topbanner_forum
  *

avatar image

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
  • Friday March 29, 2024, 8:28 am
  • Proudly celebrating 15+ years online.
  • Donate now to become a lifetime supporting member of the site and get a non-expiring license key for all of our programs.
  • donate

Author Topic: New here, is there's any accounting or billing software - here or elsewhere  (Read 8430 times)

basementjack

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2009
  • **
  • default avatar
  • Posts: 4
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
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

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 1,009
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
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.freeafter...ounting-express-2009

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

Dormouse

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 1,952
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
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

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2009
  • **
  • default avatar
  • Posts: 4
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
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

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 1,952
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
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.

kartal

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 1,529
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
I was using timeless time but I gave up on it because I do not like the export stuff and there is no import feature. On top of it it has not been seriously updated for long time. I really have not seen any new feature for 4 years(only fixes). But it does what it says.

http://www.magsoftwrx.com/

nogojoe

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • ***
  • Posts: 169
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
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 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


Have you tried an online service  such as Zoho Invoice

   https://invoice.zoho.com/login/jsp/login.jsp?serviceurl=%3Fhome

nogojoe

Often the most convincing people are those who have lost the plot so much they don't recognize the difference between fact and fantasy

Clive

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 116
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Something called Radix (http://www.hurstridge.com/) is a program I used for a while when self employed. It's free for single person use.

40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,857
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
I don't know what your budget is, but the two "industry standards" are Sage Timeslips and Billquick. Both are feature rich - and expensive. At approximately $500 each they're usually too pricey for most small businesses and freelancers.

Links:

Timeslips: http://www.timeslips.com/

Billquick: http://www.bqe.com/Default.asp

---------------------------------

BillingTracker Pro ($89-single user) is a capable, simpler, and significantly less expensive all-in-one system.

Link: http://www.billingtracker.com/

---------------------------------

If you're really strapped for cash, you can combine a free invoicing system with a free time tracking application. This would involve a little extra work for you since the two systems wouldn't be integrated. You would first need to track your time, and then generate a report for creating your client invoice.

One excellent free time tracker is HourGuard Free Timesheet Recorder :Thmbsup:

Link: http://www.nchsoftwa...timesheet/index.html

This could be coupled with a free accounting package like MS Accounting Express or GNUCash:

Microsoft Accounting Express
http://office.micros.../FX101729681033.aspx

GNUCash
http://gnucash.org/

-----------------------

I would suggest downloading trial copies of anything before you buy it.

I'd especially recommend you download Billquick's 30-day trial just to get an idea of what a heavy-duty pro time billing app is like. You could then use that experience to evaluate anything else you're looking at.

----------------

I think Dormouse made a very astute observation earlier:

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.

Whatever you decide to get, make an effort to keep it as simple as possible. Anything that distracts you from "taking care of business" just isn't worth it. Better to loose a few billable minutes than get bogged down for hours running an overly complex accounting package.

FWIW: I used a basic Excel spreadsheet to track my billable time and expenses for the first three years I was in business. And I did my billing with a $39 Invoice/Estimate package I picked up at Staples. And that simple combination worked out just fine until I needed to add employees.


 8)



« Last Edit: January 11, 2009, 09:04 PM by 40hz »

kartal

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 1,529
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
One excellent free time tracker is HourGuard Free Timesheet Recorder :Thmbsup:

Link: http://www.nchsoftwa...timesheet/index.html


I so hate those guys and their practices so much. They are so sneaky. When you install one app they install all those shortcuts. I am also feeling like they are snooping on people`s Thunderbird or Outlook email accounts. I cannot be sure but I have seen couple situations where I felt like how the hell they got my email adress. Me never puts any of my real email adress, not even on  legitimate purchases.

Lets expose them