Making the next step
The advent of the computer changed all
that. First with mainframe computing, then
with more affordable minicomputers, and
finally with very affordable PCs.
Packaged accounting applications became
available fairly early on, but in almost every
case, they required extensive modification
for each client. This expensive customization
pushed the price into the realm where your
client had to have a fairly moderate-sized
business to afford the ongoing cost.
That’s a far cry from today’s off-the-shelf
software. At the entry level, your clients can
go into any big box store and purchase a complete and sophisticated accounting system
that they, for the most part, can install themselves. At some point, however, if your clients’
businesses grow, chances are good that they
will need to step up to a mid-range system.
This can happen for several reasons.
One that’s gotten very common is that
the client simply has more staff that want or
need to use the application than the package
supports. Accounting systems can bog down
under heavy use, regardless of how powerful
the computers they’re being run on are.
Almost all mid-range accounting systems,
whether in the cloud or in-house, are built
around some version of SQL. The advantage
in using one of these SQL products is that
they are both scalable (accommodate increases in users) and able to handle very high
transaction loads. If your client is running
their accounting system in-house, beefing
up existing hardware can have a very definite
Mid-range accounting packages offer
more capabilities for more users
BY ted needleman
accounting and bookkeeping haven’t always been particularly
easy to accomplish. Before the advent of mechanized book-
keeping, keeping track of financial transactions, and their
ultimate effect on a business, was a matter of sorting transac-
tions into the proper category and recording them by hand into
paper ledgers, using specialized paper to physically emulate the
t-account concept.
effect on overall system response.
Mid-range accounting systems give businesses more control over how their accounting system is configured, and provide advanced capacity and functionality to those
of your clients who have multiple subsidiaries
and divisions, or operate in more countries
than just the U.S.
These products are, for the most part,
modular, with a system manager module as
the entry point and center for overall system
configuration and maintenance. This modular approach allows your client to purchase
just the features and capacity they need, then
add onto this when their needs change. It is,
of course, possible to mix and match, having
a general ledger and accounts receivable/
payable from one vendor, and HR, payroll,
manufacturing and/or distribution inventory,
or human resource management, all from
different vendors. But a mid-range accounting vendor can provide all or most of these
additional modules and allow your client to
expand their capabilities with a minimum of
time and effort, and without the need to use
complex export and import routines.
Another reason to move a client from an
entry-level to a mid-range accounting system
is accessibility to the data collected and generated by the accounting system. Many mid-range applications have enhanced budgeting
and dashboard capabilities, which simplify
the use of this data by management.
And while some vendors provide migration paths from an entry-level system to their
mid-range system, moving data from one
system to another is not trivial. Even more
daunting is getting your client’s staff trained
on the new software.
With a new client that looks to be on the
growth fast track, it may be best to recommend a mid-range product from the get-go.
Some of the products reviewed here can be
purchased with a single-user license, and
have the ability to go from there to several
hundred users. Others, like QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions and Peachtree Quantum,
start with a five-user license, which may be
quite acceptable to your client. That’s especially true if they anticipate rapid growth and
want to plan for it from the initial choice of
their accounting system.
Sticker shock is also something that you
might want to prepare your client for. It’s not
uncommon for a mid-range system to run in
the low five figures, and since most of these
applications are sold, installed and maintained (with a yearly renewal and/or service
contract), the final cost can be considerably
greater than just the purchase price.
We tested seven mid-range systems, two of
which are Software-as-a-Service, or “
cloud-based.” Make sure that your client is aware
of the pitfalls, but just as aware that the right
choice can result in better business decisions
and a smoother workflow. Either or both of
these benefits can help justify the effort and
cost of moving to more capable software.
technews
TENSOFT UNVEILS REVENUE
COMPLIANCE MODULE
SAN JOSE, CALIF. — ERP and supply chain
technology provider Tensoft has released
the Advanced Revenue Compliance
Module for its Tensoft RCM Suite. The
software is designed to automate and
streamline compliance with new regulatory statutes, such as Financial Accounting Standards Board rules EITF 08-01
and EITF 09-03, as well as the American
Institute of CPAs’ SOP 97-2 for software
companies. Available as a cloud application or installed in-house, the Advanced
Revenue Compliance Module for Tensoft
RCM is an extension of existing features
in the program.
Ted Needleman is senior director of the
Technical Services Division of Industry
Analysts Inc., an independent market
research firm and testing laboratory. He
was previously the editor-in-chief of
Accounting Technology, and writes frequently on
software, hardware, and technology-related
subjects.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
In selecting a mid-range accounting system
to recommend to clients, there are a few more
areas that you (and they) should give some
consideration to. Possibly the most important of these is whether they can upgrade in
place by selecting a step-up version of the
software they are already using. If they can,
it will probably be the path that presents the
least number of problems.
CMS Denali
Cougar Mountain Software
(800) 388-3038
www.cougarmtn.com
Cougar Mountain Software had modest beginnings, initially being sold strictly through
advertisements in early computer magazines. Today, it has two major product lines,
its namesake application (Cougar Mountain
Accounting) and Denali. Both product lines
are sold directly by Cougar Mountain, and
through select resellers.
Denali is available as either software that
is installed by the user or reseller, or pre-in-stalled on a server from Applianz. Cougar
Mountain isn’t unique in this approach —
several other vendors, including Sage, offer
Applianz servers with their applications preinstalled. This is an excellent approach, as it
cuts out the bother of installing and configuring the applications, and your client winds
up with a compact, dedicated, high-quality
server to boot. It’s a bit more expensive than
just purchasing the modules and installing
them yourself, but in many cases, the extra
See RevIew on 27
NEW SITE OFFERS W- 2 CREATION
AND MANAGEMENT
MILPITAS, CALIF. — ESmartPayroll, an online
payroll and e-file servicer for a variety
of tax forms, has launched W2Manager.
com, a new Web site that provides W- 2
reporting or electronic filing to the states,
as well as to the Social Security Administration for the IRS. Designed primarily
for companies that have hundreds or
thousands of W-2s to generate or manage, the site provides an online tool that
businesses can use to import or enter
data online to create forms. They can
also search, revise, delete or add forms
anytime, and then file the W- 2 when they
are ready. Prices are typically based on
the number of forms issued and the service level selected. Employee or recipient
access can also be added with company-specific authentication rules.
ACUMATICA ADDS E-COMMERCE
TO CLOUD ERP SOLUTION
BETHESDA, MD. — Cloud-based accounting
and ERP software provider Acumatica has
added an e-commerce product to enable
users to create complete e-commerce
Web sites with shopping cart capabilities
that integrate with Acumatica accounting,
financial, inventory and ordering modules, delivering a single view of online
and traditional sales.
BV Commerce for Acumatica aims
to improve the shopping experience
through extensive search and purchasing capabilities that allow customers to
filter through thousands of products. A
developer’s kit is also provided, allowing
companies to have complete control over
the appearance and functionality of their
Web sites.
