The customer requirements were that the software could handle the following:

• VAT flat rate scheme on a cash basis
• 2 divisions of their business which they wanted to be able to show on a Profit & Loss report.
• Cloud-based Accounting software, so that people can use it remotely, including the accountants
• Reasonable price
• Easy to use by non-accounts staff

I started looking at the software available and with most of the cloud accounting software, it meant that you had to have 2 separate subscriptions, which could soon add up to £50 per month.  Some of the software packages did not deal with the VAT cash accounting scheme.

I then came across some software which I had not looked at before – Accounts Portal Software Review. It ticked all the boxes and only cost £10 per month plus VAT.

Free Trial

As with most of the cloud accounting software, they offer a 30-day free trial. This allowed me to set up the software for the business and demonstrate it to them. They also had enough time to use the software and decide if it was suitable before registering.

Support

One of the concerns that I have with using new software is will the customer support be up to the standards required? One of the first things I tried to do was import some of their records from Excel and came across a problem, so I emailed the support team at 4.30 on a Saturday afternoon, not expecting to get a reply till Monday. 15 minutes later I received an email with the answer and managed to complete the task.

Sales Invoices

Customers and invoices were easy to set up, allowing the use of the company Logo and colour, there are a few restrictions in the layout of the invoice, but, on the whole, it is very good.

Bank reconciliation

It is easy to enter bank income and expenditure. There is also a facility to download the bank statement if you have lots of records to deal with. Although it is easy to use it does not include banking feeds as supplied with XERO software.

Users

Accounts Portal allows you to invite lots of different users, so the accountants can see it as well. Users can be set up with restrictions on what they can access. This was one of the areas that were not quite set up as needed as they wanted to be able for one person to have access to sales invoices and the only option is to have access to both sales and purchases.

Accounts reports

The reports are easy to download and see, although the selection of reports is more limited than some of the other accounts software available. Most reports required by companies are included

Accounts Portal Software Review

The software is certainly one that I would recommend to other clients, especially if they don’t have much accounting experience and want something that is easy to use.

Inputting data is easy and most of the access for the software is through the dashboard.

The software has been kept simple and easy to use. We are still in the early days of use, but the customer is very happy with it. They also ran trials for XERO, which in the past is the software I normally recommend for customers.

Overall if you are looking for new software for your business it is worth taking a free trial of Accounts Portal and looking at it in more detail.

The post Accounts Portal Software Review appeared first on Business Accounting Basics.