You may be surprised to see an accounting product in this price range on our review list, but we figured it deserved testing just like the other higher-priced business accounting software. We first reviewed Bookkeeper in 2007 and since then we have watched it evolve to include a streamlined interface organized by tasks with accounting modules such as payables, inventory, sales and payroll organized into logical workflow groups. Despite its low price tag, it can manage most common business accounting functions.
Bookkeeper can easily be used to write checks, create invoices and estimates, reconcile bank accounts, track jobs and manage inventory. It can support images and logos and offers many customization tools. It also offers over 125 reporting options and reports can easily be exported to Excel and other popular programs. Avanquest also offers checks, credit card processing, tax tables, data backup, pay roll services and more for an additional fee. Currently, when you purchase this accounting software you will also receive a labeling program, free data back up and three months of free credit card processing and a card reader.
We found Avanquest customer service to be extremely responsive and the software comes with full embedded support as well as a 318 page user’s guide. However, this software does not include extensive shipping options and it does not have a comprehensive tool for tracking fixed assets.
We have been watching this accounting software since Bookkeeper 2007 and we have noticed a great improvement in the interface and how tools and abilities are presented. Bookkeeper is easy to use and it walks you through confusing processes, which is especially helpful for small business owners who have never used an accounting program before. However, we had a hard time moving information when updating, such as invoices from the old version to the new version.
This accounting software comes with embedded support and a printed book-style user guide; you can also access FAQs and other information online. Avanquest reports that they offer free phone support for registered users, but we had a difficult time finding the support number. It is one of those situations where they want you to go through the FAQs and email options before they give you the phone number, which is understandable.
We did run into an installation problem with this accounting software, so we had to contact them for a legitimate issue, not just to test their support. We sent a non-TopTenREVIEWS type message to Avanquest through an online form, and we are very happy to report that they responded very quickly, within a few hours, and they gave us the information to fix our problem. It ended up that the problem we were having was not related to the software, our problem was associated with a Windows update.
The accounts receivable module has nearly everything we were looking for except when it comes to shipping. Though it can link to your shipping service, it just does not track shipping or print shipping labels within the program itself. Of course it can also create custom invoices, accept credit cards, cash and checks and it can email invoices in PDF format.
Bookkeeper does really well in this area; it can be used to print checks and creates customized purchase orders. Bookkeeper also offers a check service for an additional fee.
The payroll module in Bookkeeper is really easy to use and is directly connected to timesheets for easy configuration. It can be used to create custom fields and can be set to calculate weekly, semi-weekly and so on. Avanquest offers a separate program for access to tax tables.
This software can track items by product code and supports custom fields and up to five images per item. It can also be used for storing location information, computing average cost and setting retail price. We did not see a tool for grouping items and we did not see a drop shipment feature. However, it cannot create assemblies or groups of items that go together.
In terms of banking it can do everything we were looking for including the ability to import bank information, reconcile accounts, prepare deposits, enter ATM information, manage EFTs and more.
This software can be configured to track project time and pay/invoice by time. It can also create estimates based on time factors. And the invoice module is connected to timesheets for added convenience.
This software can be used to track multiple jobs or projects and can include things like to-do lists and notes. It can also create estimates of job costs. With all modules it has the ability to add custom fields, so you can create a wide variety of scenarios.
You can easily add a journal entry, which includes things like account, amount, credit/payment, descriptions and more. This software also has a company overview which is a good place for quickly viewing general information like account payable/receivable summaries, to-do lists, account balances and tasks.
In terms of fixed assets, you just enter the item in like a regular inventory item and mark it as a non-invoiceable and it will track those items for you.
Bookkeeper can import bank and credit card data and can move data from one version to the next. However, when we tried to move data from one version to the next, though our invoices saved to the hard drive, we had a hard time retrieving them back into the program. It also cannot import data from QuickBooks.
Bookkeeper provides quite a few pre-designed reports. It offers numerous reports for accounts receivable and accounts payable, including summaries, lists and graphical summaries. It also provides a general ledger and journal entry lists for auditing. We did not find fixed asset reports or time billing reports specifically, though we did find some for job cost billing that are useful.
This software is a good choice for small businesses that do not have extremely complex accounting needs and it is very affordable, which is also perfect for small businesses, freelancers or sole proprietors. It can easily be used to create invoices and estimates and purchase orders, it can also manage hourly or contract payroll. Bookkeeper is extremely easy to use and does not require extensive accounting knowledge to figure out. However, if you are looking for something a little beefier check out one of our higher ranked products.
