Software

Shelley

Hello, I am thinking of setting up on my own and wondered what accountancy & tax software people use/recommend?
I have a MAC so needs to be compatible. Need it to prepare set of accounts for sole traders, partnerships and Limited please.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated

Shelley

burg

There is not a lot around for Macs without running windows parallel. I would look at online solutions such as gbooks for accounts and tax. And then Clearbooks, Xero etc for bookkeeping.

Shelley

Hi Burg
Thank you for your advise. I looked at VT but as you say its not compatible without running windows parallel.
I downloaded a demo on Keytime last night and that seemed pretty impressive so I might look at that further today.
Ive used Xero before in Practice but obviously it was just one client. Can you get multi client do you know?
Thank you again

kelsmick

I use Kashflow, Its cloud based so i would presume it is mac compatible. I find it easy to use and if i'm ever stuck the help support is so quick and friendly!

Shelley

Hello Kelsmick, thank you for your suggestion. Is Kashflow part of IRIS?

burg

Xero is multiclient. We prefer Clearbooks for the pricing for the features available. We use Keytime ourselves. Really good product and very happy with support when we need it. Not sure if it is supported on a Mac though.
Kashflow is part of Iris and no it does not do final accounts and tax it is bookkeeping only.

Shelley

Thanks for your comments burg. Very helpful Ive downloaded the 30 day demo pack on Keytime and it appears to work ok so I'm guessing its compatible but I will give them a ring and double check. Looked at Digita also today, seems good but quite expensive I thought £65 per month for less than 10 clients

stevo5678

I like taxcalc a it's a cheaper alternative to Iris (considered as the market leader by many). I think you'll probably need to use your mac in the windows mode for any of the practice software out there.

burg

Been with Digita too. Prices go up pretty quickly as you add more users. Tax Calc is popular as Steveo points out.

Shelley

Thanks guys Ill look into Taxcalc. Is this an all round accountancy package though or just tax? That would mean another software for the accounts.

Shelley

Ive just been on their website and had a look. Looks promising. Thank you

stevo5678

Hi guys, taxcalc offers an accounts suite (very similar to Iris) and a suite for tax. There are different packages which can be upgraded in terms of accounts 50, unlimited etc and the same for tax.

Then practice management module is free and links it all together so it's basically one integrated product which is what I was used to from Iris.

They also have a VAT filing module which I've started using.

Pricing is all separate but once you've decided what you need you just log into one place and it's all there.

I've been using it for around 18 months so happy to answer questions. I started using it for tax only but then thought it made sense to have it all integrated and thought I'd try their accounts module which I couldn't believe was so similar to Iris.

Shelley

Thanks for your help stevo5678. It looks good, definitely 1 to consider. Have any of you used PTP? A little brother of IRIS so to speak but basically looks exactly the same!
Im new to all this so forgive me for stupid questions that you've probably heard a million times. Im hoping I can give this a go, enough to make a decent salary. Any advise greatly appreciated

stevo5678

The accounts is basically identical but I couldn't get on with the tax, found it very hard. Not sure on their PM.

burg

Used PTP many years ago before Iris bought them out. Was ok but much prefer Keytime.