About Software

Not all people can use tax software with the same degree of effectiveness. There are two basic types of small business software. One type is a simple transaction type software that allows the user to print checks and record deposits. The other type is a general ledger type software which can generate all the reports needed to operate a business. The general ledger software requires much more accounting knowledge that a transaction based software. I work with clients using both types of software.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each type. I had one client come into my office with a widely used general ledger software package. I had previously tried to get the bookkeeper to prepare bank reconciliations using a spreadsheet that I developed. She assured me that she used the bank reconciliation module in her software and it worked great. When I processed the data, I discovered the client was showing over $100K on her bank reconciliation, approximately 20K in the register, and the actual balance was about $16K. The program was showing approximately $70k too much income.

This was a case where the client would have been better served by having a transaction based software that could be transferred to me on a monthly basis, and then processed by me to generate the necessary information.