Wednesday 4 April 2012

Excel vs. Accounting Software

Excel vs. Accounting Software

When it comes to accounts and admin tasks many business owners don't really need complex solutions but something that gets the job done for them. A customised and user friendly experience.

I am not a fan of many "off the shelf" products as they tend to get you 90% of the way there but don't provide for the customisation that will ALWAYS be required.

Most accounting software on the market has been created with a specific purpose and with pre-packaged tools that cannot be altered by the business owners to suite their specific business needs, style of work or thought process. However, a system based in Excel gives the business owner the option to create and customise whatever the user desires.

Simplicity is paramount, regardless of what system is used. The rows and columns associated with a simple spreadsheet provide the most intuitive system to begin recording revenue and expenses in tabular form. Very often, user interfaces designed to minimize complexity and reduce effort achieve the opposite.

Efficient and cost effective business recordkeeping systems can be produced using Microsoft Excel. Business owners can also analyse the primary variable that drives sales, develop fact based revenue scenarios and determine the best price for products, to name a few. The right chart(s) along with a methodical recordkeeping system can assist in the daily decision making processes of business owners.

The learning curve associated with Excel is much quicker than that of accounting software. Due to the wide spread usage of Microsoft Excel in educational establishments many people are familiar with basic usage. That familiarity gives Excel an advantage over other software on the market.

By investing some time and effort to improve your working knowledge of Excel, as an accounting tool, there are many other benefits. The Excel skills acquired can also be applied to a multitude of other business related tasks from simple to-do lists to extracting and storing contact data from LinkedIn to facilitating email marketing campaigns. The possibilities and uses of Excel are endless.

Microsoft Excel is one of the major competitors for business accounting softwares. Excel can be manipulated to fit the logic of the user better than any pre-packaged software.

Here at Secrets of Software we run Excel courses specifically for self-employed and small business users. Essentially our aim is empowering people to do for themselves.
For more information on our next course feel free to visit our website www.secretsofsoftware.co.uk