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Your software is only a tool

Written by: Trev Kernested

Article Overview: Don't let your accounting software make the decisions. It is only a tool to help you to organize the data.

Your software is only a tool

No doubt you have heard and seen a lot from Intuit lately. They are heavily promoting what you can use Quickbooks for to make running your business easier. Export this...import that. Download quickly everything from your bank and credit card statements. Currently Intuit is trying to convince you to use Quickbooks on your blackberry, palm, or iphone.

I have extensively used several accounting programs including Quickbooks and Simply Accounting, and won't waste time with any of the bells and whistles that is proclaimed as time savers by salespeople who will say anything in order to get their commission. I won't go on and on about all the problems with all the time savers. The biggest waste of time is importing data from your bank statements. You will spend several hours fixing the accounts Quickbooks puts all the data in during the importing process. The payroll service offered by Intuit and Sage is no better than what is offered by Ceridan and ADP. Save your money and let one person manage the payroll along with all other accounting tasks.

Software developers have given the wrong impression about accounting in particular the day to day bookkeeping when introducing a new accounting software or upgrade to an existing software. The day to day bookkeeping not something to be taken lightly and treated as a data entry task. Just enter the data let the software do the rest. Some people have learned the hard way what happens when they followed this course of action. It is a very labour intensive process to clean up the mess.

The software is only a tool for organizing data. Someone with accounting knowledge (a person) should be the one to decide what to do with cheques, statements, receipts, and so on. The software, no matter how sophisticated, can't and shouldn't make such decisions.

Each day especially nowadays there will be challenges that need to be handled differently within the rules and guidelines of accounting. The person in charge of the financial management has a responsiblity to ensure records and reports are accurate and complete. This same person with such responsibility should know the rules and guidelines so can catch errors before occur. It is unlikely a receptionist or office assistant will have adequate knowledge of the rules and guidelines. Both have other responsibilities that should remain their principal focus.

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Article Tags: accounting programs, accounting software, bank statements, bells and whistles, bookkeeping, ceridan, credit card statements, data entry, existing software, intuit, iphone, no doubt, payroll service, receipts, salespeople, software developers, time savers, waste of time, waste time, wrong impression



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