SmallBusinessNewz

Having had some horrible experiences with Sage (as have everyone I know who has used it - glad to see it's not on the list!), I then used TAS Books for a while, as my father, an accountant, wanted a more flexible, accountant-focussed package. That was very buggy and needed more technical knowledge to use - and was then bought by Sage, of course. I have also seen MYOB which seems to be a more user friendly version of Sage; maybe I'm being a little harsh here, but it seemed to be a bit dumbed down and lacking in features. Admitedly I've not seen the latest version, and it did have the benefit of being easy to use. Netsuite is a powerful set of tools and great for implementing large scale, web-enabled projects with it's CRM modules (probably the best in the business), but too expensive for most small business owners. I wouldn't touch Microsoft with a barge pole. It does have the advantage, if you use them, which I increasingly don't, of linking to other MS products, but so do others (or you can make do very well with alternatives). Also, of course, it is based on Money, and both, though pretty feature rich are too complex and take too long to set up. Anyway, after TAS, I needed a package that we could access online and give access to my accountants and avoid printing reams of reports. So I moved on to Quickbooks and have never looked back. Very intuitive, and even my accountant father, ever the purist and (relative) technophobe. And much cheaper than other, very inferior products. Excellent value.