On-Premises Small Business Accounting Programs

Management Features - Many programs included Dashboard Overviews to give management a snapshot of the company’s status. Reporting was also considered to identify the customization capabilities, integration with third party report writers or ODBC access, and support for exporting built-in reports to multiple file formats. Security was also reviewed to determine if individual or role based security. Establishing user rights can be complicated and it was important to understand how these rights were established and if they related to menu options, general ledger accounts or any other type of group.

Integration, Import and, Export – Programs allowed various degrees of import capabilities including lists, budgets, and transactions. Generally batch processing systems allow greater import functionality due to the ability to import to an unposted batch and then use the normal posting procedure When integrating two systems, it is important to have a pre-built integration or the option to import transactions; therefore both of these options were analyzed. In addition to importing data, integration with third party applications and portals to increase productivity and enhance Customer Relationship Management (CRM) abilities was also considered in this review.

Help & Support – All the programs included impressive help and support options. Some programs required access to the internet to read help files, and most had videos available (either on CD or online), and US based telephone support. All of the vendors offered support plans for additional guidance and payroll tax table updates. Additional support was found on websites, user groups, community bulletin boards, and consultant networks.

We have also provided an Executive Summary with pricing to highlight the features that we feel are most significant for each product. Please continue on to read individual reviews with a list of strength’s, potential limitations, star ratings, and best fit of each product reviewed.