Accountz is accomplished, relatively inexpensive and, thanks to a well-written paper manual, easy to use. Java-based and cross-platform, it's aimed at sole proprietors, partnerships and small businesses.
Firstly, the negatives: the main complaint is that the program itself lacks polish, from its slow startup and blocky interface to its lack of integration with Mac OS X applications such as Address Book. Accountz also lacks a standard Preferences window; instead, the program's default settings are tweaked through a Configuration Editor.
Other more minor irritants are the lack of support for multiple companies, multiple users and payroll features. This can be forgiven given Accountz's price, but it would have been good to see better import options. Perhaps its most irritating habit however is in its data validation. It's well intentioned, prompting you when it thinks you're leaving a transaction incomplete, but you can get warning messages when you minimise a window in the middle of data entry and another when you maximise it again. As you can imagine, this can quickly become inredibly tedious to put up with.
For its flaws however, it has many plusses in the form of its speed of entry, double-entry bookkeeping technique, automated transactions (with a choice of recurring time-frame periods), the VAT reporting function and its all-round flexibility. If it worked just a little more smoothly with OS X, it would probably stand a real chance in a market dominated by MYOB Accounting.
Update: I have been informed since writing this review that most of the negatives have been fixed, including the removal of the warning dialogue boxes if transactions were left incomplete. Instead transactions are now colour-coded if they contain errors. We know from the feedback we get on our forum that this was a popular move. In order to update the software, click on the menu option: Help > Check for Update and download the latest patch. There are apparently numerous new features including the ability to lock individual transactions from accidental editing.
Customer reviews
Produce professional accounts with ease. Good company support too and product kept updated for years.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 May 2009
I'm no accountant or book-keeper by any stretching of the imagination but even I found this package very simple to use right from the outset.The software is on CD - not DVD so launched swiftly and upon installation the first screen was a welcome to the product along with a UK freephone number offering support from the manufacturer providing reassurance from the start.I'm a sole trader and just a few weeks into my new financial year so it is the perfect time to test the software. It was quick and easy to set up suppliers and payments records and then enter the data. At this point the package appeared so simple and straight-forward that I even began to doubt it would handle more complex data analysis, reports and production of the year-end balance sheet and profit and loss account - but both were there at a click of the mouse using a supplied template.The included templates are easily edited to meet your business's needs and and will quickly generate quotations and invoices - as well as tracking unpaid invoices. One feature I particularly liked is that the Chart of Accounts updates automatically with each individual transaction as they're entered which gives a running balance and enables profit to be tracked day to day.My business isn't VAT registered so I only scanned through the set-up procedure for this but, again, it appeared very straightforward.Without a doubt, I've found Professional Business Accountz far easier to set up and use than any other accounting software and this is one I will be continuing with for my 2009-10 financial year and into the foreseeable future.I'm converted and it would be an injustice to award it anything less than five well-earned stars.October 2013 update: I am still using this Business Accountz software and very pleased to report excellent support from the company together with updates to ensure it is always up to date and, as far as I can tell, always using the equivalent of the latest version of the software. You don't get this with many software packages, particularly 4-5 years following purchase hence I continue to recommend it.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 May 2009
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 June 2009
Produce professional accounts with ease. Good company support too and product kept updated for years.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 May 2009
Produce professional accounts with ease. Good company support too and product kept updated for years.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 May 2009
I'm no accountant or book-keeper by any stretching of the imagination but even I found this package very simple to use right from the outset.Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 May 2009
The software is on CD - not DVD so launched swiftly and upon installation the first screen was a welcome to the product along with a UK freephone number offering support from the manufacturer providing reassurance from the start.
I'm a sole trader and just a few weeks into my new financial year so it is the perfect time to test the software. It was quick and easy to set up suppliers and payments records and then enter the data. At this point the package appeared so simple and straight-forward that I even began to doubt it would handle more complex data analysis, reports and production of the year-end balance sheet and profit and loss account - but both were there at a click of the mouse using a supplied template.
The included templates are easily edited to meet your business's needs and and will quickly generate quotations and invoices - as well as tracking unpaid invoices. One feature I particularly liked is that the Chart of Accounts updates automatically with each individual transaction as they're entered which gives a running balance and enables profit to be tracked day to day.
My business isn't VAT registered so I only scanned through the set-up procedure for this but, again, it appeared very straightforward.
Without a doubt, I've found Professional Business Accountz far easier to set up and use than any other accounting software and this is one I will be continuing with for my 2009-10 financial year and into the foreseeable future.
I'm converted and it would be an injustice to award it anything less than five well-earned stars.
October 2013 update: I am still using this Business Accountz software and very pleased to report excellent support from the company together with updates to ensure it is always up to date and, as far as I can tell, always using the equivalent of the latest version of the software. You don't get this with many software packages, particularly 4-5 years following purchase hence I continue to recommend it.
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