Accounting software

Home Office Computing, Feb, 1998 by Wayne Kawamoto

Although it has a straightforward setup, One-Write has only 13 charts of accounts to configure the program. With a relatively limited feature set, we recommend One-Write Plus only to die-hard fans of the One-Write accounting method.

Peachtree Complete Accounting Plus Time & Billing 4.0

WIN 95 EXCELLENT

BEST BUY

Peachtree Complete Accounting Plus Time & Billing's design may not be as intuitive as QuickBook's checkbook approach, but it's a strong program with room to grow with your business.

The first-rate contact management features let us schedule to-do lists and keep tabs on customers and vendors. The program does a thorough job of tracking inventory, and it manages back orders, drop shipments, and builds. It also reminded us of payments due and reorders necessary, and it maintained multiple pricing levels. In fact, Peachtree offered the most comprehensive inventory features in this roundup.

The new Time & Billing version records and tracks time, travel, equipment, and purchases that you incur on behalf of clients, and it integrates this information into the invoicing and payroll modules. We especially liked Peachlink, the suite used for building a Web-based ordering system that connects into Peachtree Complete Accounting.

Peachtree Complete Accounting Plus Time & Billing deserves consideration, especially if you use a network. If your business is rapidly growing, Peachtree Complete is the strongest bean counter.

Profit 3.0

WIN FAIR 1/2

With a pedigree from Great Plains Software and Microsoft, Profit 3.0 is a powerful accounting program. It isn't the most intuitive, but it more than covers the accounting bases and the setup process goes smoothly.

With Profit's unusual interface, you work from onscreen file cabinets that hold drawers, which in turn hold tabbed folders that represent the core functions. This interface is easy to understand but provides no toolbar for accessing program functions.

We liked Profit Signs, which provide instant reports on cash flow, sales, profit, and more. Profit can set up projects and assign transactions so you can evaluate their profitability. The program also comes with wizards that helped us create statements, build budgets, make labels, and more. Setting up Profit for our business was easy enough with the program's 21 charts of accounts.

Overall, Profit is a competent package, but we prefer Peachtree Complete and QuickBooks.

Proven Edge Professional

WIN GOOD

An accounting package that mimics an office suite, Proven Edge integrates accounting with word processing and contact management. But at $600, it costs more than the other accounting packages we reviewed--you'd pay more for Proven Edge than you would for Microsoft Office or Peachtree Complete.

Proven Edge's toolbar lets you easily switch between modules. In our tests, we noticed that under certain conditions, the fonts and text didn't correctly overlay the graphics. Also, we experienced several crashes.

Strong inventory controls let us oversee our wares and maintain up to five different prices on each item. The setup was straightforward and the 65 templates were helpful when we configured our business. If you need a business package that strives to be everything, Proven Edge may be worth a look. But the program needs to be more intuitive for newcomers to use.