7 replies to this topic

[shadragon]

Morning all,

I have a friend who runs a small business and was shocked to find out he does not use any software to keep track of his finances. The issue comes primarily from his using a MAC and I cannot recommend something for him to use as I am not a MAC guy.

Is there a MAC friendly program he can use to generate invoices, track stock, reconcile cash register and do CC transactions? I looked at QuickBooks for MAC 2011, but the reviews were horrid for that version. He cannot afford a huge program so the budget would be under $500.

Any suggs?

Shad

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

It may be difficult to find a business accounting software that also tracks stocks, especially at that budget. Quicken products immediately came to mind, but I don't know anything about their MAC product line. I use Quicken at home for personal finance stuff like banking & portfolio, but it cannot do the invoicing & inventory management....that's a QuickBooks software function. Many, many people in business use QuickBooks on a PC, with great success. You may be able to tie the accounting functionality of QuickBooks to the financial functionality of Quicken.....

[coziac]

QuickBooks Pro is the way to go, but get the newest version, 2011 I think. The 2009 and before didn't work well with macs and there were a lot of complaints. You can still run the windows version with workaround software for the mac that lets you run windows programs, which is what most did, or do, ... whatever.
Keep in mind there could be additional costs if and how many employees ..... and that's yearly. IMO it's the easiest and best, can do anything and everything, but I still hate paper work!

[coziac]

... forgot to add.
OR, you could still just buy another cheap windows laptop just for QB's. Then back up data to dropbox and it will be on the mac just in case.

[shadragon]

Thank you everyone.

I took Platty's suggestion and looked at MYOB. I remember using that a long time ago. In the USA it is now called AccountEdge and I grabbed a 30 day trail. The Oz version is written around their local tax laws so the generic US version should do him.


I suggested the cheap PC during our initial conversations, but he is a MAC user to the bone.


LLDN - I had the same thoughts on tracking inventory, but he did say his wish list was flexible.


Will install it tomorrow evening and we shall see what happens. If he likes it, the cost is only $299 so well within budget.

[peterbj7]

Most modern Macs will run Windows and Windows software.....

[TexasDiver]

QuickBooks. If for some reason the Mac version is not acceptable (in native or PC mode) then compare the overall cost of a Mac compatible substitute against the cost of buying a cheap $300 PC and using it solely for QuickBooks.