Accounting Systems for small businesses

I prefer Intacct. It is a complete SaaS accounting system that meets all our needs. It is user friendly and has excellent control features. We also use Adaptive Planning for forecasts and planning.

I agree with Richard. I installed Intacct at my last company back when it first came out (2002) and was always happy with it. I actually still represent them, re-selling the monthly subscription to that company, even though I left my CFO position there in 2008.

In my more recent consulting roles, I still continue to recommend the program, to anyone who has a company that is going to grow to over 500k in revenue, and has sights on reaching between 25 to 75 million within 5-10 years. Another good competitor to Intacct is NetSuite; and I am using them with a new full-time controller role that I recently stepped into. Microsoft Dynamics is a good program also, especially if you are looking to coordinate with their CRM, Exchange, etc.

Intacct and NetSuite are very stable and secure programs and have a large user base now that they are established. If you want your staff to operate with freedom of access (anywhere in the world), and NOT have to deal with server/network issues, that is the way to go. It is also attractive from price standpoint, as you may per user and module, on a monthly basis for Intacct, quarterly with NetSuite.

QuickBooks has its place, but for the very small company; and even then I can't recommend it. I constantly pull my hair out with it; continual bugs. I spend more time fixing peoples problems than getting benefit out of it. I used to be a ProAdvisor with Intuit, but dropped that designation and fee; I can't support a program that I don't believe in.

Finally, each company is different and the software out there caters to different niches; some connecting better with your other systems. I suggest anyone perform a needs evaluation before jumping headfirst with the first shiny object. Your goal is to get a piece of software in place that will serve your needs for potentially many years; as it is significantly more work and headache when a changeout becomes necessary. I am happy to help out anyone with such evaluation steps and have some materials I can forward.

Don't forget price. One of Quickbooks' greatest advantages is that you can get a pretty darn full-featured accounting platform for multiple users for a couple of hundred per user per year. That's pretty much free, when it comes right down to it. I have used QB at a number of small companies for years and have passed every audit and raised lots of funding based on those books. And BTW, you can, indeed, control monthly closes on QB and disable the ability for users to make postings in prior months. You can also set up audit trails - so the basic controls are there and if that is really all you need then I'd stick with it. Learn more about audit trails here: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/using-audit-trails-in-quickbooks.html.

No doubt both Netsuite and Intacct do more, are more powerful and more like "big company" systems, but they can get expensive very quickly (don't forget that there is pretty much always some customization and that costs a lot up front) if you have many users on the platform or if you use a lot of modules. The costs will certainly be in the tens of thousands per year and can run to the hundreds of thousands. Now that is still "cheap" relative to Oracle and SAP, but the ROI for QB in a company that can use it is very high.

A couple of comments. First, I and others have found the following website useful when researching accounting and ERP platforms for companies.

The major ERP applications (Oracle, SAP, etal) are now coming out with service offerings for smaller-mid sized businesses.

Depending on what hardware structure or intends to invest in, the company has should weighing this capital cost vs. having web-based accounting applications that have taken hold in the marketplace. Significantly less capital cost up front, typically pay licensing and transaction fees.

www.accountingsoftwareadvisor.com

It has small-mid-large applications being reviewed in the context of price/value, pros/cons, industry preferences, etc.

May I know how much is the cost of 100 licenses of quick books.
Rajesh

This topic has obviously struck a chord with lots of folks. I'll throw my two cents in as someone that is in the middle of converting off of the online edition of QB over to Microsoft Dynamics. I looked long and hard at several solutions (Netsuite, Intacct, Epicor) before deciding on Dynamics. I have been paying $45/month for the last 3 years and its been ok. I finally got to the point that I was spending more time managing data in external spreadsheets that should be housed in a real ERP that I had to switch, along with a host of other reasons mentioned above.

In my opinion, Dynamics has very good bang for the buck. Solid network of resources to call on if necessary. Good 3rd party network of application. All key when trying to keep pace in today's environment.

Anyone who wants to discuss the points that lead me here, let me know. Happy to share.