Industrial-strength number crunching - accounting system software - Evaluation

Nation's Business, March, 1992 by Ripley Hotch

If your small or midsized business is complex but has limited resources for bookkeeping, Manzanita BusinessWorks may be what you need. It is a DOS product and doesn't take huge system resources, but it is a fully featured double-entry system with an excellent and accessible interface.

The folks at Manzanita have tried to keep the user in mind, and this shows in their excellent manuals and in their Test Drive Demo. There's a small charge of $19.95 for the demonstration disk, but choosing an accounting system is so much a matter of user preference that the time saved is worth the price. And if you buy a BusinessWorks software package, the price of the test drive is refunded.

The program is not low-end, either in price or in capabilities, but it isn't overly expensive, either. It has general ledger; accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory control, payroll, and order entry modules at $295 each (the GL, AR, and AP modules can be bought as a unit for $795, and this may be all you need). BusinessWorks is networkable.

The company is also bringing out a product called BusinessForms, which allows you to use your printer and plain paper to produce your standard forms.

BusinessWorks uses a version of horizontal modules, from which menus drop down. Everything is clear; and you won't have any problems navigating through it.

The program supports departmentalized accounting, which many midsized companies need and which is not usually available in lower-end programs. And it's a pleasure to be able to export and import data from spreadsheets.

Setup is relatively easy (you have 17 sample charts of accounts), and posting from the modules to the general ledger is automatic.

Where the program shines is in its reports; there are so many for each module that you will probably have any that you will need. They print attractively, so you have a professional presentation if you need to visit your banker.

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