By Andrew Wareing
Business owners have a myriad of accounting software packages to choose from, but before making the investment, one may wish to conduct one's own needs assessment, says a computer consultant with Ross, Pope and Company in Timmins.
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Mariette Rains |
Mariette Rains points out there is a wide variety of accounting packages available, each one having different levels of complexity, depending on the type of business and the needs of the business.
Such software includes popular and readily available software packages like Simply Accounting, Quick Books, AccPac, and MYOB (Mind Your Own Business) to other not-so-familiar names such as Business Vision. There are also some "vertical market" products made for specific industries such as
law, mining, forestry, car dealerships and even florists.
"Our first recommendation is that businesses try to figure out what their needs are," says Rains.
She also recommends looking at whether or not the software is expandable.
"Is it a single-user or multi-user system?" says Rains. "Some of the small-scale packages don't easily expand to a multi-user environment. Even though you might be starting a very small business, if your business grows, you may at some point want a couple of people to be able to work on the accounting system and it would be nice to have that flexibility."
The software's features are also important to consider.
The software should allow the user to print an income statement and balance sheet, she says.
In the service sector, it is also important to be able to print off invoices and receipts. But can the program calculate payroll?
"That's an important consideration because, if you're a small company of three or four people, you can probably get by calculating payroll manually," she says. "But if you've got a retail business with a lot of different people working different hours, you might like to have a system that can calculate payroll."
"There are people who will use Excel to keep track of inventory, but why re-invent the wheel when there are systems out there that can do that automatically and all the general accounting practices are built in," she says.
Training is also an area that needs to be considered.
"If you choose a system that isn't as popular, it might be difficult for you to hire someone who knows that product," says Rains.
