Sage Peachtree Pro Accounting 2011 [OLD VERSION]

After 3 1/2 months of extensive review (online forum and review websites) and 30 days of free trial of both Quickbooks and Peachtree, I have finally settled and found my “accounting niche” in Peachtree! I have a recently established 2-person business with NO accounting experience whatsoever except for the Splashmoney and Moola I downloaded for my Droid. So I wanted to be 100% sure of doing research before spending for a software I plan to use for a long time with my Windows XP.

Having said that, Peachtree has not let me down for the past 41 days that I have used it (knock on wood!). It is very intuitive (as one reviewer commented) and offers several choices (like a template company), depending on your type of business, with “default” forms and entries, making it easier to use. It is very easy to set up probably because I already had practiced with the online 30-day trial. Nonetheless, the program guides you step-by-step and there is no way any item/entry will be missed because it will flag/remind you with a pop-up window.

Entering vendors and bills is a breeze. Because it has a flow-chart system that helps you what to do, you can not miss any bills and payments due. It allows the user to enter the default for a vendor’s address/credit limit, inventory items and prices so this prevents double-entry accounting, which saves a huge amount of time!

Receiving money is also easy. It asks for what invoice the received money is for and all it takes is 2 clicks and you’re done! It also allows you to send an invoice for a customer through e-mail which makes receiving money faster (no need for fax or postage!).

The software allows you to enter as much information as possible for every entry and attach whatever files you want WITHOUT additional fees that Quickbooks demand!

You have the option of using Peachtree’s payroll system (with a yearly fee less than Quickbooks!) or you can do it yourself. It guides you on what forms to submit for tax purposes.

Having ended the 2010 accounting year, I recently printed my income statement for the year 2010 and wanted to change my accounting period for 2011 but it did not allow me to do so without doing an “internal audit.” The software flags you of what you need to check before the accounting period can be changed (unreconciled accounts, double billing, out-of-stock inventory, and the list goes on). The software also reminds you to back up your data with a pop-up window if you have not done so beyond 7 days.

Fortunately, I have not had the experience of calling tech support so I can not comment on that (thus, the 5 stars).

Over-all, I recommend this program to both accounting experts and to accounting dummies like me! This is WAY cheaper than Quickbooks without additional fees that QB extorts from the consumers. Don’t listen to your accountants when they tell you to use Quickbooks (because 98% of the accountants use QB and it’s easier for them to “manage” your ledger with the same program, of course!).

I will update this review once my accountant sees my Peachtree income statements and ledgers

Peachtree Accounting has always been a runner-up to Quick Books in popularity. That said. I found it intuitive and easy to use. Not major glitches have happened in the weeks I’ve been using it. Correcting mistakes is straight forward. While nothing will ever make bookkeeping fun, this package will go a long way to make it less painful. I use it for three small companies and am satisfied with the results.

this is the first time that I’m using this product and so far, so good. I do not know much about chart of accounts but this system walks you thru a lot of the process and makes it easy to understand. of course, knowledge of accounting is needed but you don’t need to be an expert.

Sage Peachtree Pro Accounting 2011 is a good product and great value. The installation went smoothly and the product works as stated. Good value accounting program.

This software, Sage Peachtree Pro Accounting 2011, is a fully featured version of the very expensive current version, minus current payroll and tax tables. If you have no need for payroll accounting this is a terrific bargain.