Businesses outgrow their small business accounting package for any number of reasons. Surprisingly, it’s not a user count problem anymore– thanks to products like Peachtree Quantum and QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions which offer multi-user solutions for small businesses. Rather for mid-market companies, system limitations tend to result from changes in the nature of their business –expansion into new product areas, new distribution channels, or new geographies. These are the business requirements that tend to separate the men from the boys and the business owner from her checkbook.

With the right technology, you can teach an old dog new tricks.

I was a tax professional for most of my public accounting career. I started in tax and still did taxes for my computer consulting clients when I finally made the switch into technology about 10 years ago. Recently I decided to try my hand at doing some tax work during busy season. I knew I would need a skilled reviewer and time to review tax law changes, but I was afraid I wouldn’t know how to work the applications. (You would be surprised how many laws haven’t changed very much, except for that new fangled Single Member LLC concept…)

Imagine my surprise, when after 10 years of being away from tax preparation and working papers, I was able to sit down and get up and going with no training on the software. Read more...

When talking about small business accounting software, the key word (or more precisely, phrase) has to be “ease of use.”  That’s what each of the vendors in this space is trying to accomplish.  What’s interesting is the diversity of approaches they take in achieving this goal.  Apparently one man’s “ease of use” is another man’s bloated screen; one woman’s need to pull out the right information is offset by another women’s desire to have everything at her manicured fingertips; and one accountant’s need for complete system access is another auditor’s independence nightmare. In short, there are competing needs for different users but thankfully, these vendors deliver something for everyone.