Accounting Software for Small Business

Accounting is one of the most important pieces to consider when starting up a small business.  It is the common thread which underpins nearly every different type of service around the world, and in the 21st century, no self-respecting entrepreneur wants to be caught without proper accounting software installed on a computer in the back.  Here are the top 3 programs currently available for under $200:

1. When you run a small business, often you can find yourself wearing many different hats at the same time:  HR, cashier, sales, warehouse, and of course,Sage Peachtree Complete Accounting understands these issues and gives you the tools to manage every department like it was your own.  They provide software which makes up for any lack of accounting experience, while also offering extensive options to keep track of inventory, sales, and payroll.  For the emerging business, this is the “one size-fits all” option we’ve been waiting for.
2. Quickbooks from Intuit comes in a close second, giving us everything we’ve grown familiar with over the years, while still finding fresh ways to make accounting even easier thanIntuit is widely considered the “undisputed king of software for bookkeeping”, and if Peachtree hadn’t knocked the entire game out of the park with a box that only costs $15 more, Intuit would be sitting pretty in the top spot.  Although we were excited to see the price point brought down, payroll and direct deposit options are only available through a new online subscription service, which will automatically deactivate if you don’t maintain the subscription.  It’s a subtle way to trap people into paying for a privilege, and I can’t recommend it if your monthly bills aren’t stable.
3. Coming in at a cool bronze finish, we have Bookkeeper 2012. What gave this the bump it needed in our eyes was the price, because at only $40 out the door, it offers nearly all the same features we got out of Quickbooks, at less than a quarter of theThe presentation may not look as great, and the menus and interface are a little more complicated to the uninitiated, but from a purely feature-rich standpoint, this is the way to go for anyone who’s watching their balance right from the start.

No matter what kind of assistance you need when venturing out onto the bumpy roads of building a new business, there’s a program tailored specifically to your dream and any task it might require.

Chris Stobing is a retired sous chef from the Bay Area.  After leaving a position in which he kept daily correspondence with local farms and sustainable suppliers for the restaurant, Chris chose to start writing about his second greatest passion, technology.  He has published more than twenty-five articles with Soft City, a software and mobile application website which specializes in covering the latest news, upcoming releases, and various "Top X" lists related to its partner companies.  Chris writes as a means to shift his career away from the kitchen and onto his desktop.   

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