A bumper crop of excellent mid-range accounting products reminds me just how far PC-based accounting products
have come in the last several years.
Not long ago, you would have seen
a broad range of products '
some DOS, some Windows ' each
doing things in their own way from
keyboard and user interface conventions
to printer drivers. While there's
still plenty of variety, you can
pick up any of these nearly 20 packages,
install it easily, and start using
it comfortably. This makes reviewing
a challenge, and will make your
purchasing decision a challenge
as well. In this highly competitive
market, only the best survive, so
you can be sure that whatever your
choice, you'll be purchasing
a modern, quality accounting system.
As part of the review process, we asked the software vendors to list the top five things they think would be important for a potential user to consider when purchasing a mid-range software package. Based on their responses, we picked eight criteria that seemed to be repeated among vendors. Then, each package was reviewed with those criteria in mind, with each item receiving a rating. In order to provide a basis for pricing comparison, we also used two prototypical configurations and asked each vendor to provide pricing based on those two scenarios. The prototypes are a single-user system with a base set of modules that includes the following: System Manager, General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Payroll, Report Writer, and Inventory Control. Pricing for a five-user system with the same set of modules was also requested.
- AccountMate ' AccountMate 6.5
- AccountMate offers a comprehensive, real-time accounting solution for small and mid-sized businesses that offers ease of use, a scalable database architecture, and modifiable source code written in Visual FoxPro. The recently released version 6.5 features a new user interface, enhanced lookup features, a shortcut pane toolbar, error reports, and electronic documentation.
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- ACCPAC International ' ACCPAC Advantage Series Small Business Edition
- ACCPAC Advantage Series is an integrated modular suite of applications designed for the growing company that needs a complete accounting and operations solution. A well-designed user interface and tiered back-end database processing structure make this a very stable yet flexible suite.
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- ACCPAC International ' ACCPAC Pro Series Small Business Edition
- ACCPAC offers its accounting applications in a highly scalable, highly modularized format, so the business can start small with just the modules it needs, then advance to a higher-end platform and add modules as its needs dictate. This provides a very flexible approach that is cost-efficient and easy to implement.
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- AccTrak21 USA, Inc. ' AccTrak21
- AccTrak21 is a modern suite of general purpose accounting modules that caters to the growing business that may start off small, but wants the ability to transition into a package that can serve many concurrent users and high transaction volumes. The package also targets high-volume accounting firms that specialize in providing bookkeeping services to business clients.
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- A-Systems Corporation ' Visual Bookkeeper Preferred Edition
- Visual Bookkeeper Preferred Edition is A-Systems' new product targeted at the mid-range business wanting a practical, bundled product that is easy to learn and use. After many years of offering its JobView product to the construction industry, the company is offering the core accounting functionality and features in a generalized suite, competing with the likes of QuickBooks Enterprise edition.
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- Best Software ' BusinessWorks Gold
- BusinessWorks is a long-time player in the mid-market accounting software market. Its latest version introduces new e-business features such as enhanced remote access, e-mail forms, and import/export of sales orders, plus two new accounting modules. Other enhancements have been made to nearly every module in the package that keep this integrated suite on the leading edge of accounting software technology for medium-sized businesses.
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- BusinessVision Inc.' BusinessVision 32
- BusinessVision 32 is an impressive suite of accounting modules that offers a modern look and feel. True to its name, BusinessVision provides many ways to view your accounting data, making this a powerful management tool in addition to its number-crunching capabilities.
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- Comtech Solutions Worldwide, Inc. ' Image Accounting Pro
- Image Accounting PRO provides core accounting modules in a Microsoft Access-based product that includes source code, bringing the capability to fully customize the product for your exact requirements. Version 8.0 introduces many new features that make this a competitive, attractive product that can fit into many different business types.
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- Cougar Mountain Software ' Cougar Mountain Accounting
- Cougar Mountain offers a broad range of integrated accounting modules that can be bundled in various ways to address many different business types and market segments. The Cougar Mountain Accounting suite brings together core GL and other modules to address the needs of mid-size companies. Other modules can be added to enhance the suite and bring specific functionality to the basic package.
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- CYMA Systems' CYMAIV Financial Management System
- CYMA offers an integrated suite of core accounting modules that addresses the needs of small to mid-sized businesses using a solid, modular approach. From the user interface to the back-end database, this is a product that has stood the test of time and continues the company's tradition of providing accounting software to a broad industry audience.
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- Database Creations, Inc. ' Business! Professional Edition
- Business! is a unique package that brings the full power and flexibility of Microsoft Access to your accounting system. It includes full Access source code to allow complete customization for vertical-market and specific application extensions and interfaces. Even without this ability, it is a comprehensive and attractive suite for general use in any small to mid-sized service or retail business.
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- eTEK International ' eTEK Accounting for Microsoft Office/MTX
- eTEK International continues to offer its solid Microsoft Access-based modules to mid-market businesses in the construction, durable and non-durable goods distribution, property management, consulting, commercial services, and other key industries. Its latest version (9.1) brings enhancements to the cash management system and payroll module, as well as support for the latest Microsoft Office 2003 products.
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- iCode, Inc. ' Everest Advanced Accounting/MTX
- Everest Advanced Edition is a relatively new, fully integrated suite of accounting and operational modules that seek to provide an all-in-one solution for accounting, customer management and e-commerce needs. It is especially attractive for the mid-sized business that wants to quickly set up an integrated online web store without the hassle of pulling together various third-party products that may not be fully integrated.
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- Microsoft Business Solutions ' Small Business Manager 7.5
- Ideal for businesses that have outgrown packaged software, Microsoft Small Business Manager offers a scalable, flexible accounting system that is designed to bring efficiency and information to every facet of your business.
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- NetSuite Inc. ' NetSuite
- NetSuite is a unique offering in this lineup, having the distinction of being the only fully web-based online application. This integrated suite offers all core accounting functionality, plus customer relationship management and eCommerce capabilities.
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- Open Systems, Inc.' TRAVERSE Business Edition & OSAS
- Open Systems offers two separate products to the mid-range accounting market: TRAVERSE and OSAS. Beyond some relatively minor user interface differences, both products offer similar feature sets. TRAVERSE is built on Microsoft Access and designed for a purely Windows environment, while OSAS can operate under Linux, Unix or Windows. Since the products are so much alike, we will only review the TRAVERSE product, but some of the differences will be pointed out throughout this article.
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- Red Wing Software ' TurningPoint
- TurningPoint is Red Wing's flagship accounting product, offering core accounting modules with an easy-to-use interface and simple installation and administration.
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- Softrak Systems, Inc. ' Adagio Accounting
- Adagio is an entry-level suite of accounting modules that is targeted at businesses with over $1 million in sales/revenue that have previously used ACCPAC Plus, a popular DOS accounting program, or any firm that has outgrown small business software such as QuickBooks or Peachtree. Although the program is a 32-bit Windows program, it provides for keyboard-only data entry and a zero-conversion data migration from ACCPAC Plus.
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- The Versatile Group' Certiflex Dimension
- With version 9.0, The Versatile Group brings a significant upgrade to the company's flagship product, Certiflex Dimension. The release features new usability enhancements such as the ability to save reports to a digital report catalog, output reports to *.PDF format, a simplified menu system, new drill-downs, trans-action attachments and more.
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