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In order for a business to run smoothly, it has to use some sort of business accounting software. Some packages offer a full suite of business functions, while others just focus on accounting. Choose what is best for you!

An Account of the Business Accounting Software

The advent of business accounting software has taken the accountants, managers and administrators by surprise. The software is fraught with many new and useful features that can be used in any type of business accounting - be it hotel management, estate management or an enterprise. The best thing about using software accounting is that they are less prone to errors. Moreover, you don’t have to break your head over missing figures or lost customer details (in case of hospitality industry). Many of you would be new to the world of computers and software. If you are under the presumption that while dealing with the software, you have to memorize some mumbo jumbo commands and a heck of a lot of procedures to come up with the result, then you are completely wrong! All you have to do is just click, type in the data and wait for the software to do the rest of the process.

Business Accounting software can be built by the company or the organization itself, or by outsourcing to a third party or it can be a combination of both where you get a third party software and make modifications in it so as to suit your application. The modules of accounting software depend on the product. But there are some basic modules that can be expected in all accounting software.

Here is a list of them, for your reference

Accounts receivable
Accounts payable
Payroll for tracking salary and taxes
Estimating expenses
Inventory list
Invoices
General bookkeeping

Which is the best business accounting software? Well, the answer to this question is not as easy as it may look. There are umpteen numbers of accounting software that are downloadable online. The difficulty lies in choosing the best software for your company. This requires extensive research combined with the input from your vendors.

Here are 5 of the top accounting software programs that were found during our research:

Microsoft Dynamics GP is comprehensive business management software that integrates finances, accounting, e commerce, customer relations and human resources. In short, this software is meant not just for accounting but also for all aspects of business in your company. It uses Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Office Word for accessing business information. It runs on Windows 2000/XP platform and MS SQL high performance relational database. Additional features include performance indicators, data customization, effective and easy data analysis, budget monitoring.

Epicor: The most useful feature of Epicor is that it can run on both Linux and Mac platforms, apart from Windows XP/Vista. MS SQL and Progress serve as the database. It provides end-to-end solutions for enterprise businesses that continually grow and increase their number of company holders. It comes with the basic accounting needs and can be made application-specific with their easy to add on tools.

Sage Accpac Accounting software: Accpac accounting software provides the best solutions on earth for medium businesses. The in-built add on modules helps to cater to the needs of your application. Some of the useful features are online purchasing, inventory tracking at multiple locations, complete automation of tax calculations, scrapping of dual data entries so as to minimize errors and enhance servicing. It is supported by all the new versions of Windows OS and uses MS SQL and Proprietary databases.

NetSuite: It provides the basic accounting software solutions. A good feature is that the business functions throughout the company can be merged. It uses Oracle as the backend.

Intacct: It provides solutions for financials and account. It enables you to control the company’s disbursal and automate the expense reporting process. It can work on Linux, Mac and MS DOS platforms.

Research for what is best for you!

This is just for your information. This does not mean that this business accounting software will provide all the necessary features that you are looking for. This list would have helped you in knowing what exactly you can expect from accounting software.

Even though all the business processes are automated, you won’t get fruitful results if you use a non-accountant to prepare the information. By placing an expert accountant to monitor these processes, you can make the most out of it!