Choosing new accounting software, important points to consider!

By: Dave Anson


Choosing new accounting software may be one of the most critical business decisions you are ever likely to make and with so many applications available on the market it’s crucial that you follow some basic guidelines when selecting your new software.

Choosing the right supplier should be a key factor in selecting a business accounting solution. You need to establish the viability of the supplier to ensure that buying their solutions is just the first step in a relationship that is beneficial for you.

Business accounting solutions are extremely complex and it is essential that the supplier you choose can not only prove their position in the market place but are financially viable and able to provide outstanding references. It is not sufficient to choose a supplier purely on the basis of an existing relationship.

Support of your business accounting software is essential and you should establish what level of support you will be provided with and how much that is going to cost you over the life of your software.

How often are upgrades issued? How are these distributed? Are they included in the support and maintenance fees or will they cost extra? What sort of response levels will be provided? Between what times are the support desk available and when are they closed? These are all questions that you should ask any potential software provider before committing to purchasing from them. If you have a problem with your accounting software you want to know that it will be resolved quickly and with the least interruption to your business possible.

Your business is likely to evolve and change over time and therefore the accounting and reporting requirements will change too. Will the software you are purchasing keep up with your changing requirements? When selecting your accounting package try to imagine your business in 3 or 5 years time. What will you do differently? How much will the business have grown? Will you have many more staff? It may be better at this point to pay a bit more for a software solution that will “grow” with your business and can be upgraded with the minimum of fuss and disruption to meet your needs in the future.

As well as meeting legislative requirements, any business account package should give you the information you need to run your business. The decisions you make based on your business accounting information will impact on every area of your business so it’s crucial that you can easily get the information you need, when you need it and in a format that is easy to interpret. You must be able to distribute necessary information to your key decision makers easily and efficiently; allowing them to focus on managing the business.

You may have a number of other software solutions within your business and being able to integrate your accounts software with these processes will make it easier to manage your business as a whole. Being able to share business information across systems and see “the bigger picture” really does mean that you’re better informed. In addition integration means that you’re not storing duplicate data, a practice that can increase the risk of errors in your records.

Ease of use may be more important to your staff than yourself but keeping your employees happy and willing to accept a new system and work with it can be critical to its level of success. A proven business accounting solution should be intuitive and easy to use. The software provider should be able to provide training for your staff whatever their level of computer literacy.

Finally, it’s worth bearing in mind that the cheapest option may not provide you with the best value for money. A system that costs slightly more may give far more functionality that can provide cost savings in other areas. Consider the whole software package and the functionality it provides together with each of the above points and don’t just focus on the price when evaluating value for money.

Considering all the issues that have been mentioned when you are selecting your new business accounting package should ensure that you choose a proven software product which is easy to use and provides a high level of functionality and integration with your existing processes. In addition, you will be buying from a company that will provide you with a high level of customer service for many years to come.


Dave Anson has been helping companies select integrated software and business accounting packages for many years. For more information about business accounting solutions built on Microsoft Dynamics NAV join the mailing list at www.theretailpeople.com