Small business owners: what kind of accounting software do you like?

[Verticaltrx]

I'm looking to get some sort of (relatively) inexpensive accounting software for my business. I run a small construction company and mainly want something to keep track of expenses, income, and possibly do payroll related tasks in the future. Just wondering what has worked for you and what hasn't. I'm pretty computer savvy, but for business related tasks I'd rather have something that just works, quick and simple. Thanks in advance.

 

[grsthegreat]

Ive used Quickbooks pro for the past 10 years, and i really like it.

I had employees (till about 1-1/2 years ago) and its real easy to handle payroll.

It does all billing and invoice tracking if necessary. I personally used a different billing program that ran a word based program, as i liked my billing to include copies of their original contract so there was never any issue with the current billing.

I write all checks thru Quickbooks and i use a Business only credit card for all non check purchases. That makes reconciling all the billing issues real easy when the bill shows up.

Taxes are a real breeze, it does all my 1099, w4, whatever.

 

[foggy1111]

I think Quickbooks is going to be pretty hard to beat for what you describe. Very popular program and has good job costing for contractors. Easy to learn. :thumbsup:

 

[tractchores]

I think Quickbooks is going to be pretty hard to beat for what you describe. Very popular program and has good job costing for contractors. Easy to learn. :thumbsup:

X3 ive used it to manage a real estate leasing buisiness and it works great for tracking jobs, invoices etc

 

[inveresk]

For the construction industry you need a program that allows job costing. There are a number of them out there but it does limit the options if, like me, your on Macs. I use a program called Moneyworks Gold which is also available for PC's. They offer a free copy of the software to clients' certified accountants which has advantages. I email my CA a copy of my accounts file at year end and she carries out all the necessary maintenance, including closing off the year end then emails the file back to me. I'm then good to go for the next financial year without having to make any entries.

 

[grsthegreat]

For the construction industry you need a program that allows job costing. There are a number of them out there but it does limit the options if, like me, your on Macs. I use a program called Moneyworks Gold which is also available for PC's. They offer a free copy of the software to clients' certified accountants which has advantages. I email my CA a copy of my accounts file at year end and she carries out all the necessary maintenance, including closing off the year end then emails the file back to me. I'm then good to go for the next financial year without having to make any entries.

Never used moneyworks, but Quickbook also allows job costing. My only issue with quickbooks was i never figured out how to get the program to bill for progress payments. It always wanted to bill for total due. Im sure theres a work around, but i just sent my billing notices with another word program that i really like.

 

[Western]

Another vote for QuickBooks by Intuit.

I still use the 2001 pro for my personal estimates on my "little " PC At the office is where we keep the new version running. Our CPA also runs a version at his office, so it seems it has done a good job.

 

[Verticaltrx]

Wow, sounds pretty unanimous. Looks like I'll be looking into Quickbooks.

Thanks for everyone quick responses.

 

[Depmandog]

It's been several years ago, but we started out with Quickbooks, and outgrew its capabilities and switched to MasterBuilder. A few years later, Intuit bought MasterBuilder, then sold it to Sage

We were a specialty contractor. The unique about MB, it was customizable. You could add your own contracts, proposals, estimating, etc.

You could set permissions, and use it as a PM platform - allowing access to J/C, but not to the ledger accounts or P&L.

It was pricey - 10k if I recall, plus a yearly fee of $1500, but you had a consultant that would train you plus help whenever it was needed. We sold out in 2005, so my info is pretty dated. Back then the pricing was based on how many users, and which modules you wanted (estimation, inventory, etc. )

 

[Alan L.]

Hard to beat Quickbooks for a small business. I'm a CPA and 90% of my small business clients use it. I use it internally and encourage its use. I have about 10 clients using the online version and I really like it too. There are a number of third party applications that interface with QB - our professional time and billing package does.

Does a good job with payroll also.

I resisted QB years ago because part of what makes it easy for non-accountants takes some getting used to for accountants. But the more I used it the more I appreciated it as a very serious product and I prefer it over any others.

QB does a fair job tracking job costs, but doesn't handle progress billings. I suspect I could come up with a workaround, but its not been an issue so I had not given it much thought.

Intuit does not treat CPAs very well. Its because of us that it is the leading accounting package by a mile and yet just to bring in client data files and work with them we have to purchase a separate license for every user in our firm, every year. By contrast, we pay Sage $400 a year and can install Peachtree on every computer we own, including laptops. Peachtree is also an outstanding package, maybe a little harder to learn than QB, and somewhat more rigid and accountant friendly. Job cost is better on Peachtree, but for those clients that don't need it QB is so much easier.

QB won't make an accountant out of you but its a good tool if you learn what you are trying to do with it.