[Jeff East]

I was wondering, what kind of accounting software does everyone use? I was thinking Quickbooks pro. any alternatives?

[Sanda]

I don't know if you have it there but I use MYOB, I used to use Quick Books but I got a great deal on MYOB and decided to switch as it has more features than the version I had. I use the extra features for my voluntary job as cricket club treasurer (which is almost a full time job in the season but that's another story.)
You can't go wrong with Quick Books though it's a very good program.

[Jakaleena]

I've used Quickbooks and I really liked it...

[thomasgeorge]

Depends on how big your business is...unless you are doing a huge volumn with employees etc., a manual system will probably be faster, easier and sure as heck not subject to HDD failure.
For most small businesses a computer based system takes more time to set up, input to, retrieve data from and so on than a basic manual accounting system.
If you need a computer based system, Peachtree is a good one to look at. Good luck, Tom

[chris h]

Having been 'cooking' the books for 20 years and tried or used most packages I heartily recommend pencil and paper for the reasons mentioned above also no power source required. Everybody I know in many accounting organisations large and small has suffered electronic data loss for various reasons despite umpteen back up devices and fail safes.

[airubin]

Hi,

I use QuickBooks Pro for my business. The new 2002 version is an improvement over the earlier version. I use Quicken for our home stuff, but it is very limited for running a business.

I run a retail appliance store and I find that it is much quicker than when we entered our data manually. I have felt that inventory control was QBP’s week point, but they have recently come out with a new point of sale program that seems to be very good.

I like that reports can be exported into excel, so that you can readily evaluate your data beyond the scope of QBP.

There is an investment in time to get things started, but once done it is easy to maintain.

I have never used Peachtree, but I have heard that people seem to prefer QBP. Also, QBP has opened its code to third party suppliers, so I believe that it will become even better.

Alan

[AMauldin]

It depends on the size of your business and if you're expanding any time soon. I know a few people that use Quickbooks and were happy with it, but then had to upgrade their accounting software. They now use Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains). It's more user friendly and allows them to get on with other aspects of their day-rather than sit in front of their computer. Check out integritymbs.com for more info...or just to ask questions.

[TheKrowe]

We use Peachtree because that is what our bookkeeper daughter was familiar with.

[Doug Nelson]

I used to use Quickbooks Pro, but I grew to dislike it. It evolved more into a platform for Intuit to try and sell you things than an actual bookkeeping system. Now I use Excel.

[Kraellin]

if you're familiar with spreadsheets you can set up your own accounting system and if you're on a budget, try open office from sourceforge.net.

just be sure to print out at least once a week for the above mentioned hdd failures, power outages and so on. daily would be better.

[Swampy]

My business is run on a cash basis so I just use Quicken to track deposits and print checks. It generates a good tax report which I print out and hand over to my accountant.

All my invoicing, Purchase Orders, Order Acknowlegements etc. I do in FileMaker Pro. Since my ad specialty business requires tracking customer/vendor contact information, invoicing, shipping and sales tax information along with artwork and imprint information, I found that FMP was the only thing that would let me combine all this on one form so I wrote a custom database to meet the need.