Accounting / Bookkeeping software

monalisa

monalisa

Hey all

Just curious as to how many investors here do their own bookkeeping, and if not, how do you keep track of your investments?

I want to get QuickBooks software some time soon, and being an accountant myself I'd like to keep track of accounts on an ongoing basis.

Please share your views re this and ways you manage your investments.

Rgds
Mona
 
Hi

New to this myself but so far just kept track of everything myself.
I used excel spead sheet when we went to the accountants and he was happy with it. He never really looked at all the invoices etc that we took with us, just had to make a few changes for me were I had a couple of things in the wrong place. Now know how to set it up for next year thanks to him.

Hopefully you will get feedback of the experienced investors on this site. They are all really very helpful.
 
Hi Mona

We use Quickbooks because our book keeper prefers it. It's fantastic being able to keep our finger on the financial pulse of our business and, for us, having a book keeper makes it happen. It's also great just handing a disk to the accountant at the end of the year ;-)

Cheers, Paul
 
Thanks JPS25 and Paul for your responses.

Agreed with you Paul...need to keep track of financials I think... just to be sure! Excels good I might start with it, being new to this all.. and get on to QBs next year.

Mona
 
monalisa said:
Thanks JPS25 and Paul for your responses.

Agreed with you Paul...need to keep track of financials I think... just to be sure! Excels good I might start with it, being new to this all.. and get on to QBs next year.

Mona
Click to expand...

Hi Mona,

Did you end up getting QB or are you using any other software?

I've been using excel but need something better to run reports mainly.
 
monalisa said:
Hey all

Just curious as to how many investors here do their own bookkeeping, and if not, how do you keep track of your investments?

I want to get QuickBooks software some time soon, and being an accountant myself I'd like to keep track of accounts on an ongoing basis.

Please share your views re this and ways you manage your investments.

Rgds
Mona
Click to expand...

Nobody uses QB anymore. Its crap. 100% crap. Accounting software is just that - Its something only an accountant would use. (Yet I wouldn't touch it myself as an accountant for my property inv).
A far better investment is PIA software (sold on Somersoft) and excel.

QB / MYOB etc are all just a waste of time and the best example of the futility of accounting software for what is a investment. eg it doesn't deal with cashflows, non cash issues and "returns". Accounting software isn't what investors should use.
 
Paul@PFI said:
Nobody uses QB anymore. Its crap. 100% crap. Accounting software is just that - Its something only an accountant would use.
Click to expand...

Big statement and I would suggest a little over the top, a bit paternalistic, and somewhat prejudiced. Sure it may be an overkill for rental accounts but still works fine for a small/medium business and much more flexible than MYOB.

I am aware that QB is having issues with its online version but again MYOB's alternative is not much better.

So what would you recommend for a small/medium business?
 
Ive got a developer client with around 20m turnover per annum using quickbooks and they manage their business with it very well. Not an issue.

Agrees not the best for a property investor. Excel much simpler and easier.
 
GaryT said:
Big statement and I would suggest a little over the top, a bit paternalistic, and somewhat prejudiced. Sure it may be an overkill for rental accounts but still works fine for a small/medium business and much more flexible than MYOB.

I am aware that QB is having issues with its online version but again MYOB's alternative is not much better.

So what would you recommend for a small/medium business?
Click to expand...

My comment was made in respect to property investment which was the original question. For that it is crap. Also same view for use with a superfund. Its not functional at all and wasn't intended to be for either case. I recommend BGL Simple Fund Trustee Edition for super. I stand by that professional view. For rentals MYOB or QB are equally useless. Spreadsheet + PIA a far better solution.

MYOB is good for small and small-medium sized business use. I use the cloud version and its very good. I have used QB and find its excessive to most small businesses who aren't accounting skilled. It lacks simplicity and requires excessive support. The number of QB users who want to use other products is very high. I find most MYOB users accept its limits but find it very good at its basic levels incl payroll. MYOB payroll is very good. The latest MYOB cloud AR 2014/3 is now fast and very good. Early editions a bit slow. Now it is worthy of use.

For mid sized + businesses I would advocate a ERP solution. Many are cloud based subscription models now.

MYOB tends to be poor with divisional / branch accounting, job costing and some other elements. Inventory is OK. Job costing is a hit or miss lacking depth. Its a leader in bank link technology as MYOB own "banklink". This allows data to be fed direct into the software. You can set rules so certain transactions are automated etc. MYOB's reporting in the cloud versions has been improved about two months back. Great for non-accountant owners.

I'm hearing that the US owners of QB wont be releasing a new version and abandoned their cloud product under development. Rumour or fact ??
 
Friends don't let friends MYOB

Paul@PFI said:
Nobody uses QB anymore. Its crap. 100% crap.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%. I've been a sole trader for more than 10 years, tax-time with MYOB & Quickbooks was a swearfest bad enough to embarrass a busload of Tourette's sufferers on a sugar high. I ranted, er wrote about it at http://icanhazdot.net/2008/09/19/million-dollar-idea-quickbooks-myob-for-humans/

I write software so I have at least some understanding of how it should not drive its users insane by being worse than, I dunno, think of something that's bad.

These days I use Xero and it is safe to keep the kids within earshot. Saasu is also a good one to consider, it's a Coke / Pepsi thing. There are plenty of others. My use-case is a service business so your needs will probably differ.

If you're good with Excel and don't care about automatic bank feeds then that will infuriate you a lot less than the spectacular mediocrity of QB & MYOB.
 
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