Accounting Software

Q: Can you recommend an accounting software package for my micro-business? Do these packages contain spreadsheets that I might need to calculate some of my information?

A: You can choose from a number of accounting software packages that are useful for micro-businesses.

QuickBooks from Intuit is used by many small-business owners. It provides all of the financial and tax essentials, but doesn't offer much flexibility.

For more flexibility, Peachtree from Sage Software might be a better choice. It's also simple to learn.

A-Systems Accounting Software from A-Systems Corporation is work a look, too. It includes free multi-media training.

All of these products provide excellent accounting functions for micro-businesses. The packages contain information to assist you in recording transactions and preparing reports. They also feature budgeting capabilities that will be tied to the kind of financial information that you record in your general ledger.

Spreadsheets aren't generally part of these packages. You'll need to create those using a spreadsheet package such as Microsoft Excel. But, much of the information in the software packages can be downloaded into Excel.

If downloading data to a spreadsheet is important to you, make sure that the package you select offers this feature. Currently, Peachtree and QuickBooks provide the feature.