Guest Post | Accounting Software Options for Small Business

This blog is written by Derek Singleton. Derek joined Software Advice after graduating from Occidental College with a degree in Political Science. He writes about various topics related to ERP Software, with particular interest in the manufacturing and distribution software markets.

Small businesses need to be vigilant in their accounting practices. A minor misstep can have major repercussions. Accounting software makes doing things like expense tracking, invoicing and billing, and maintaining a general ledger much more manageable. More importantly, most small business owners can manage their accounting needs with a simple software program.

However, choosing an accounting package for your business can be difficult. At Software Advice, I put together a list of my five favorite accounting solutions for small businesses: Sage Simply Accounting, NetSuite Financials, Sage Peachtree, CMS Professional 2011, and (naturally) QuickBooks.

One of the best ways to determine which system is right for your business is to look at a side-by-side table comparison. I built the one below to provide a snapshot of the functionality offered in each.

Beyond the functionality, each product has a few features that makes the solution unique. Here’s a quick rundown of three of the five systems included in the table.

CMS Professional 2011

CMS Professional 2011 is supported by Cougar Mountain software and is their latest product release. The system includes modules for fund, point of sale and standard business accounting. All information in the system is organised into tabs with a sales summary tab that breaks sales down by product and by customer.

QuickBooks

QuickBooks is Intuit’s flagship product and is the most well-known small business
accounting program out there. QuickBooks is available in five versions – Online, Pro, Mac, Premier, and Enterprise. Naturally, prices will vary depending on the complexity of the solution that you choose. The Enterprise version is the priciest and most capable version.

SagePeachtree

Closely trailing QuickBooks is Peachtree. Over 3.2 million users in the US & Canada use this system. Like QuickBooks, Peachtree is offered in 5 versions – First, Pro, Complete, Premium, and Quantum. First and Pro support only offer one user and are good for operations in the home. If you need more than that, look to other versions.

NetSuite

NetSuite is a web-based system that currently has 10,000 users. NetSuite packs in the most functionality of the five solutions. Because it’s web-based, users can access it from anywhere that has an internet connection which is great for mobile workers. Buyers will also appreciate that they will pay a monthly subscription price for the software.

SimplyAccounting

Sage Simply Accounting is currently used by more than 500,000 organization and is supported by roughly 10,000 consultant partners. Buyers can chose from five different versions of the software – First Step, Pro, Premium, Enterprise and Accounts’ Edition.

So there’s a look at five accounting solutions geared toward the small business.

To see more detailed reviews of the systems, visit my article at:
Small Business Accounting Systems | 5 Affordable Solutions.