Whats happening in accounting software these days? not debt settlement ?
Whats happening in accounting software these days? not debt settlement ?
The first issue is to understand that one size does not fit all. Software for
a retailer will not meet the needs of a manufacturer. Software for a service
business will not be appropriate for an agency doing fund accounting.
Software for a contractor will not work for a trucking company. Each industry
has specific needs that are met by specialized accounting packages. The
options are to find a specialist and purchase specialized software, use
generic software and purchase "bolt-ons" after thoughts that may or may not
work, or just buy the least expensive program at the corner software store and
make do. Over 90% of companies choose the last two, ignoring the possibility
that a program might exist that meets their specific needs.
The second issue is that popular software is often popular because of price
and/or ease of use, not functionality. Note that the president of Intuit
contacted A-Systems Corporation (providers of true job cost accounting since
1978) to find out how to do true job costing. Intuit backed off when the
complexity of true job costing was explained. Generic software can be
modified to kinda-sorta-maybe to job costing, manufacturing, fund accounting,
etc. After it is modified, it remains generic software.
The third issue is what happens to a software when a bureaucracy gets its
hands on it. Microsoft bought Great Plains. It will be interesting to see if
it gets better or if it gets "Microsofted." Imagine Microsoft releasing a new
version of Great Plains that cannot read data files of older versions. That
is just about what Microsoft did when it released Visual Basic 4.0. It was
not backwards compatible with Version 3.0. Programs written in 3.0 could not
be migrated to 4.0. As a consequence of this attitude, A-Systems discontinued
its Visual Basic programming and moved to a non Microsoft programming
language. Compare this to the fact that A-Systems moved from a DOS to a
Windows accounting product and programmed a process to convert data to the new
program. DOS users of A-Systems software were able to migrate their data to
the Windows software.
The fourth issue is that not all accounting software requires owners to
purchase tax tables from the vendor. This is like the dope dealer that gets
his junkies hooked with freebies and then charges them daily amounts to stay
alive. A-Systems JobView has "user definable" tax tables. It is not uncommon
for an owner of an A-Systems program to call in every few years just to see
what new has been added. They pay nothing to own the software. Their
checking accounts are not hooked to the money vacuum at any software company.
There are many other issues not considered in this thread so far: Price does
not necessarily equal quality. A-Systems gives away a "basics-only" version
of its job cost accounting program. It is a stripped down version of the
program used by companies doing over $100 million in construction revenue per
year. Many small construction companies will never need to purchase another
software, ever. If they grow, their software can grow to meet their needs.
When an A-Systems customer succeeds, A-Systems makes money. As mentioned
above, users of A-Systems software are not required to fork over money each
year for tax tables. A-Systems top of the line program has a base price of
$4,995, which is a fraction of the cost of job cost accounting software many
contractors purchase. Why doesn't A-Systems charge more? A-Systems does not
have a shareholder list to pay dividends to. A-Systems has no bank debt.
A-Systems markets through professionals, CPAs, consultants, etc. A-Systems'
advertising budget is minimal. In other words, companies with big overheads
have to charge big prices to break even. Look at Intuit's net income before
extraordinary items as an example.
A-Systems sells only one program, job cost accounting for construction
companies. With this focus, the product is the right tool for contractors.
It won't help retailers, manufacturers, agencies, trucking companies, etc.
Specialized software companies will never go away. In fact, as time passes,
we become more specialized.