Software Analysis and Evaluation
The purpose of this software evaluation is to analyze and test various accounting software packages to determine which package best meets our needs. I have determined our requirements on a matrix and have developed the test data to conduct the evaluation. Using the attached software evaluation matrix and test data, I have tested each software package using the same test data and recorded the results in the matrix. 2. My Company Information The company is a retail sports store, Jiang Sports Supply, which sells sports goods.
We are looking for a replacement to our existing manual bookkeeping system to track sales and cash receipts. 3. Accounting Software The accounting software packages that have been evaluated are: – QuickBooks – Peachtree 4. Results of the Evaluation As shown in the attached matrix, QuickBooks scores the highest. This package is very user friendly; it is easy to set up companies, customers, vendors, and employee’s information, especially the address input. It has a text box with a five line field that enables you to enter the address in any format you want.
In Peachtree, you must enter each part of the address in its own field. The reporting features are very intuitive and can be customized. For example the Credit Memo report, QuickBooks can easily export it to Excel; contrarily, Peachtree only provide the Print function on this report. The package also tracks aged receivables very well, because on the aging summary report, there are not only four columns of aging intervals that have been set up, but also a Current column that comes before a 1-30 day interval while Peachtree only has a 0-30 day interval.While the software does not provide Allowance for doubtful account and Bad Debt account when you choose a default set up for Retail Company, you have to manually add it to the Chart of Accounts, however this is considered less important to this evaluation. 5.
Recommendation The accounting software package QuickBooks meets the most important of our requirements and I recommend that we implement this package.
