Assessing Overall Needs for Accounting Software

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Requirement for an accounting software depends on the nature of your business and how you run it. Ideally, you should look for an accounting software package that can meet all your overall business needs as well as detailed accounting requirements. Sometimes, you may face a situation where there is no available or affordable accounting software to match with your requirements and you may have to consider changing the way you operate your business in order to suit the available packages. In order to make sure you don't buy an overly complicated accounting system, you need to get involved the people such as accountants and professionals concerned who will use it in defining their requirements.
To assess what your overall business needs and accounting requirements in order to select an accounting software based on your needs, you need to gather some information together on your business. It may be helpful to consider the following tips towards assessing your business and accounting needs. You can also look at how to evaluate  accounting software and how to find the right accounting software if you like.

Type of your Business

Whether it is a corporation or individual business, If it is an individual business you may not need a commercial accounting software and you can manage with free accounting software which are mainly designed for personal and small business financial accounting.

How many transactions 

You need to analyse and see the records in your accounts and If the number is less then you may find that a manual accounts system will be the best choice. If you have a high level of transactions per month, then you need to select a accounting software package that is designed for this level of activity.

Number of people using the software

If you have one or two people who does all the accounts work then you can use a simple low-cost package. If you need to have several people entering transactions at the same time then you will need something more sophisticated.

What is your computer systems

Personal computers with a Windows Operating System such as Windows 7 and XP are the most popular for business use, and there is a series of accounting software for this platform. If you use Macintosh or Linux then you may have a more restricted choice available, and you may need to consider using a Windows based PC just for the accounting package in these situations.

How you want to maintain your basic bookkeeping

How you want to calculate taxea such as GST, QST and VAT

How you want to manage your Payroll processing

How to prepare Management information and decision support reports 

How you want to mange your Invoicing

How you want to manage redit control

Compatibility with other accounts systems

How you want to manage Stock control

Related Pages

Accounting towards Automation

Select Accounting Software Based on your Needs
How to Evaluate Accounting Software

How to Find the Right Accounting Software
Increase Bottom Line with Software Automation
Free Accounting Software
Accounting Software Save Time and Money
Accounting Software

 

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Executing your Accounting Software

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Putting your accounting software into operation is much more than just installing some software on to your computer. You should consider the followings in your implementation plan.
However, if you want to know how to find the right accounting software before studing about implementation and select accounting software based on your needs you can read the other articles too in this blog. Knowing how to evaluate accounting software is equally important as selecting an accounting software

Accounting Package Installation

You will usually get the accounting software package in the form of a CD-Rom and may require you to register the package with the supplier so that it is fully licensed and works correctly.

Initial company setup 

You will need to enter details of your business including the year-end date and other details. Your accounting software package may have several different Charts of Accounts like the headings that you use in your accounts depending on your choose to suit your type of business. However, you may need to tailor this to your requirements. You can consultant your accountant and seek advice you on this work, or your accountant himself can undertake it for you.

Parallel running

You may find it useful to run your old accounts and the new package alongside each other for a while to ensure that you are getting correct results. However, it is difficult to maintain parallel running for very long because of the duplication of effort.

Staff Training 

Your staff who work with the accounting package on a day-to-day basis should ideally have some formal training in the use of the accounting package. You should schedule this training so that it is done shortly before the installation of the software.

Support and Maintenance Agreement

It is a good idea to purchase a support agreement from your supplier for your new accounting package, at least for the first year of operation so that you have a readily available contact to help sort out queries and problems. This is not necessary if you go for free accounting software depending on your business requirements and money management techniques. Many business organizations find that a support agreement is a good investment even after this initial period.

Related Pages

Accounting towards Automation

Select Accounting Software Based on your Needs
How to Evaluate Accounting Software

How to Find the Right Accounting Software
Increase Bottom Line with Software Automation
Free Accounting Software
Accounting Software Save Time and Money
Assessing Overall Needs for Accounting Software
Accounting Software

 

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Accounting Software Save Time and Money

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The whole purpose of using accounting software is to make your life easier by saving you time and money. If you are a business owner, you know the value of managing time and resources because you have limited amounts of both, so it is a good idea to take measures that will allow you to use them in the most productive manner. Accounting software will help you towards this and it gives you the ability to deal with a significant administrative matter in an effective and less costly way. To your time and money using an accounting software it is very important to know how to evaluate accounting software and select accounting software based on your needs which also help you how to find the right accounting software package to implement right money management techniques. 

Technology has advanced to the point in which individuals can run quite complicated business operations, such as accounting, by themselves and also they can save time and money without keeping full time accounting experts in-house or retaining the services of a professional accounting firm. What we do twenty years ago with ten or fifteen people in the accounts department can be done today with just one person with the help of accounting software package, and save your time and money. Sometimes you can even select a free accounting software without going for commercial accounting package. This is one of the great advantages of using accounting software for home and business: it frees you up to direct all of your entrepreneurial activity toward developing your business rather than scattering your energies on tedious and time-consuming administration.

Accounting software will save you time because you can make things faster in the whole process of bookkeeping, you can analysis and answer queries much quicker such as whether you have paid supplier in last month, and if so, how much), certain things can be semi or fully automated, such as bank reconciliations, VAT returns, and your monthly and year end accounting information is going to be more straightforward

Accounting software save you money and resources because you may be able to negotiation lower accountant’s and/or bookkeeping fees,  you can indirectly save money by freeing up your or your bookkeeper’s time, and you may be able to make better financial decisions as a result of better and more timely information.

Related Pages

Accounting towards Automation

Select Accounting Software Based on your Needs
How to Evaluate Accounting Software

How to Find the Right Accounting Software
Increase Bottom Line with Software Automation
Free Accounting Software
Assessing Overall Needs for Accounting Software
Executing your Accounting Software
Accounting Software

 

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Free Accounting Software

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You can study, download and use the free accounting software programs listed on this page. Free software can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions. The word free in the term free software refers to freedom and is not at all related to monetary cost. Free software is generally available without charge but is not bound to such a restriction. Free software differs from proprietary software, which to various degree does not give the user freedoms to study, modify and share the software.

Free accounting sofwate programs mentioned here are ideal for both personal and small businesses. You can use these financial accounting software to manage your own or your businesses finances. In most or all of these free accounting software programs have included with common features enabling to handle double-entry accounting, a general ledger, financial reporting, handling of budgets, accounts receivable/payable, bills, invoices, and so on. You can also see the individual review for each program mentioned below and read the software's documentation on the site for more detailed information on each case before downloading any free accounting software. However, this page is not listed with commercial accounting software such as the well-known QuickBooks or, Mint for those who prefer to use an online product other than to mention them here.

You can also look at how to evaluate accounting software and select accounting software based on your needs which help you how to find the right accounting software from these range of free software pakages mentioned below. 

 

Free Accounting Software for your Business

GnuCash: Free Accounting Software

This is a free personal and small business financial accounting software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL. Versions are available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, Solaris, the various BSD systems, etc. Designed to be easy to use, yet powerful and flexible, GnuCash allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. As quick and intuitive to use as a checkbook register, it is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate reports.

jGnash: Free Personal Finance

jGnash is a free personal finance manager with many of the same features as commercially-available software. It was created in order to make tracking your personal finances easy, but also provides the functionality required by advanced users.jGnash supports double-entry transactions, account reconciliation, report generation (in PDF), multiple currencies, investment accounts and transactions tracking, secure file encryption, the ability to schedule recurring payment reminders, the ability to import QIF and GnuCash files (see elsewhere on this page), etc. The program works on any platform that supports a Java virtual machine, such as Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, etc.

Manager: Free accounting software Tool

Manager is a free accounting software that runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with modules such as cashbook, invoicing, receivables, payables, taxes and comprehensive financial reports.

Grisbi: Personal Finance Manager

Grisbi is an open source personal accounting application for Windows and Linux that supports multiple accounts, currencies and users. Features include handling of receipts and expenditure, scheduled transactions, etc.

HomeBank: Free Personal Finance Software

HomeBank is a free and easy personal finance software that will help you managing your personal accounting. It is designed to easy to use and be able to analyse your personal finances in detail using powerful filtering tools and graphs.This finace software benefits from more than 18 years of user experience and feedback. It is available for 50 languages on GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, MacOSX, and Nokia N.

KMyMoney:Free Finance Program

KMyMoney is an open source Linux-based personal finance program supports double-entry accounting, investments, ledger, setting up of custom reports, etc. KMyMoney intends to provide all important features found in the commercially-available, personal finance managers and especially suggested for the non-technical user. 

TurboCash: Accounting Software for Small Business

TurboCASH is the leading open source accounting software for small business and is available in 25 languages, covering over 80 different tax regimes. It appears that certain modules are not free (including the manual, payroll, etc).

Related Pages

Accounting towards Automation

Select Accounting Software Based on your Needs
How to Evaluate Accounting Software

How to Find the Right Accounting Software
Increase Bottom Line with Software Automation
Accounting Software Save Time and Money
Assessing Overall Needs for Accounting Software
Executing your Accounting Software
Accounting Software

 

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Financial Accounting

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Financial accountancy or financial accounting is the field of accountancy concerned with the preparation of financial statements for decision makers, such as stockholders, suppliers, banks, employees, government agencies, owners, and other stakeholders. Financial capital maintenance can be measured in either nominal monetary units or units of constant purchasing power. The fundamental need for financial accounting is to reduce principal–agent problem by measuring and monitoring agents' performance and reporting the results to interested users.

Financial accountancy is used to prepare accounting information for people outside the organization or not involved in the day-to-day running of the company. On the other hand to help managers make decisions to manage the business and day-to-day operation, accounting information is required which invloves Management accountancy.

In short, financial accounting is the process of summarizing financial data taken from an organization's accounting records and publishing in the form of annual (or more frequent) reports for the benefit of people outside the organization. Financial accountancy is governed by both local and international accounting standards. In this process many companies or businesses use accounting software packages which can be either free accounting software or commercial accounting software tool.

Financial accountants produce financial statements based on generally accepted accounting principles of a respective country. In particular cases financial statements must be prepared according to the International Financial Reporting Standards. Financial accounting serves three purposes which are 1.producing general purpose financial statements, 2.producing information used by the management of a business entity for decision making, planning and performance evaluation and 3.producing financial statements for meeting regulatory requirements. Main objectives of of Financial Accounting are to know the results of the business, to ascertain the financial position of the business, to ensure control over the assets, to facilitate proper management of cash and to provide requisite information.

Related Pages

Accounting towards Automation

Select Accounting Software Based on your Needs
How to Evaluate Accounting Software

How to Find the Right Accounting Software
Increase Bottom Line with Software Automation
Free Accounting Software
Accounting Software Save Time and Money
Assessing Overall Needs for Accounting Software
Executing your Accounting Software
Accounting Software

 

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Management accounting

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Management accounting or managerial accounting is concerned with the provisions and use of accounting information to managers within organizations, to provide them with the basis to make informed business decisions that will allow them to be better equipped in their management and control functions.So, it involves preparations of management reports and accounts that provide accurate and timely financial and statistical information required by managers to make day-to-day and short-term decisions.

Unlike financial accounting or financial accountancy, which produces annual reports mainly for external stakeholders, management accounting is primarily forward-looking and generates monthly or weekly reports for an organization's internal audiences such as department managers and the chief executive officer. These reports typically show the amount of available cash, sales revenue generated, amount of orders in hand, state of accounts payable and accounts receivable, outstanding debts, raw material and inventory, and may also include trend charts, variance analysis, and other statistics and also called managerial accounting.

According to the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA): "Management accounting is a profession that involves partnering in management decision making, devising planning and performance management systems,and providing expertise in financial reporting and control to assist management in the formulation and implementation of an organization's strategy".

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) states that management accounting as practice extends to the following three areas. There are 1. Strategic management—advancing the role of the management accountant as a strategic partner in the organization, 2. Performance management—developing the practice of business decision-making and managing the performance of the organization and 3. Risk management—contributing to frameworks and practices for identifying, measuring, managing and reporting risks to the achievement of the objectives of the organization.

The Institute of Certified Management Accountants(ICMA), states "A management accountant applies his or her professional knowledge and skill in the preparation and presentation of financial and other decision oriented information in such a way as to assist management in the formulation of policies and in the planning and control of the operation of the undertaking". Management accountants therefore are seen as the "value-creators" amongst the accountants. They are much more interested in forward looking and taking decisions that will affect the future of the organization, than in the historical recording and compliance (score keeping) aspects of the profession. Management accounting knowledge and experience can therefore be obtained from varied fields and functions within an organization, such as information management, treasury, efficiency auditing, marketing, valuation, pricing, logistics, etc. Accounting software tools irrespective of commercial accounting software or free accounting software are very useful for management accountants to perform their tasks.

Related Pages

Accounting towards Automation

Select Accounting Software Based on your Needs
How to Evaluate Accounting Software

How to Find the Right Accounting Software
Increase Bottom Line with Software Automation
Free Accounting Software
Accounting Software Save Time and Money
Assessing Overall Needs for Accounting Software
Executing your Accounting Software
Accounting Software

 

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Increase Bottom Line with Software Automation

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When you own a small business, time is money. Every time a task that should be automated is handled manually, it wastes your time and your business loses money. To make matters even worse, performing these tasks manually, in front of clients or prospects, projects the wrong image. In many businesses we can not see that all the tasks associated with business have been fully automated with software yet. However, in many businesses, we can see that the accounting system has been automated with the help of accounting software.

Even though technology is readily available and even affordable, many small business owners do not take full advantage of these powerful software packages due to various reasons. It may be hard to believe, but only a small percentage of business owners have the technical expertise necessary to handle the automation process. The others have neither the time to learn nor the ability to hire the experts to do the job.

But one thing is certain: One way to increase your business’s bottom line is to get software that automates the tasks you do manually and consequently, inefficiently. Business owners who cannot afford to invest for automation system can still think about automation of accounting system with the use of free accounting software. 

Something as simple as contact management software is so valuable. First and foremost, searching for contact information is never more than a few mouse clicks away. Some software will even allow you to access this data while away from you office.

Have you finally mastered your email system? Love the way it keeps you off the phone? If you’re not careful, you’ll soon be wasting as much time responding to your email as you did returning your phone calls.

There’s not enough space to list all the benefits of using autoresponders or all the ways to utilize autoresponders in your business. Here are just a few – use them to send out product and pricing information, to capture contact names and addresses, to help with frequently asked questions (FAQs) lists, to deliver different chapters of an e-book – anything that keeps your company name in front of existing or potential customers can be handled more efficiently using an autoresponder.

Raise your hand if you’re still carrying around your paperbound daily planner! Throw it away and get software to keep track of your appointments and those of all your employees. You’ll appreciate how easy it is to know who’s doing what and when.

And think about how much time you spend each year gathering the paperwork your accountant needs at tax time to prepare your company income taxes. Why allow your accountant to charge you his or her hourly rate to do the type of data entry you could have been doing all year long IF you had only purchased and installed business accounting software.

If you think, “Well, I do this only once a year,” you are right, but remember, there are many more income-generating things you can do with the time you are wasting. Every second of saved time helps your business operate more efficiently. If you are willing to go for accounting package to automate your accounting systems you can also look at how accounting software save time and money and help to make money mangement easy.

Even the most automated of offices is doomed should your hardware ever crash and your data not be backed up. And we’re not talking about “if” this crisis will occur; we’re talking about “when” it will occur. There are so many easy-to-use and affordable backup software programs available that you’ve no good excuse for not backing up your valuable data.

There are many other business tasks you can automate but there’s not enough room to list them all. Tasks like project management, employee management and inventory management are more efficient when they are automated. You can even translate your paper marketing and sales information for fast and easy delivery via the Internet.

There’s no end to the list of office tasks that can be automated using the software that is readily available today. Put together an office automation budget and decide which tasks are the most important to automate. Then get going – you’ve got work to do!

Related Pages

Accounting towards Automation

Accounting Software
Select Accounting Software Based on your Needs

How to Evaluate Accounting Software in 4 Steps

How to Find the Right Accounting Software
Free Accounting Software
Accounting Software Save Time and Money
Assessing Overall Needs for Accounting Software
Executing your Accounting Software

How to Link to This Page

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