Accounting software

Home Office Computing, Feb, 1998 by Wayne Kawamoto

Accounting may seem like your worst enemy, the price you pay for owning and running a business. But it can actually be your best friend when it comes to organizing your finances and showing you how well your business is doing. If you're unsure of your inventory or receivables, an accounting system makes business sense. And if the process makes you nervous, rest assured that the new bean counters are easier to use than ever.

Although personal finance managers such as Quicken and Microsoft Money can, in theory, manage your business finances, you'll soon outgrow these basic checkbook keepers. If you manage inventory, payroll, and depreciation, you're better off with a true business accounting program. Instead of confusing you with CPA double-speak, accounting software lets you perform transactions by filling in common onscreen business forms such as invoices and checks, and the accounting is performed in the background. You get the best of both worlds--simplicity and a digital accountant that crunches numbers without coffee breaks.

For this review, we evaluated 10 accounting packages, for Macintosh and Windows. All track assets and liabilities, vendors and customers, revenues and expenses, receivables and payables, and inventory; they also perform payroll duties. For our tests, we dreamed up a small manufacturing business (generally the most complicated business to set tip and manage), configured each package, and put them through three months' worth of transactions. We tried to include all the major accounting packages; however, Peachtree for Macintosh (now owned by Aatrix Software) was unavailable at the time of our review process.

DacEasy Accounting & Payroll 4.0

WIN 95 FAIR

A longtime DOS player, DacEasy Accounting & Payroll 4.0 remains steeped in its accounting roots. Although it does the job, we found the program hard to understand and use.

DacEasy has no time-billing features, but it can import data from the popular TimeSlips program. (Watch out though: DacEasy's ads imply that TimeSlips is included, but it's not.) For growing businesses, DacEasy is network-ready, and you can use its electronic banking features to process payments and transmit funds. Its inventory feature can track products. The program supports back ordering, but it won't perform job-costing.

We had no problem setting up DacEasy. The program lacks tutorials for getting started, however, and the documentation is more reference data than instruction. A though thorough, DacEasy satisfied the accountant in us more than it did the business owner.

M.Y.O.B. Accounting 7.0 for Macintosh

MAC EXCELLENT

BEST BUY

M.Y.O.B. Accounting 7.0 for the Mac is easier to use and offers a more in-depth feature set than any other Mac accounting program. Its intuitive flowchart interface shows the shape of the accounting processes.

We didn't have to sweat the details with digital forms that resemble their real-life business counterparts; the program effectively accounts for everything, working by the book but in the background. Decent-job-costing features track revenues and expenses associated with projects, and the inventory module handles back orders. We also liked the more than 100 included reports and 100 charts of accounts.

At press time, BestWare announced that version 7.5 will have improved import and export capabilities for transferring data between other AppleScript applications. It will also output reports in HTML for posting on the Web. Even without these future additions, we still award M.Y.O.B. Accounting for Macintosh our Best Buy seal.

M.Y.O.B. Accounting 7.0 for Windows 95

WIN 95 FAIR

Like its Mac sibling, M.Y.O.B. Accounting 7.0 for Windows is intuitive and easy on the' eyes. Its colorful command center consists of mini-flowcharts that depict the accounting process.

We were impressed with the programs inventory features: It showed quantities on hand as well as items on back order. M.Y.O.B. does a competent job of handling payroll, but it lacks time billing. We liked the powerful analysis tools for evaluating cash flow and inventory, viewing accounts, and determining money owed and due. And the job-estimating and job-cost features let us track ongoing projects.

For setup, M.Y.O.B. offers 100 charts of accounts, 100 reports, helpful wizards, and instructional videos. At press time, M.Y.O.B. announced version 7.5 for Windows 95, which will be able to export data to Microsoft Word and Excel and Corel WordPerfect.

One-Write Plus 6.0

WIN/DOS FAIR

The popular One-Write Plus was late to jump into the Windows game, and it still needs to catch up. Although usable and intuitive, it lacks the detail of the other packages. OneWrite's strength remains its simplicity, a holdover from when it ran under DOS.

The program covers the accounting bases, but we noticed several gaps. It ships with 80 reports, but you can't customize them. It also can't handle back orders, time billing, or online banking. On the plus side, this latest version comes with competent job-costing features that let us associate costs with projects.