stopped allowing the opening of any new UK accounts and are closing down their UK services. Instead, they are going to concentrate on the US and Canadian markets. If you have an account with Wave they've stated that they have no plans in the 'near future' to restrict access so if you like living dangerously...
Touch wood I've never had an issue with VT crashing... Is this a recent thing as I've not downloaded an update for months. Already got multiple versions of client files on and off PC but thanks for the heads up, another interim backup isn't going to hurt!
Seems to happen when using the UIS. I've found that importing a CSV instead of using the clipboard works better. Using the clipboard is when I get the runtime error
s but its a pain. VT have told me they are aware of it but don't seem to have a fix. It's the first time I've had a corrupt file though, and VT couldn't restore it.
Agree with you that they should update VT Accounts to allow 64 bit, excel, but mine is 32 bit anyway so not caused any issues. I think they've missed a trick though in not making VT accounts submission software. At the right price they could make a killing
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
I was considering Zoho and also another freebie, Zip Books, just because the Trustees like to go in and look at colourful dashboards but I'll work around that.
Louise
Hi Louise, just a thought, maybe you could create a 'trustee friendly' dashboard on an Excel file, which you could then update regularly for them to look at, rather than have to teach them to find their way round VT?
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Jenny
Responses are my opinion based on the information provided. All information should be thoroughly checked before being relied on.
Thank you for your reply. I've just spent a few days transferring data from Wave into VT Transactions and it's so good. My only reservation with VT has been that it's not trustee friendly at all and they really do like frequent colourful visual data.
Your thought is a good one - you mean like an Excel 'Wave dashboard' template? Actually, that's a cracking idea. Yes, I think that would work! Thank you so much for taking the trouble to reply.
