Do You Need Accounting Software For Your Small Business?

Do You Need Accounting Software For Your Small
Business?

by: E.SAUNDERS

If you’re anything like me then you dislike with a vengeance doing your accounts
and taxes.

So how can you make this process easier, less painful and cut your accountancy
fees?

Well buying an accounting software package is one way.

First of all you need to decide whether you are going to keep your accounting
records manually, that is using pen and paper, or whether you are going to
computerize the process.

If you decide that computerizing the process is the way to go then you need to
decide whether to buy an accounting software package, for example Sage or
Quicken, or whether a spreadsheet, such as Microsoft Excel will suit your needs
better.

As a general rule if you are a cash business that just
needs to record income and expenditure then you are better off using a
spreadsheet.

So, should you choose an accounting software package? Yes if:

· You have customers to whom you extend credit and you buy goods in the same way


· You process in excess of 50 transactions per month

· Your business is an Incorporated Company (Limited Company in the UK)

and

· You are computer literate or are willing to learn!

Before choosing the accounting software, speak to your accountants – they will
be familiar with the various accounting software packages on the market and will
be able to advise you. Most accountants use software in their office to process
the bookkeeping for their clients and will have a working knowledge of the
accounting software package they use. It may be cheaper for you to use the same
one they do, because they can advise you how to get it up and running and will
be on hand to answer questions, plus at your financial year end when your
accounts need preparing it will be less expensive, believe me to have a
compatible program.

I also recommend doing some research yourself, you may be
able to obtain a demonstration disk or download of the most popular accounting
software packages and this will give you an idea of how they work and if they
are user-friendly.

The cost may also be an issue, so you need to decide on your budget. But
consider how your business is likely to expand - you may outgrow that budget
accounting software quickly and end up buying the more expensive one anyway.

Accounting software providers may also try and up-sell you a maintenance
contract. Save your money! In my experience the established software providers
will not have bugs in their systems. They will also try and upgrade you to the
next version on a regular basis, but if the software is doing everything you
need then there is no need to upgrade.

Of course, you could also pay someone to do your accounts for you, either your
accountant or a bookkeeper – the payoff being you don’t have to do it yourself
and it frees you up to actually run your business!

An Introduction To Point Of Sale Software

An introduction to point of sale software

by: E.SAUNDERS

Point of sale software gives business owners a
convenient way of checking out customers and of recording sales. It can keep a
record of the store inventory, updating it when an order is processed. It can
also print out receipts, carry out credit card processing, track customers, etc.
Point of sale software eases the flow at checkout terminals, while recording all
the information that can help you make better business decisions.

Point of sale software allows users to input via keyboard or mouse, and some
even have a touch screen interface. You can install the software on your
checkout register.

When checking out a customer you can either input the sales item yourself or use
a bar code scanner. The point of sale software will look up the item in the
inventory and bring up the price. It can also calculate tax on the item and
change for the customer.

POS software can print out receipts and reports. Point of sale software makes
your business accounting a lot easier by creating reports on inventory, sales,
customers, etc. Since it is already recording each sale, it can easily tell you
the sales and revenue of the day.

Point of sale software can also help with credit card processing. Credit cards
are the preferred method of payment. People do not want to carry around cash for
all their purchases. Credit card is a convenient method of payment and if you do
not have credit card processing, your business can lose some of its
competitiveness.

Point of sale software receives input from the POS hardware, which is the
scanning station for the credit card. The software will process the credit card
payment for you. It can check that the card has not expired and is valid. You
will need a merchant account for the point of sale software to do its job.

POS software is generally easy to install and easy to use. You will need to know
how to update inventory and record a price change for an item. Point of sale
software usually provides an easy to use interface to do this. It can make the
job of the cashier a lot easier by automating the routine tasks of the day.

There is a wide variety of point of sale software available. You can choose one
that fits your budget and meets the needs of your particular business. The
software will have compatibility requirements with the point of sale hardware.
It will also have operating system requirements such as it might need a Windows
or Linux system.

Point of sale software can more than pay for itself over time by making checkout
faster and doing your accounting for you. Point of sale software may be the
right solution for your business and can provide you with tons of benefits.

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