Should I Use an Accountant or Accounting Software?

Actually, if you want the short answer to this question -- you should use both! However, within that answer, there are a few things you should be aware of. Neither an accountant alone nor Peachtree accounting software alone will be the ideal solution to your business. Here we explore where some businesses find a middle ground between doing everything, and outsourcing everything.

How do accountants and accounting software complement each other?

The basic role of an accountant is to ensure that your business complies with legal requirements, and that you set up your finances to create the maximum benefit for the company.

The basic role of Peachtree software is to take care of the day-to-day details of accounting -- the ones that don't require any specialist skills -- to cut down your costs. It is much more cost-effective to pay someone within your organization to enter your day to day data, rather than pay professional rates for hours of repetitive and fairly easy work. You can use a professional bookkeeping service or get accounting software training for someone within your company.

So should I use a bookkeeping service or accounting software training?

The answer to this question is different for every business. If you are a sole trader or operator and would prefer not to waste your most precious resource -- time -- on accounting, a bookkeeping service is the ideal solution. However, for larger businesses that have the capability and workload to hire someone specifically for the job, getting accounting software training and taking care of it in-house is usually significantly cheaper in the long run.

How often should I use an accountant?

You will be required to submit forms to the IRS at certain periods depending on the size of your business, and various other factors. It is good to check in with your accountant every time these reports are due -- that way problems can be identified early.

Using an accountant when you set up your Peachtree software can be a good strategy -- they will be able to show you exactly what reports you need to generate, and any points to be aware of for your particular business.

When Do I Need Advanced Features in My Accounting Program?

There are some features which are common to all Peachtree software items. Even the simplest program (Peachtree First Accounting, the 2008 edition), can do all your simple accounts payable functions, invoicing and receiving payments, maintain an account register, create financial statements and credit memos, track inventory items and customize your own reports within the recorded information.

Much as this list seems exhaustive, there are other Peachtree products which provide five times the functionality -- with no exaggeration! If you are setting up with Peachtree and wondering what functions you'll need for your business, today we go through some of the common reasons to upgrade your Peachtree software.

Payroll

If you have employees, you will be required by law to keep accurate records of their hours worked, tax paid, etc. If you have any more than one employee, you will definitely want to computerize the process! Peachtree software products have quite a few payroll functions which automate the difficult process of matching employee pay requirements to legislation. Your other accounting functions will integrate better with your payroll if you use a program from the same family.

Job/Project Tracking

This function is perfect for businesses in architecture, construction, and similar industries. Any business that typically has one (or only a few) large projects at a time, each utilizing a lot of materials and labor and creating a big return, will want to use the job/project tracking function to keep track of how things are panning out, budget-wise. This function is included in every Peachtree software project other than First Accounting.

Online Bank Reconciliation

This is a very handy software feature for many businesses to have, but especially good for larger businesses where automation is key to being profitable. The online bank reconciliation takes a lot of the manual work out of an essential accounting task.

Unlimited access to support

If you have multiple people working on your Peachtree software product and each is learning, when something goes wrong it can be incredibly hard to track what has happened! Unlimited access to support is only available with Peachtree's premium product Quantum Accounting 2008 edition.