Comments on: Small Business Accounting Software

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:50:34 +0000

@Rowan: If you factor upgrades into the 5-year cost of a software package, it’s only fair to factor the cost into all options. Assuming MoneyWorks moves to version 6.0 sometime during the next 5 years (which, let’s be honest, it will; upgrades are the lifeblood of a software company) and that the 5.x to 6.0 upgrade is the same as 4.x to 5.x, I’ll have spent US$893 on MoneyWorks. Cognito’s MYOB comparison page is out of date; today’s price for AccountEdge 2010 is US$299 and an upgrade is US$159. Assuming the price stays the same and I upgrade every year (which isn’t likely), I’ll have spent US$935. That’s a far cry from the numbers quoted on Cognito’s site.

I like both products. Neither is perfect. Each requires UI work to be a “true,” modern Mac OS X application. Functionally, today, for my needs, AccountEdge is a better fit.

By: Rowan

Rowan — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:21:56 +0000

For the tab order in MoneyWorks, you can right-click and select not to tab into a field (such as the Period popup). “Don’t Tab Into” really should be the default for Period because you pretty much never need to change it. Thanks for drawing attention to that. I have just fixed the default for the next version.

Speaking of versions, I think it is worth considering the 5-year cost of software that you’re going to be using for many years (with upgrades). You’ll probably find that MoneyWorks Gold (with Time Billing and everything else) would end up costing you less than AccountEdge over that time period.

By: Scott @ Acclivity

Scott @ Acclivity — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:41:31 +0000

Thought it was great you went through such an informed, deliberate process to select your accounting software (and took the time to share your experience/thoughts). Great read – really appreciate your approach…

And, of course, glad you selected AccountEdge in the end

Best of luck…

–Scott

Scott Davisson
Managing Partner, Acclivity