Choosing An Accounting Solution

There are many accounting and financial software solutions available which may be suitable for your business. When choosing a solution, it’s important to select an accounting and financial software solution that contains the functionality and feature set which best aligns with your specific business needs. While finding an all-on-one solution would be ideal, often times such a solution isn’t available unless it’s proprietary and customized which can be quite expensive, require higher maintenance and have a substantial learning curve.

For small businesses, off-the-shelf accounting and financial solutions will usually suffice as they are relatively generic and can be used and/or adapted for various industries and business types. However, within specific industries, industry-specific accounting and financial software solutions may be necessary. Licensing for most acounting and financial software solutions will either be perpetual (one-time purchase) or subscription-based (you pay a monthly/annual fee to use it). The accounting and financial software solutions may be installed locally, in a client/server environment, hosted or cloud-based.

When considering an off-the-shelf accounting and financial software solution, it’s best to find a solution that is popular and familiar to accounting and financial professionals. You’ll want to avoid, if possible, systems that are overly complex, difficult to use, have a significant learning curve and are unfamiliar to accounting and financial professionals (it makes it more difficult to find people with the expertise).

You may want to consult with your CPA on recommended accounting and financial software solutions which they use/support and which may work well with your business.