Searching for accounting and payroll software for your business is not always a fun or easy experience. There are simply so many products out there; it can be hard to know where to even begin. The nice thing is though, we are in the digital age, and some really smart people have come up with Web sites to help you find the right product. Here are some of the Web sites I find most useful for narrowing down your software search, so you take a huge step in the right direction and save considerable hours of frustration!
This is an excellent Web site for finding all varieties of business software! First, you select the type of software you are seeking, and then you narrow down your search by checking criteria specific to that software. You can also narrow your search by location, revenue, number of employees and your budget. Capterra has put great care into making their site user-friendly and practical for any business software search, including accounting and payroll software.
Here’s another great Web site for your accounting and payroll software search. You can go in and browse software by application (general ledger, accounts receivable, etc.) or by industry. You can also fill in a quick, three-step questionnaire and/or call to speak with a software specialist to have vendors receive your information and contact you. This service is free to software searchers. They do a fabulous job of asking the right questions and finding you appropriate products that fit your budget and requirements.
This web site is very useful if you are trying to find reviews about a software company you are researching. User reviews are verified, and you can get some additional information about the products you are interested in as well You can search for products by feature(s).
Of course, this is the Red Wing Software blog, so we want you to know that WE have excellent accounting and payroll software for growing businesses. We do like to talk to each potential customer to be sure we have a fit for their organization, before selling them our software. To talk with a Red Wing Software product expert, call 800-732-9464.
So you’ve done your research and now you have narrowed down your search for payroll software to a few products. When it’s time to run the free payroll demonstration you’ve downloaded, how do you best spend your valuable time? After all, trying out several different payroll downloads can be time consuming. Use these tips for using your time wisely, and you will get the most out of your payroll software download.
Perform daily tasks.
Let’s face it: marketers like to promote all of the coolest bells and whistles available. However, the point of downloading the payroll demo is to understand how the program functions and whether it can handle the unique payroll needs of your business. So instead of clicking around trying to find the ‘cool stuff’ you may have seen in a brochure or online, focus on the basics. Set up a few new employees and his/her earnings and deductions. Generate a pay run in all the methods you use, hourly and salaried, etc. If you use a time clock, check out the import function. Then test print your pay checks or generate the test pay advice for your direct deposit. Have a look at the tax filing process and see how that works. Go in and run a report or two, and see how easy it is to get the information you need. If there are payroll software deal breakers for your company, such as minimum wage tip calculations for a restaurant, be sure to find out how they operate in relation to what your company needs.
See proof of critical functions.
Remember those bells and whistles? Well, what might be a luxury to one company is a critical function for another. Before you start your testing, write down which of these critical payroll software functions are necessary for your business. If you are unable to find and use them during your testing process, be sure to have your sales rep show you first-hand how they work in relation to your business. This will require you to explain how your company needs them to work, which is not only a surprisingly good way of organizing your own thoughts, but also ensures you see first-hand that they will work specifically for your company.
Keep track of questions.
During your payroll software testing, you will most surely have questions along the way. Instead of letting them become frustrations, simply write them down with the goal of sending them to the sales representative to do their job and answer them. A good sales rep will answer your questions in a timely manner, so you can get on with your testing process.
Remember, once you get to the payroll software download, the hardest part of your payroll software search is over. Use these tips to perform more efficient testing, and you will save time and be confident in your payroll purchasing decision.
Tracking by Funding Source
Fund accounting software allows you to track funding sources in a way that is useful to you, by department, program, grant, profit center, and more. Since information is tracked this way, reports can be pulled and viewed for each source, and the data is easily understood.
Advanced Budgeting
Fund accounting software provides budgeting tools so you are more accurate in your budget projections and reporting. You have the ability to budget by fund and by department, giving department heads or managers the information they need to quickly compare their actual spending to the budget.
Customized Reporting
Because non-profits have different reporting requirements than other organizations or businesses, it’s important to have a customized reporting tool that allows you to edit and save reports tailored to your specific needs.
Internal Controls have been a big buzz phrase in the accounting industry for the last several years. Part of having good internal software controls is to have a good audit trail. Without an audit trail, it is difficult to hold your employees accountable when they make errors, or worse, when fraudulent transactions have been entered.
For companies that have multiple employees entering and editing transactions in accounting and business software, it is important to know who added a transaction and when it was posted. If you don’t have that information, how can you hold employees accountable?
A good audit trail system should include the following features:
- Keeps a user record for each transaction entered into the system.
- Keeps the date and time of each transaction entry.
- When a transaction is edited the system maintains a record of the original transaction.
- The new edited transaction record must contain the user that edited it along with the date and time it was edited.
- Ability to track the history of edited records, when multiple edits have been processed.
- If the system allows checks and invoices to be reprinted the system must keep a record of who reprinted the documents, the date, time and the number of times the documents have been reprinted and any original information that was changed.
- The ability to prevent duplicate numbers for checks and customer invoices.
Last month, I attended the NAMA Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas, Missouri. This conference boasts the best of the best in the Agri-marketing world, and the training seminars are excellent.
Keynote speaker, Sally Hogshead, the author of FASCINATE: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation, gave a fabulous presentation that was enlightening, motivating and very entertaining. Sally is a national award-winning advertising writer, author, and brand consultant and has helped the likes of Starbucks and Microsoft. She has also been featured in the New York Times, Today show, CBS, ABC, and the list goes on and on.
Sally has researched why we are fascinated by some companies, or people, and not others, and the results of this research are eye-opening and, well fascinating! To quote Sally, “People. Products. Brands. My mission is to uncover what makes these things fascinating, and how we can use those innate qualities to make more persuasive marketing messages.”
How are you fascinating? Sally says it all comes down to seven personality triggers, and she and her staff have developed the (F) Score Brand Personality Test to help you uncover your triggers. Take the (F) Score to see what makes you FASCINATE!