There are plenty of GST accounting packages to choose from, but which is right for your business? Clem Roberts takes a look at four of the best.
The new tax system will mean huge changes
There are plenty of GST accounting packages to choose from, but which is right for your business? Clem Roberts takes a look at four of the best.
The new tax system will mean huge changes for many businesses. Some will need to start keeping good records (having never done so before). Others will need to completely rethink their existing systems. Much of the work we now throw at the accountant will need to be done in-house, and at least every quarter rather than annually.
The ACCC suggests that implementing GST should make a business more profitable, outweighing its costs. This isnt as glib as it sounds. Better records mean accurate information at your fingertips. You can see and correct shrinking margins straight away. You can predict and take advantage of periods of better cash flow. You can identify and promote your most profitable lines. So spending money on software and training will probably make you money. It will certainly save you stress and penalties for running afoul of the ATO.
There are at least half a dozen brands to choose from in the sub-$1,000 bracket. Well look at how four vendors handle GST accounting. MYOB is the most popular accounting package, followed by Quickbooks (both reviewed April 1999). Pastel has long been a leading vendor in the $5,000+ bracket but recently started competing in the lower price ranges. Sage operates in 80 countries and has marketed the Sovereign and Sterling lines in Australia. Its Line 50 has an unusually simple look and sells for under $1,000 with payroll because the company is offering to double the $200 value of the GST start-up certificate. All four vendors offer a stripped-down version for $199, but this comparison will focus on versions that include inventory and payroll. All four packages offer multi-user upgrades. Quickbooks and MYOB include this in the sub-$1,000 price.
The other two charge more for multiple users, but the programs are much faster and need less hardware to support them. Pastel will still run happily on 120MHz machines, and Sage, with less than 7Mb of program files, on a 486 (if you remember what that was). MYOB, however, is becoming very big. If an accounting package can be fat, MYOB is virtually bursting at the seams. Although the minimum recommended spec is a 233MHz processor, generating reports can be frustratingly slow even on a 500MHz Pentium III with 128Mb of RAM.