California Surveyors Forums

My company is looking at new options for accounting and project management software at the moment. Does anyone have software recommendations for surveying/engineering firms having fewer than 25 people?

Until someone who's better versed on the subject chimes in, I'll offer my perspective as a small operator (1.5-person firm).

When I started up in 1993, I didn't know anything about accounting. The company I came from, which had about 10 employees, used Peachtree Complete Accounting. Even though I had never operated the software, I figured if it was good enough for my former employer, it was good enough for me. I bought a copy and set up my business on it.

I was very happy with Peachtree for the first 7 years or so. It did everything I needed for accounting purposes, including payroll and tax reporting. I upgraded several times just to stay current, but the core functionality was the same and met all of my needs.

My last upgrade was to v8.0 in 2000 or so. At that point things started to change. The next version made it more difficult for a company to implement tax updates without buying the annual update offered by Peachtree. They only charged about $100 or $150 for the updates, but for the most part the updates consisted of minor tweaks to the withholding tables, which I could do myself in a couple of minutes. I decided to stick with v8.0 and roll my own tax updates. (Note that tax updates now run about $220.)

A year or two later I considered switching to Quickbooks Pro, since it seemed to have taken a significant share of the market. I viewed this as an opportunity to get away from what I perceived as Peachtree's attempts to force its users into buying annual updates, as well as an opportunity to get more current. However, I soon learned that Quickbooks had decided to follow the Peachtree model and require annual tax updates. It was my understanding at the time -- not thoroughly vetted, I might add -- that Quickbooks had gone Peachtree one better by not providing any means for the user to roll his own. Peachtree had made it difficult, but not impossible. At that point I abandoned the switch, and decided to stick with Peachtree v8.0.

A few years later Peachtree was purchased by Sage. Rumors at the time suggested that Sage's primary motivation was to kill off Peachtree as a competitor to Sage's more expensive accounting packages. I don't know if that was true, but I do note that Peachtree is still offered by Sage.

A year or two ago I asked an acquaintance who develops custom software that interacts with Peachtree if he thought there was any advantage to my upgrading to the current version of Peachtree. He told me that there's nothing in the newer versions that would offer any material benefit to a small outfit like mine. Thus I continue to use a 10-year-old accounting package, with no apparent ill effects.

If I were to offer any generic advice, it'd be to place considerable weight upon in-house experience with one of the competitive packages -- the learning curve for any of the full-featured accounting software offerings can be steep. Make sure it can do everything you need it to do, and that you understand not just the up-front expense, but also the maintenance costs. After that it's kind of like getting married: the relationship likely won't be perfect, but it can be very good if you start with a sound basis and are willing to do the work necessary to keep it humming.

Good luck!

.

Quickbooks.

QickBook, 4 employees and holding.

In my company, we use an accounting software online which is called TioLive. Since it is online, you have nothing to install the computers of your company. You just create a session and then, on this session, you create accounts for your employees.
It is very practical according to me.
If you need help, you can tell me!

Unfortunately ALL software is becoming "Upgrade every year". And many of the "upgrades" are either BS or make using the software harder.
In addition to the upgrade/rental fees is the learning curve.
Software costs are getting out of hand, pretty soon small firms will be back to creating their own or using pencil and paper.
I created my own payroll spread sheet, but I do have to hand enter the State/Fed income tax amounts, but the other BS taxes are constant % so no issues there.