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The low-end market is better and worse than ever.
The accounting software market for the smallto-midsized business is getting worse and better at the same time. It's getting worse because the number of lower-end products continues to shrink, but it's getting better because the quality of the products available continues to improve and the prices are staying level.
Consolidation also means fewer companies own the existing products. Best Software's parent, Sage, now owns the DacEasy, Peachtree, and Simply Accounting lines in the United States (and its sister, Simple Comptable, in Canada), along with the Pastel small business product that is marketed internationally through its acquisitions over the last year.
There is the potential for one new product from a heavyweight-Microsoft and its rumored low-end product that is code-named Magellan. But who knows when that product will sail? We all remember the fate of the explorer and Microsoft's luck to date in the low-end accounting market: Financial Analyst Pak (which made it to market as Small Business Financial Manager but was rolled into Microsoft Office), Profit, Finance Manager, and Small Business Manager. That's four bodies and one walking wounded- at least the explorer only died once. But Microsoft is Microsoft, and with $29 billion in the bank, it will probably be a force to be reckoned with at retail.
Given the line-up of usual suspects, what should you look for in an accounting product?
Accounting software for small-to-midsized businesses should be able to do GL, AR, AP, and PR, and optionally do inventory, job costing, and time and billing. You should be able to generate and print quotes, sales orders, purchase orders, checks of all kinds, and have a wide range of customizable, professional-looking reports. Both printed and online documentation should be complete. In addition, there should be an Internet user forum that lets you ask questions and discuss problems with other users. The product must also support multiple users with varying security levels, import and export accounting data in several formats, provide customer address books and to-do lists, and let you update tax tables and transmit data over the Internet. Depending on the nature of your business, you may also want the ability to make direct deposits and B2B payments or to set...