Peachtree by Sage - Peachtree Premium Construction Accounting 2011

From the July 2010 Review of Construction/Contractor Accounting Programs.

With each subsequent release, Peachtree Accounting reinforces its popularity with accountants and small business owners alike. Always a favorite for the small business owner, Peachtree continues to make annual improvements to its already solid product, gaining more satisfied customers in the process. Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting for Construction 2011, designed for small construction and contractor companies, is a good example of what makes this software so popular for so many.

BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTIONS:
Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting for Construction 2011 contains all of the features and functionality found in Peachtree Accounting products along with construction-specific features designed specifically for this specialized industry. Easily customizable, users can design the interface to suit their particular needs. Peachtree uses navigation centers throughout the product, with the centers displayed to the right and the main screen updated to reflect the center chosen. Data-entry screens are arranged in logical sequence and contain numerous function tabs throughout, enabling users to easily navigate through the data-entry screens.

The Business Status page displays up to eight separate views of relevant company-specific financial data including Account Balances, Revenue YTD, Aged AP and Aged AR. Each view can be arranged as desired. All Peachtree products from the 2010 edition forward are designed to work with Windows Vista and Windows 7, as well as Windows XP.

CORE ACCOUNTING CAPABILITIES:
Flexibility is important to small business owners, and Peachtree allows users to find the GL chart of accounts to suit their need, while also offering the capability of adding, deleting or editing accounts as needed. The GL offers an electronic payment option as well as an excellent series of analysis tools designed to keep small business owners up-to-date on all aspects of their business. Another handy feature is the Internal Accounting review, which flags potential posting errors. A solid AP function offers the usual features such as paying bills, processing credits, and offering time and expense tracking. The AR feature processes customer quotes, offers customized proposals, and handles processing of both sales orders and invoices.

Peachtree offers several different add-on options for payroll, depending on business needs and number of employees. Along with core accounting functions, Peachtree also contains solid inventory functionality, as well as add-ons for bill-paying, remote access and ACT! for Peachtree.

Peachtree also contains an excellent audit trail, which tracks data transactions in detail including date, time, action and amount of each transaction. In 2011, user security is tighter than ever, with three levels of use: no use, selected use or full use. Security has also been expanded to the modular level, with specific tasks within each module being restricted or available for access as needed.

CONSTRUCTION/CONTRACTOR-SPECIFIC FEATURES:
Peachtree allows users to easily enter both estimated expenses and estimated revenue. Estimated costs can be entered directly into each job or in each phase as needed. Users also have access to the Estimates history, which details any changes that have been made to the original estimated costs.

The Job List allows access to any job already set up in Peachtree, displaying the job ID, description, supervisor, customer, and start and projected completion dates. From the screen, users can also view jobs, job phases, change orders and customers. Jobs can be easily tracked by cost codes, phases or customer change orders. Change order information can be entered in any job that has prior estimates entered. For efficiency, an approval date and the name of the employee approving the changes can be added.