Online accounting or not, balancing the criteria

by Earl Mardle on 1 July 2009  

Grant Hewson of  Accomplish has been selling and servicing the company's PC based accounting software CashManager for a long time and about 18 months ago they decided to offer an online version which has just become available. Since they offer both versions, I figured they would be reasonably unbiased in evaluating the options so I asked him why they decided to move to both channels. (MP3 6:20 4.3MB)The decision-making checklist

1. Have a valid business reason such as being a distributed organisation where key people need access to the accounts
2. Make sure the accountant and auditor are not actively opposed (I work with one organisation that had to change its accountant when they decided to go online)
3. Broadband for users is pretty well mandatory
4. Do you want or need the latest version at all times?
5. Support servies can have immediate access to your service to fix any problems
6. Better backup than any of us does on our own account.
7. Do the numbers, online services will eventually (within a couple of years, cost you more than buying a standalone software)

Have you shifted to online accounting services? How did you make that decision? What is your experience? Was it worthwhile? Comments please.

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5 comments

1 Online accounting or not, balancing the criteria — Groupings « Accounting { 07.01.09 at 12:09:50 }

[...] Vi­ew ori­gi­n­al p­ost here: O­­nline ac­c­o­­unting­ o­­r­ no­­t, ba… [...]

2 Sandor Lenner { 07.01.09 at 02:59:43 }

Also, the CPA or accountant can review and make corrections to the financials almost in real time as long as the CPA or accountant has web based internet access. And the online platform allows users,investor and passive owners access to the companies financial results and promotes collaberation amongst the interested uses.

Please feel free to visit my blog on useful online accounting tips for small businesses. The URL is http://sandylenneronlineaccountingfinancial.blogspot.com/

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3 Online accounting or not, balancing the criteria — Groupings { 07.01.09 at 03:49:42 }

[...] Go­ h­e­r­e­ t­o­ r­e­a­d t­h­e­ r­e­st­: On­li­n­e­ ac­c­oun­ti­n­g or n­ot, balan­c&#… [...]

4 Stuart McLean { 07.02.09 at 10:57:41 }

“Do the numbers, online services will eventually (within a couple of years, cost you more than buying a standalone software)”

Is this really true?

I don;t think so especially if you include the cost of support and upgrades in the cost of the packaged software.

5 Earl Mardle { 07.02.09 at 04:52:38 }

Stuart. Thanks for the input and you make a fair case.

I think the point grant is making is that you can choose not to upgrade if times are tight and once you have the software set up and running satisfactorily, there is little need for support.

In addition, NFP’s tend to have a couple of options.

Professional support costs should tend to cancel out for both options, but NFP’s are more likely to be calling in your friendly volunteer geek.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. What experience do you have of costs over time for small organisations that have made the switch?

Some hard numbers would be great to have.

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