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New here, is there's any accounting or billing software - here or elsewhere

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basementjack:
Hi everyone, this is my first post - I like the site so I donated a bit of green to get started.

If I am asking this in the wrong place, please help me by letting me know.

I wonder if there is any shareware accounting or billing software that someone can recommend.

I've been using Quickbooks, I have versions 2000,2005 and 2006
none work with vista so I was going to upgrade, but I've just been reading terrible things about Quickbooks 2009.
So I am looking for alternates.

I really don't need much - a timer so I can keep track of the time I spend would be great, and some way to bill for that time, and record when I get paid.

Thanks!
- Jack

CWuestefeld:
I have no experience with this, but the price may be right for you: you can get Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2009 for free: http://www.freeafterrebate.info/deal/microsoft-office-accounting-express-2009

One would hope that this would be Vista-compatible  ;)

Dormouse:
I'm not sure if the free version of the MS app allows time tracking.

One frequently used free  open source accounting application is TurboCash

But you don't need an accounting application just to do timing, billing and recording receipts. You could even use a ToDoList prog like AbstractSpoon's ToDoList2; it has a timer; you can easily record a variety of activities and monies received or spent (but would probably need to export to spreadsheet for addition and reports) and bills - but links to them easily available in TDL. I'm not really suggesting you do this (what works best will depend on your overall needs), just saying that your list of needs is not necessarily best met by accounting progs as they have lots of features you may never use.

basementjack:
CWuestefeld- thanks for the tip, I don't think the MS stuff has a timer function -

Ideally I'm looking for something other than one of the big name commerical solutions  - ie not quickbooks, peachtree, ms etc..

Dormouse I'll check out those suggestions.

Guests and other readers - if you have any other suggestions, please post them!

 - Jack

Dormouse:
I do have experience of big accounting type solutions (and still have Quickbooks and TurboCash installed) and there are areas where they really come into their own.

They are fairly essential if there is a lot of inventory to manage (especially  if they are, or form part of, products for sale), if there are lots of products, high numbers of transactions, a need to monitor balances, a general need for lots of reports, a need to keep on tax issues etc. They are OK for invoicing etc, but no better than many other solutions.

What I wouldn't use them for (again) is a situation where the business is essentially selling hours/minutes of time. Too complex, too unrelated to the main activity. So I might well consider TDL2 for this type of use in future. Or InfoQube (SQLnotes) if it has timers. Or one of the many commercial packages out there for that sort of job, if any of them met my sepcific needs at the time.

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