What Software to use to run my business?

Rosco1112

Hi Everyone, I have recently in the last year created and run my own business. The first is an Ebay Shop selling sportswear and the second is a vending business. Everything is going well but I can see that I am way too disorganized and if you were to ask me how much profit I have made in the last 6 months I wouldn't have a clue. Is tere a software package which will let me input an inventory of stock and the cost of each item and then when I get back from my vending run for example I could input how many pistachios I sold, how may jelly beans I had sold and the profit I took so then I would be left with a calculation of profit minus each individual stock item sold so i would have a clear idea of where I was heading.

Sorry if this sounds complicated and I would really appreciate any advice because at this rate I can see the company failing due to lack of organization and discipline.

Best Regards

Ross

richt71

I use excel. You can set this up to do the calculations for you. One section has your expenses, the other my weekly income. It was set-up by my accountant. I'm sure their's some ready made software out there.

Pennywise

Free web based software - www.winweb.co.uk

Cheap web based software with ability to link to paypal reports www.kashflow.co.uk

moneypooh

Excel can be transferred to other software packages if you choose to use them at a later date. All accountants are happy with excel and it's soooo easy to use. 2007 version works great!

Pennywise

moneypooh wrote: »

All accountants are happy with excel and it's soooo easy to use. 2007 version works great!

Do a search on here or accountingweb or smallbusinessforums and you'll see that "all accountants" are certainly not happy with excel. An amateur spreadsheet will probably mean your accountant has to spend longer to find the errors and charge you more. Some accountants have created their own spreadsheet, with inbuilt checks and balances, meaning that the client can't make some of the very common errors. Many other accountants would simply recommend the cheap (and sometimes free) software. It is best to ask your accountant what they prefer - after all, they know your business and they'll be the ones who have to follow your efforts.

A summary of common errors:-

Entering a new row or column and not checking that the totals are correctly including the new entry. Very common for people who don't use @sum to total lines and where a new entry is put in at the start or end of the line.

Hiding a row or column but forgetting that the figures are still included in the totals.

Accidentally formatting a value cell as text, i.e. either by entering the £ sign manually instead of formatting, or by including a comma or space in the number. Only value cells are included in totals - a text cell won't be included and it is a sod of a job to find why a column or row doesn't add up.

Spreadsheets are also harder for others to follow, and harder for you to work backwards to find how a figure in a summary was made up.

In the long term, a spreadsheet will hold your business back. Eventually as your business grows, you'll find that the time spent on keeping a spreadsheet up to date will become too much, together with the inevitable errors, and you'll have to move onto a proper accounting software package, and you'll suffer the time and hassle of a changeover whilst you are getting busier. It is best to start with the simplest version of a scaleable software package where you can upgrade to better versions as your business grows. Nearly all the standard software offers a starter or "lite" version for start-ups at low cost or free.

vivatifosi

Pennywise wrote: »

It is best to ask your accountant what they prefer - after all, they know your business and they'll be the ones who have to follow your efforts.

I think that's the best possible advice. I use Excel for my business and its fine. Its the software I use day in day out, so I'm more familiar with it, and the nature of my business means I raise a small number of high value invoices, rather than the other way round. I don't need anything else. But those are the sort of issues that your accountant will be aware of. My accountant knows me and for me Excel is fine, but would recommend something different for someone with more complex needs.

november

vivatifosi wrote: »

I think that's the best possible advice.

Agreed it is best to ask your accountant.

I use Excel for my business and its fine.

Also agreed I use Excel and my spreadsheets are fine according to my accountant. They suit my needs and take minutes to update but I am very used to them and using a professionally designed spreadsheet not an amateur one. Actually I first started out using Excel spreadsheets for accounting for a holding company (a company that owns other companies) and had no problems there either. You can have a professional spreadsheet using Excel and a well designed spreadsheet or spreadsheets should be easily understandable by anyone.

I once dabbled with Sage as well though if that counts

Rosco1112

Thanks everyone who replied, I want to buy Quick books Premier because it has an inventory control in it and it looks pretty easy to use but at £450 I simply cannot afford it.

I will use Excel because I already have it but how can I learn how to set a database up?

Best Regards

Ross

braken2000

Try some software called Volutive One, It is like Sage/Pegasus etc but free!

I have given it a little go and seems okay!

Try Here

It is basic, but for what I use it for (CRM etc) it does the job. Invoicing is good on it also.

Pennywise

Rosco1112 wrote: »

Thanks everyone who replied, I want to buy Quick books Premier because it has an inventory control in it and it looks pretty easy to use but at £450 I simply cannot afford it.

I will use Excel because I already have it but how can I learn how to set a database up?

Best Regards

Ross

Have you asked your accountant? It would be VERY EASY for your end of year accountancy bill to be £450 more because of the extra time your accountant has to spend in correcting errors and/or reorganising the data you have entered into a form that is useable for year end accounts, not to mention picking through a spreadsheet prepared on a "cash basis" when the tax return must be done on an "accruals" basis. You really need to ask your accountant to check over your proposed spreadsheet BEFORE you start using it to avoid problems (and higher costs) at a later date.