account package

anmarj

I currently use Quick books simple start but finding it difficult to use so looking at changing from the end of the tax year, can anyone recommend a good simple (but free!) package? I could use spreadsheets but think doing what I do, it makes it messy. I like the professional look of the paperwork:D

Thank you

Sophie-1

You could try Sage Line 50 although it's not free.

jacks_cf

Have a look at Quickfile. It's free and cloudbased. I find it clunkier than the paid options but then it is free.

Freeagent might be an option for you? Sadly not free but very easy to use.

anmarj

thank you for those options will have a proper look later when home from work!

Pennywise

Sophie-1 wrote: »

You could try Sage Line 50 although it's not free.

The general trend is for people to move away from Sage onto the likes of Quickbooks because Sage is hard to learn and use and more expensive and more difficult to correct mistakes. By comparison, QB is easier to learn and use and generally far cheaper.

What is the problem with QB? Perhaps you should invest in a bit of training/support from a bookkeeper/accountant who knows QB to iron out any problems you have with it. I really can't see that switching to Sage would help if you find QB hard to use!

I'd suggest you look at VT Transaction+ from https://www.vtsoftware.co.uk which truly is a quick and easy to learn software that has a spreadsheet look about it, but powered by a database - the best of both worlds and easy to correct mistakes. Costs about £130 for a one off purchase which includes a year's support to get you up and running.

A good alternative is the online https://www.kashflow.co.uk which also is very easy for the non-accountant. The starting entry level is just £5 per month (relatively few transactions) or £10 per month for the full version if you needed it.

Both VT and KF offer a free trial so you can test it out. I can vouch for both as we use them in house and have lots of happy clients with them.

Suarez

Pennywise wrote: »

I'd suggest you look at VT Transaction+ from https://www.vtsoftware.co.uk which truly is a quick and easy to learn software that has a spreadsheet look about it, but powered by a database - the best of both worlds and easy to correct mistakes. Costs about £130 for a one off purchase which includes a year's support to get you up and running.

I'll second VT Transaction. Really easy to get on with. There's also VT Cashbook which is free. Useful if you just need income and expenditure (No Customer ledgers, supplier ledgers, journals etc)

trailingspouse

After a year using a spreadsheet provided by our accountant, we changed to Sage. I did the course, struggled with it for 6 months, asked the accountant for some help, and finally (feeling very stupid) I admitted that I really couldn't get along with it and that I would be happier sticking to original spreadsheet. My accountant simply said 'It's not for everyone', and I've been using the spreadsheet ever since.

As to whether the paperwork looks professional or not - it's all on a memory stick...

Suarez

Never really understood why so many accountants recommend sage. It's got far to many features for the majority of businesses so they end up paying stupid money for something they don't need!

Percy1983

Suarez wrote: »

Never really understood why so many accountants recommend sage. It's got far to many features for the majority of businesses so they end up paying stupid money for something they don't need!

I think I know why, it may be different now bur when I was training the computerised accounts portion was all done on sage.

From there if everyhting is put in correctly it more or less does everything for you, so in short the accountant can export a few things and be done rather quickly.

happywarmgun

Is your business a service business? (rather than say retail?) If so, I highly recommend Freeagent. (https://www.freeagent.com). Does everything I want at a very fair price (invoicing, time tracking, basic contact managment, payroll, VAT, auto feed to HMRC, expenses, dividend certificates, year end reporting etc.)

It is written for humans rather than accountants (it confuses my accountant as it uses plain English rather than his professional language). The reporting is really good, and since I started using it I have a sense I know where every penny in the business came from and went.