Accounting software decision making

Chinless Wonder

I have a decision to make regarding choosing new accounting software. I thought I'd seek input of the MIPS on here.

The company is a very small theatre company (2 directors & 4 staff), and is in receipt of public funding to undertake large scale artistic projects. They also undertake a substantial amount of commercial work. Because of this situation (part-funded; part-commercial) there is a very specific reporting format for the funding body that involves separating out the P&L items into various departments.

Since 2003 the company has very happily used MYOB Accounting software for PC. The accountant is a reseller of the package and actively promotes its use. The software is aimed at users with little or no finance training and is very easy to use. It produces a specific report (P&Ls grouped by departments) around which the management accounts (in Excel) are based and this satisfies the funders reporting specification.

MYOB is now due to be discontinued on PC as of Dec 2011, and the company needs new software which can report on both project and department levels for 2 users (plus a manager who would need some familiarity though not day-to-day use). I am the main user of the software, but my colleague does all the supplier/purchase ledger activity on it.

I now have two options open:
Option 1: Purchase a stand-alone Apple Mac (laptop) and run AccountEdge (the Mac version of MYOB).
Pros: staff are already familiar with it . It provides all the correct reporting. The accountant likes it (though she no longer has regular involvement with its use now that they employ me!)
Cons: it involves a new piece of hardware (and all the potential associated problems). Only 1 person can use it at a time (there are 2 users). Bad habits will carry over. A laptop is very stealable.

Option 2: Go over to SAGE for PC
Pros: I am familiar as used SAGE for 5 years previously. A fresh start would remove bad habits: I can train them the way I want them to continue. It is "industry standard". Excel Integrated Reporting offers opportunities for improving management accounting.
Cons: It's not as user friendly - the other staff may find it harder to use. It doesn't produce exactly the right reporting, but it's possible I could tweak things and work out a reasonable alternative.

Price wise, it's much of a much-ness though with support included, SAGE is a little more expensive.

Any thoughts or input are much welcomed.

PAMDILL

If the other staff really have no accounting knowledge how about a look at Quickbooks or Microsoft Small Business Accounting. I used Quickbooks for my husband's very small business a couple of years ago as it was not worth buying Sage for all the transactions that were processed each year. It was unbelievable easy to use, however I am not sure if 2 users can use it at the same time.

I have used Sage for the last 10 years in the different companies I have worked for, I would really only take the support out for the first year until everyone if familiar working with it.

Chinless Wonder

PAMDILL wrote: »

If the other staff really have no accounting knowledge how about a look at Quickbooks or Microsoft Small Business Accounting. I used Quickbooks for my husband's very small business a couple of years ago as it was not worth buying Sage for all the transactions that were processed each year. It was unbelievable easy to use, however I am not sure if 2 users can use it at the same time.

I have used Sage for the last 10 years in the different companies I have worked for, I would really only take the support out for the first year until everyone if familiar working with it.

Thanks Pam. I spoke to someone from Quickbooks yesterday and it was unbelievably expensive - £73 per MONTH for two users with payroll. At £876 a year that's way out of our budget. I think the Microsoft package has been discontinued, but I'll see if I can find out more about it.

I've been tying my brain in knots trying to find a user-friendly package that is simple to use and can handle both job and department costing as well as printing our specific customised invoices and remittances.

Gap in the market for someone clever out there!

BCASL

I would recommend VT www.vtsoftware.co.uk - VERY cheap and easy to use - unlimited clients for about £150 per year - have a look

paulstafford

I do some management reporting for a small charity who have similar reporting requirements to the theatre. They have Sage 50 and use of the 'projects' and 'department' options plus a bit of fiddling around on Excel allows me to provide the right reports.

Not sure VT software is the right option here.

Chinless Wonder

paulstafford wrote: »

I do some management reporting for a small charity who have similar reporting requirements to the theatre. They have Sage 50 and use of the 'projects' and 'department' options plus a bit of fiddling around on Excel allows me to provide the right reports.

Thanks Paul - that was the answer I was hoping for! A bit of Excel fiddling suits me fine - it's useful also that SAGE links directly into Excel via the Integrated Reporting module (and that the company's Man.Accts are Excel based). I'm sure there is a potential for a nice piece of integration (even though our accountant and manager like the "print it out and type it all back in" approach).

The issue is not only about the capabilities of the software, but about change management and developing the company.

We had a bad experience last year as we migrated to Mamut software (they have taken over MYOB) but we all found it confusing and difficult to use (even those of us trained in Accountancy!). I would prefer to go to SAGE because I see it as helping the company to progress and grow up - I think going to the Mac version of MYOB would be a step backwards and would reestablish old habits as "the norm". I'd rather use SAGE to establish new and better procedures from the word go....

On a technical matter - can SAGE produce a departmental P&L for more than one department at a time (but grouped separately on the report)?

Thanks again

PAMDILL

Chinless Wonder wrote: »

Thanks Paul - that was the answer I was hoping for! A bit of Excel fiddling suits me fine - it's useful also that SAGE links directly into Excel via the Integrated Reporting module (and that the company's Man.Accts are Excel based). I'm sure there is a potential for a nice piece of integration (even though our accountant and manager like the "print it out and type it all back in" approach).

The issue is not only about the capabilities of the software, but about change management and developing the company.

We had a bad experience last year as we migrated to Mamut software (they have taken over MYOB) but we all found it confusing and difficult to use (even those of us trained in Accountancy!). I would prefer to go to SAGE because I see it as helping the company to progress and grow up - I think going to the Mac version of MYOB would be a step backwards and would reestablish old habits as "the norm". I'd rather use SAGE to establish new and better procedures from the word go....

On a technical matter - can SAGE produce a departmental P&L for more than one department at a time (but grouped separately on the report)?

Thanks again

I can't believe Quickbooks was so expensive, mind you back when I used it it was only a one off cost, think it was about £70.

Sage can do a departmental P&L for more than 1 department at a time grouped separately. I used to use Sage 50 that way for my building sites before we bought the version with projects and then I swapped to using projects for the sites and departments for the different elements of work. I must admit though that instead of running a departmental P&L report I ran the nominal departmental report per department starting the nominal codes at 4000 so I could have a breakdown of sales and expenses shown on the same report with a balance figure at the bottom. (that was because I split up my materials in nominal codes to masonary, joinery etc.)