Purchase Accounting Software Once – Here's How to Find the Right Software for Your Business

1. These are the key criteria for selecting your accounting software
2. These accounting software will facilitate your bookkeeping
3. Click, click, booked

Accounting is not everyone's forte - but luckily it doesn't have to be, as there are professionals for that. They ensure that all business transactions are correctly booked and assigned to the corresponding accounts. This allows your payment transactions to be traced transparently even at a later date. This is indispensable for your business success, as insights can be drawn about the profitability and liquidity situation of your company based on your accounting transactions.

In order for your colleagues in accounting to not only do their job well, but also efficiently, you should consider purchasing accounting software. Such a tool can automate certain processes, which allows your colleagues to focus on other areas.

In this article, you will get an overview of the criteria you should consider when choosing your accounting software and which software can ease your bookkeeping.

These are the key criteria for selecting your accounting software

The selection of accounting software is almost endless. But please don't bury your heads in the sand and be overwhelmed, just pick any program. It needs to match you, your company and your requirements so that you can enjoy its benefits.

Therefore, we have compiled the most important criteria for you that you should consider when buying an accounting program. It would be best if you made a list noting all the do's and don'ts for later decision-making.

Your personal requirements

Your internal company requirements consist of various thoughts. You should define which processes and tasks should be covered by the introduction of the accounting software and what you would like to accomplish with the program. Where in your processes do you need help with automations?

It's also important to consider how likely it is that your software requirements could change in the future. This influences the weightage of each factor in the decision-making process if the software needs to be flexible to best service you in the long term. Often, accounting tools can accommodate additional requirements by adding extensions or customizable elements.

Also, remember to take into consideration your company size, your industry, and the number of employees operating in your company. You should consider whether the software needs to be able to represent any expansions of your business and whether you need to manage one or more companies with the software. Depending on the industry, it may be necessary to implement specific requirements in order to legally be on the safe side.

Also, take into account the number of employees that need to be able to work with the accounting software simultaneously. There should be enough software licenses to allow for seamless work operation.

Internal company use or with a tax consultant

If you want to carry out the entire accounting process, from voucher capture to annual financial statement and balance sheet creation on your own, you could invest in corresponding software. If you want to outsource parts of your accounting to a tax consultant, the range of functions needed can be significantly less.

Here's a question to aid with decision-making - How proficient are you with accounting? Are you just starting to learn about accounting or do you possess ample knowledge to independently handle accounting without assistance? If the former is the case, don't worry, that is what tax professionals are for. They can help you with the selection of your accounting software as they can tell you which available tools would foster the best data exchange.

On OMR Reviews you will find useful Tips to learn accounting.

Which brings us neatly to the topic of integrated software interfaces. Your accounting software should at least have an ELSTER interface. This way, you can send your advance turnover tax return or your annual tax return directly to the responsible tax office. If you are already using other software in your company, you should ensure that your new financial accounting software also has interfaces to match. A DATEV interface, for example, will ease the exchange of data with your tax consultants. With an additional link with your online banking, you can keep an eye on your finances in real time and compile more comprehensive evaluations.

Cloud solution or PC software

Another criterion that you should consider is whether you prefer a desktop version or a cloud solution. A desktop version often has a wider range of functions, through which you are able to depict your accounting comprehensively yourself. The corresponding data is stored centrally on your hard drive, making it only available at a few workstations. For this reason, you only have to purchase the accounting software once in this variant.

A cloud solution can be used without having to install it on a fixed PC. You can access it from any internet-enabled device, enabling you to work flexibly from any location. Your data is stored on secure servers. But always pay close attention to the cloud provisions laid by the provider and compare them with your security standards.

When working with confidential data such as your sales, your inventory management and your liabilities, you can face high financial loss if there isn't sufficient security. Cloud solutions are usually sold on a subscription basis.

Operating system

Depending on the operating system your company uses, the software must also fulfill the necessary prerequisites. Popular computer solutions typically only run on one of the main operating systems - Windows, Mac, or Linux.

However, some cloud software is coded such that you can use it regardless of your operating system. This has the advantage that you do not have to change your accounting software if you decide to switch to a different operating system.

Available and required functions

The scope of functions your bookkeeping software should provide depends on the work steps you would like to carry out yourself. You also have to conduct either single-entry or double-entry bookkeeping, depending on your business form, which your chosen software should allow for.

The most common and useful functions that every software should be able to depict are:

• Automation of booking and accounting
• Profit determination via a profit and loss account with simple bookkeeping
• Profit calculation via a profit and loss account with double-accounting
• VAT advance declaration
• Overview of your company's financial situation
• Maintaining a GoB-compliant accounting
• Creating of the annual financial statement and balance sheet
• Legally safe booking templates
• Business reports and evaluations

Additional functions that can support you include:

• Annual VAT return
• Integrated cashbook
• Managing multiple companies
• Integrated asset management
• Issue of payroll data
• Mobile usage of bookkeeping software

Price-performance ratio

Another important criterion when buying your accounting software is the price-performance ratio. Set a budget at the beginning of your research process that is available for the acquisition.

By comparing the various software offerings, you can decide if the quoted price matches the services included. In doing so, take into consideration if all your requirements are met or if additional services must be booked in order to meet all the needs of your company. There is nothing more annoying than realizing at later stages that additional funds must be spent because the software cannot depict what you desired. 

If you are generally convinced by an accounting software but it offers many more functions than you could use or want to, you should either continue searching or be in contact with the developers. Perhaps they can provide you with an offer tailored to your company, including all must-haves and which can be extended, if in doubt.

Also, the scope of potential support is another important component in the price-performance ratio. Can it only be reached by email or chat? What times can you contact someone? Is there a knowledge database, where you can read about features and challenges outside of business hours?

Many providers offer a free trial period of their software. Use this time to familiarize yourself in depth with their functions. This way, after the period expires, you can make an informed and confident decision.

These accounting software will facilitate your bookkeeping

If you have taken into account the previous criteria, you already have a pretty clear picture of what your accounting software has to offer. The next step involves selecting the right solution for you from the wide range of options.

For this purpose, we provide you with detailed user reports and ratings in the category accounting software on OMR Reviews. You can also consult our articles on the comparison of the best accounting software or about the best accounting tools for small businesses as well as software for freelancers.

If that's not enough, feel free to read posts about the seven best enterprise accounting software and the best free accounting tools.

We can highly recommend these tools for your digital accounting :

• sevdesk 
• Lexware Office
• GetMyInvoices.com
• DATEV
• orgaMAX Buchhaltung
• Zervant by Ageras
• easybill
• Papierkram
• FastBill
• Candis
• Taxdoo
• Pathway Solutions
• BuchhaltungsButler
• Accountable
• Billomat
• countX
• finway
• Vertex
• SumUp

• WISO MeinBüro Rechnungen

We're convinced that among this selection, you'll find the perfect accounting software for your company.

Click, click, booked

Finding the right accounting software for your company isn't a task that can be completed in five minutes. It requires detailed preliminary work, which will facilitate narrowing down to a handful of tools. Afterwards, delve deeper into the topic and familiarize yourself with what each individual tool can offer.

Don't hasten your decision-making, after all, your colleagues in accounting will have to work with the new program every day. Take your time and thoughtfully choose the solution that ideally matches you and your company. And then it will be - click, click, booked and satisfied.