Accounting software: the business case


Typically ‘pre-AccountEdge’ clients are using software that they already have and know to keep their accounting records as best the can (quite understandably).  This is usually Excel often in conjunction with Word.  Excel to list invoice and payments etc., and Word for creating sales invoices. From an accounting viewpoint the problem is that the processes are not
‘integrated’ i.e. a change in, say, a sales invoice on the list of invoices does not normally automatically update the list of outstanding customer debts or the VAT calculations.  In contrast systems like AccountEdge will automatically do this.


With AccountEdge it will probably take about the same amount of time to enter, say, a sales invoices as it does with a spreadsheet but AccountEdge automatically updates the total sales in the profit & loss account, the list of unpaid invoices and the VAT reports.  The invoice can also be printed (or emailed) directly from AccountEdge without having to use a separate word processing application.


What integrated actually means is that the system is carrying out double-entry bookkeeping behind the scenes to maintain a balanced set of books. As invented by 14th Century Italian monks and in use today in almost all accounting systems with the exception, apparently, of the one used by the European Union!


A
ccountEdge does its absolute best to shield the user from the processes going on behind the scenes and presents a straight forward data entry screen requiring you to give it details of only one of the entries required.  For example with a sales invoice it will ask you which sales category to allocate it to such as Consultancy sales or Product sales and it will deal with all the other entries automatically.


One of the main problems with ‘DIY’ systems in a business of any size that uses a combination of different spreadsheets etc., for their accounts is collating the information to prepare VAT Returns.  For example they may have a sales invoice listing in one place, purchase invoices in another and payments and receipts somewhere else.   Combining this information and getting the VAT codes right or even using the Cash Accounting Scheme can be very tricky to say the least.


In contrast, having made your data entries, AccountEdge will give you a VAT report with numbered rows that correspond with the box numbers on the VAT Return form and the information can simply be copied onto the Return.


A further illustration of the benefits of integrated systems is the report AccountEdge produces showing unpaid customer invoices, the key report in almost all businesses, again no extra work is required to produce it.