Content area
Full Text
Over the last few years, an array of Web-based accounting products have appeared on the market. The product features and options have matured to the point that this is the first review of accounting software that deals exclusively with Web-based accounting products, all of which only require basic Internet access and a reasonably current browser.
Does this mean that disk-based accounting software is dead? No, not at all. No Web-based accounting product has yet matched the features available in most full-featured disk-based products. In addition, while there are only a handful of Webbased products on the market, there are hundreds of disk-based accounting products for virtually every need and industry. But there are many advantages to doing your accounting online that make Web-based accounting products strong contenders for any small-to-midsize business.
What should you look for in a Web-based accounting product? Unlike some boxed accounting products, Web-based accounting packages are all "network-ready," although "network-accessible" is probably a better description. Instead of buying additional copies of the software or additional licenses, Web-based accounting products let you sign up more users. Because of the universal accessibility of the accounting software, you can also use Webbased accounting products to support a satellite office. In addition, if your company uses an outside accounting firm, you can set up your accountants as users and provide them with access to your company's information.
Web-based accounting products have another advantage over boxed products: while it may be six to twelve months for the next release of a boxed product, vendors of Web-based accounting products pride themselves on fixes and updates in a matter of weeks, sometimes days. It's important that any Web-based program let you display information and move from screen to screen quickly. For example, if it takes five seconds to display a lookup screen for project codes or charts of accounts and you need to scroll down three or four screens, you'll lose perhaps a minute of productivity and (more importantly) experience enormous frustration with the product.
Another thing to consider is security. Although Web-based accounting products will be reasonably secure themselves, your staff will be connected to the Internet for extended periods of time, which can make it easier for someone to hack your computer, so you or...