Business Accountz Basic (PC/Mac/Linux)

Product Features

• Pure, fast bookkeeping
• Fully editable
• Instant VAT returns
• Unlimited Reports
• Exports to spreadsheets
• Nominal Ledger
• Data import from OFX, QIF and CSV file formats
• Accountant ready reports*
• European, US, Canadian, Australian and South African VAT Rates
• Platform Independent
• Hardware Independent
• Free lifetime forum support
• Optional licence add-ons (Multi-currency, Multi-company)

Recent press review
"Easy to use bookkeeping software that's great for small businesses that need to track their finances wthout any hassle." Computer Shopper December 2009 5/5 Best Business Buy Award.

Manufacturer’s Description
Business Accountz Basic is a multi platform software offering a solution for all customers. You can move files from one platform to another and the software is also compatible with MacBook Air and netbooks with a download link inside the box.

The software offers free lifetime email and forum support, plus optional Telephone support.

Designed to keep the books for all types of business, whether sole-trader, partnership, limited company, VAT or non-VAT registered. Business Accountz Basic makes bookkeeping enjoyable and simple. You can see and edit everything you enter, and using Accountz Rapid Data Entry system, you will do it far more quickly than anything else currently available.

Business Accountz Basic is pure bookkeeping. That is, it is 100% transaction based, rather than form based, which most other software is. The advantage is that you can take all your source documents (eg. invoices, receipts, bank statements etc) and enter them in one after another in any order directly into a table.

Once entered you can re-arrange them in any order you like (e.g. view them by Tax Date, VAT Date, Amount, Reference etc.). You can also edit anything whenever you like directly in the table. If you are happy with an entry, you can lock it to avoid any accidental editing. Of course, you can also unlock any transactions too, so you will never be forced to make traditional correcting entries unless you want to.

However, probably the most important feature of Business Accountz is the simplicity of transactions. The most important of which are labelled From and To. These replace the traditional double-entry terms Credit and Debit and have the simple effect of making book-keeping understandable to everyone. However if you are an accountant/bookkeeper or have become familiar with ‘Debit, Credit, Journal and Ledger’ terminology you can turn this configuration on and switch between the two in Business Accountz with ease.

Here are some examples of the simplicity of managing transactions in Business Accountz:

• Paying off your credit card: the money comes From your bank and goes To your credit card, and that is exactly how you enter it into the system.
• A sale: the money comes From a sales account and goes To your bank (or Unpaid Invoices if it is on credit).
• A payment: the payment comes From your bank (or cash, credit card etc.) and goes To some expense account. Nothing could be simpler.

Everything is updated immediately, so you can see precisely what you have in the bank, what you owe suppliers, your VAT return etc, and almost all of these views are obtained with 1 or 2 clicks.

Accountz software has been designed from the start to use the smallest number of mouse clicks (or keyboard presses). This has the following benefits:

• Faster data entry
• Faster reporting
• Easier to remember
• Saves you time
• Saves you money

For more information about Accountz products, including live Webinars, optional telephone support and our one day training courses, please visit the Accountz.com website.

Within the Business Accountz application you can access a comprehensive and searchable Online Help Menu and the Business Accountz Forum. You also receive 30 days free telephone support from the point of product registration.

Key Components

Sales Transactions
Like all tables in Business Accountz, entering transactions is a pleasure. The Sales Transaction module differs from the traditional sales ledger in many good ways:

• It is not necessary to associate a customer with a sale
• It is not necessary that the sale must be on credit
• There is no posting, everything is updated immediately
• You can sort on any field (making it simple to find things)
• You can create and name views (to create the most detailed of sales reports)
• You can edit anything anywhere at anytime
• You can lock individual transactions
• You can allocate a transaction to a different VAT period
• You can drill down to the source document, e.g. an invoice
• Automatic transaction numbering for easy filing
• Fully exportable

The above are just some of the great benefits Business Accountz has. There is no need to produce a report to see what you have previously entered. It is all there in one view (or you can set views to show only the current year, or for any period).



Expenses and Purchasing
One of the more friendly features of the Business Accountz range is the way that transactions are both entered and shown. As per Sales Transactions, our Purchase Transactions module differs from the traditional purchase ledger in that:

• It is not necessary to associate a purchase with a supplier
• It is not necessary that the purchase must be on credit
• There is no posting, everything is updated immediately
• You can sort on any field (making it simple to find things)
• You can create and name views (to create the most detailed of reports)
• You can edit anything anywhere at anytime
• You can lock individual transactions
• You can allocate a transaction to a different VAT period
• You can drill down to the source document
• Automatic transaction numbering for easy filing
• Fully exportable

VAT Return
VAT is one of the major bug bears for business owners. However, Business Accountz makes light work of it. It is just a single key press away. It is available at anytime, so you will always know exactly how much is owed. You can also view previous periods at anytime.

It can be set for standard accounting, cash accounting or the flat rate scheme. You also have the ability to change the period at anytime, so if you want to synchronise your VAT returns to your year ends, you can do so.

An important aspect of Business Accountz is that you can use it even if you are not VAT registered. The company setup wizard will configure it for you so that VAT does not get in the way (for example, the VAT columns will not appear in any transaction tables). If you later become VAT registered, a simple wizard will turn it on for you.

We know from feedback from HMRC that they are very happy with the way VAT is covered in Business Accountz. They particularly like the transparency of the system. You not only see the relevant box totals (which you can copy directly into the Government Gateway if you have an online account for HMRC VAT filing) but you also get to see the transactions that have been included in each return.

One huge benefit of Business Accountz is its ability to associate dates and VAT rate changes. You do not need to manually change the Standard rate should it change, although you do have full control of manual changes should you prefer to do it yourself.

Chart of Accounts with detailed view of the transactions of a bank account and bank reconciliation
As with all table views within the Business Accountz range, you can select which columns you want to see. You can also sort on any column and produce customised reports using the filter drop down menu. The default views are shown in the above screenshot. This is where bank and other financial accounts can be reconciled against statements. The process is very simple:

1. Double-click on the account you want to view in the left panel
2. It will open in the right panel, select the Uncleared Entries view from the drop down menu
3. Tick the Cleared field of each transaction that is on your printed or online statement
4. Finally, click on the Cleared Entries view from the drop down menu to view the finished statement

The beauty and simplicity of this is that you do not need to finish a reconciliation once you have started. You can exit, or go elsewhere in the system and finish it when you are ready (for example, you may find a mistake and need to correct it half-way through a reconciliation, and in Accountz products you can do that).

Account Details - you can add notes to accounts and also determine where an account can be accessed from.
By default, the company setup wizard will structure the chart of accounts and set up the accounts relevant for the particular type of business. Any account can be reconfigured and this view shows part of the process. For example, each account can have its access restricted if necessary to help reduce errors.

The accounts structure can be reconfigured at anytime. New groups can be made, and they can be nested too. For example, you could open a Motor Group in Expenses, then within that open further groups for each company vehicle you have. That way you can account for the fuel used independently for each vehicle. Of course, that level of control is not for everyone, so equally you could just have a simple Motor Expense Account instead.

The Chart of Accountz in the Business Accountz range is so versatile, you can restructure the accounts in anyway you like. Just as importantly, you can also rename any account or account group. For example, you may prefer to rename the Profit and Loss Group to Revenue Account. You can also add and remove accounts at any time. If you have multiple bank accounts that is fine, just as it is for any other type of account.

One significant difference with the Business Accountz range is that it is possible to create a profit and loss report for any period, from 1 day to a number of combined years. If you are asked for a report on the previous 6 months, you can get it immediately just by setting the start and end dates, even if it straddles your year end! This is a great feature if you are looking for business finance and need to impress someone with your financial skills.

Business Accountz Configuration
You can configure your copy of Business Accountz in many different ways including the ability to add keyboard shortcuts to most operations.

There are many colour options, so for example, you could choose to use alternate row colouring for tables to make it easy to read each transaction line. There are also options for the visually impaired, for example using high-contrast and reversing foreground and background colours.

An option that many users like is the ability to display dates in any format. For example, 1st August 2010 could be displayed as 01/08/10 or 01-Aug-2010 or in fact, just about any way you please (including having the month first if you are based in the USA).

Data Import
You can import transaction data into Business Accountz in OFX, QIF or CSV file format using a data mapping wizard. You can also import bank statements in the same file formats.

App Supported
In 2010 Accountz launched an iPhone app called Mobile Accountz Lite which supports Home Accountz, Personal Accountz and the Business Accountz Range. Mobile Accountz Lite allows users to view and edit their chart of accounts and perform expense tracking on the move. Users can then sync the data in the app with their full Home, Business or Personal Accountz software.

About Accountz
Accountz is a British company established in 1985. It has received critical acclaim for its software from users and the press including The Times, Computer Shopper, Personal Computer World, Independent on Sunday, Computer Active.