Accounting and payroll software

[tarborolife]

Hello all...

We are new (soon-to-be) coffee shop owners, and we''re dealing with all of the pre-opening issues that anyone who starts a small business is dealing with.

One major issue has to do with keeping our books and payroll issues for what will probably be 3-4 employees. We will probably have a part-time accountant, but I''m looking for personal suggestions and critiques of the software that you use. I know quickbooks is the popular choice, but I''ve heard varying reviews on it, and was wondering if anyone uses something else that they''re happy with.

Take into account ease of use, cost, and general happiness. I''d appreciate any feedback I could get. Thanks!

 

[caffe biscotto]

QuickBooks is very popular. I use the Pro 2004 edition and I hear it's easier to use than the newer editions. You can keep track of your payroll, bills and other business expenses. Also, there are easy to read sales graphs and charts. You can even produce your own profit & loss statements. Almost all of my customers use QuickBooks.

I have many years of experience with another program called SmallPics by Sweetware out of California. It's less expensive, but a very effective accounting program for those in the restaurant business and would work just fine for a coffee shop as well. It's in windows format now, although I kept updating my DOS version. Their customer service was always terrific. Good luck!

 

[ABM]

QuickBooks is very popular. I use the Pro 2004 edition and I hear it's easier to use than the newer editions. You can keep track of your payroll, bills and other business expenses. Also, there are easy to read sales graphs and charts. You can even produce your own profit & loss statements. Almost all of my customers use QuickBooks....

Does QB integrate well with a POS system?

 

[caffe biscotto]

QuickBooks does offer it's own POS software, either separate or in a bundle with the program. I'm not sure if any other POS software would be compatible.

 

[CCafe]

I would be very careful about choosing QuickBooks with a POS system. Intuit likes to play with planned obsolescence and only God knows what they would shut off just to make you upgrade to the newest version.

We use QuickBooks 04 Pro too, but there are a lot of little things that I can't stand about it and Intuit decided to release a lot of the fixes that should have went in to 04 but in the 05 copy. Just to make you pay for it all over again.

One of those planned obsolescence's that really gets my goat is emailing invoices. They canned that feature last year for the 04 Pro and I used it a ton. Now I have to save it as a PDF and then email it. I'm waiting for them to can that too.

 

[caffe biscotto]

CCafe, unfortunately we are a throw away society. Nothing is built to last anymore. Our landfills tell a story of a society that makes and buys junk that doesn't last and of a society that always wants the next new thing.

According to EPA estimates, hundreds of millions of business and personal computers have been dumped over the last decade alone. This "planned obsolescence" is used mainly in the tech field, as means of not just luring us, but forcing us to constantly upgrade to newer, improved versions. Intuit might do this more than other software companies.

The DOS based accounting program I used for many years was great. I never had to upgrade. Every couple of years, I would though (for about $25), just to get better performance with less glitches. They also offered free tech support. That was SmallPics by Sweetware. About ten or so years ago, they moved into windows, so maybe now they're playing a different game. I don't know, I use QB now, just for accounting.

For coffee shops, there are many custom programs out there to choose from. QB might be the least expensive option.

Here's a link to a similar thread on POS software used in coffee shops:

http://www.coffeeforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=6578

I would like to hear what others are using or have used. Anyone?

 

[CCafe]

The problem with QuickBooks is they intentionally shut if off. Every thing made has a life expectancy. Intuit however doesn't feel they should have to wait for you to upgrade. It should be your responsibility to upgrade ever year or so.

As for the landfill, simple solution but costs an arm and a leg. Plasma gasification!

 

[quantumparticle]

We used Quickbooks to manage the payroll and do general accounting. This was essential as most tax professionals and accountants use Quickbooks and can help you set it up.

As for our POS, we used Coffee Shop Manager PRO. I never played around with the QB integration, we just manually entered the data into QB ourselves.

Either way, QB is \"standard\" and you should at least use it for your payroll and general accounting. It will make things infinitely easier come tax time.

 

[morrisn]

We use QuickBooks Pro and update yearly, which you have to do if using the Payroll portion

 

[chip]

QB Online Version

We use QB online with payroll. A little over $40 a month, but all updates, payroll, etc. are updated automatically which I like. We have a 4 user setup so that three of us in the office plus our tax guy at his office can all work on it, even at the same time. The payroll works great. It even interfaces with our bank and downloads and matches transactions every day.
We use Point of Success for POS and are very happy with it. It has a good scheduling program, time clock, etc. We have about 25 - 35 employees depending on the season.

 

[jonvaughan]

Hi all,

This is some shameless self promotion; we make a small business accounting app called http://www.bionicbooks.com. If any of you are still looking then check us out; Bionic Books is extremely easy to use, you don't need to learn bookkeeping first, and we do a free version, so good if you're on a tight budget.

J

 

[caffe biscotto]

Hi all,

This is some shameless self promotion; we make a small business accounting app called http://www.bionicbooks.com. If any of you are still looking then check us out; Bionic Books is extremely easy to use, you don't need to learn bookkeeping first, and we do a free version, so good if you're on a tight budget.

J

Interesting.
J, in a nutshell, what's so great about Bionic Books?
I like the "free account" option, even if it does come with ads.
Does the free option come with free revisions as well?

Also, you can put your URL in your profile, so it shows up in your www button, under your name. Otherwise, personal URLs should be dropped only in the Business To Business and Coffee Website sections of the forum. viewtopic.php?t=6 See rules 2 & 3.

 

[gerald]

Apart from payroll software (you got plenty option here), you can also enjoy payroll services by outsourcing to a payroll company, it can be a handy solution, there others who already tried it got a lot of help. Having 3 or 4 employees is not necessarily simple when it comes to handling payroll, small companies begin to understand what outsourcing really is about.

 

[finfin]

I know of an amazing accounting services website. This kind of software I think is pretty easy to find actually.

 

[marjorina]

What is the best and simple accounting software? I need an accounting software that is simple to use and user-friendly for my home and business expenses. I only need it to track my expenses. I would prefer the software to contain some sort of option to connect to my bank account online in order to track checks that have cleared. I've tried Quickbooks Pro and, to be honest, I didn't really put a lot of effort into learning how to use it, but for me it just wasn't very user-friendly.