Computerised cash book

[CaroleService]

I am ready to make the plunge and put my accounts onto the computer.

Anyone know a good and easy computer cashbook package?

I've never used them, but Sage and QuickBooks tend to be the go to options.

It depends on what you plan to do with this information. If its to submit to hmrc then Sage is good because it can be registered and you just submit the files from it, if its just for you then i would go with something simple like excel. Its more malleable so you can make the electronic version look just like your paper ones but fully automate how you like. Some learning would be involved of course but it would be more beneficial.

Might be worth asking in the freelancers section to see what they've found best value and most useful if they get involved with an accountant, too (Sage seems to be extremely popular)

Sage is 'popular' in the sense that Microsoft Windows is popular - they have been around for a long time, they were once the best if not only product that did what they did at the time but now have been overtaken in terms of functionality, ease of use and price/performance by many other products, and now maintain their market share mainly by consumer inertia and lock-in.

IMHO the best and quickest to use cash book software is VT Cash Book. It is not as pretty as some other products, but it does what it needs to well. And it's free.

You could also check out online packages like Accounts Portal, KashFlow and Xero but these cost from £10 a month.

The freelancers topic on Mumsnet is a good place for this sort of question

OOI any idea what the majority of Accounting firms use, Mr Anchovy ?

Thank you all, and especially Mr A for the FREE option ...

I will ask in freelancers too though, good point.

Accounting firms don't generally use software for keeping accounts from day to day, we do all our work on specialised software working with year end figures.

One package used by many small accounting practices is called VT Final Accounts and links seamlessly with the cash book I linked to earlier (although importing from just about any other format is pretty easy too).

For any SME that has outgrown the simple cash book I think the SaaS products I mentioned below are the best bet.

If its to submit to hmrc then Sage is good because it can be registered and you just submit the files from it

Good grief, I cannot possibly think of any reason why this is a good idea: unless you are a limited company you don't have to submit any files to HMRC, and if you ARE a limited company the files you submit contains lots of information that isn't in your accounting system so either way it is useless.