Any recommendations for accounting software?
Thread poster: PMMeddings (X)
PMMeddings (X)
PMMeddings (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:56
Swedish to English
+ ...
Apr 21, 2007

Can anyone recommend decent business accounting software that is suited to our line of work?

I've tried out a number of packages, paid and open source, and have been gloriously unsuccessful so far.

The trouble is that most packages assume that you are some kind of retailer/wholesaler and therefore that a good proportion of your transactions are stock purchases. Then they assume that you have employees (er... no), but they cannot get their heads round the fact that you a
... See more
Can anyone recommend decent business accounting software that is suited to our line of work?

I've tried out a number of packages, paid and open source, and have been gloriously unsuccessful so far.

The trouble is that most packages assume that you are some kind of retailer/wholesaler and therefore that a good proportion of your transactions are stock purchases. Then they assume that you have employees (er... no), but they cannot get their heads round the fact that you are a sole trader and VAT registered.

I'm using Excel spreadsheets at the moment but it is becoming very confusing. I'm also looking not to spend a great deal of money if I can help it.
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IMCOM (X)
IMCOM (X)
Croatia
Local time: 02:56
Croatian to English
+ ...
ABC-Translator 5.0 Apr 21, 2007

I cannot recomend you this software for use in your Country, but you could follow my way out of the same problem: Ask somebody to make it for you designed according to your wishes.

You can download the screenshoots of ABC-Translator from www.sudskitumac.biz, just to get an inspiration for your own design of a software made according to the needs of any translator in your country. Unfortunatelly,
... See more
I cannot recomend you this software for use in your Country, but you could follow my way out of the same problem: Ask somebody to make it for you designed according to your wishes.

You can download the screenshoots of ABC-Translator from www.sudskitumac.biz, just to get an inspiration for your own design of a software made according to the needs of any translator in your country. Unfortunatelly, this one is even not in English as it is in use only in Croatia.
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Viktoria Gimbe
Viktoria Gimbe  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 21:56
English to French
+ ...
Translation Office 3000 Apr 21, 2007

It's a small investment for big return.

This is an accounting package for translators but also suits people who freelance and work on projects, basically any type of consulting service. Most of it is customizable and it is certainly straightforward and user-friendly.

You can download a free trial - I think the limitation is a certain number of jobs you can enter. I tried it this way and was happy to registr once the trial disabled the features. What was nice is that all
... See more
It's a small investment for big return.

This is an accounting package for translators but also suits people who freelance and work on projects, basically any type of consulting service. Most of it is customizable and it is certainly straightforward and user-friendly.

You can download a free trial - I think the limitation is a certain number of jobs you can enter. I tried it this way and was happy to registr once the trial disabled the features. What was nice is that all the jobs I entered and invoices I made during the trial period were kept.

Right now, all their software is at 50% off, so it only costs EUR 80 instead of EUR 160.

Take a look here:

http://www.translation3000.com/translators.html

[Edited at 2007-04-22 00:38]
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Lindsay Sabadosa (X)
Lindsay Sabadosa (X)  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:56
Italian to English
+ ...
Second that. Apr 22, 2007

I definitely agree. TO 3000 can make your life much much easier. I did the Excel sheet thing at first too but this is just great. Well worth the money.
Good luck!
LNS


 
nordiste
nordiste  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 02:56
English to French
+ ...
Translation Office 3000 , but ... Apr 22, 2007

TO3000 is great to do your project management : keeping track of clients and of jobs in progress or finished, calculate and print your invoices including VAT, follow up with paiement dates , etc...

But the "accounting " features are very basic. There is one specific window to enter your business expenses but it's just a list of expenses in order to calculte your profit.

I doubt it is enough for your local tax authorities.

For instance in France sole trad
... See more
TO3000 is great to do your project management : keeping track of clients and of jobs in progress or finished, calculate and print your invoices including VAT, follow up with paiement dates , etc...

But the "accounting " features are very basic. There is one specific window to enter your business expenses but it's just a list of expenses in order to calculte your profit.

I doubt it is enough for your local tax authorities.

For instance in France sole trader must keep their accounts books in a specific format (plan comptable) and only an accounting software which is certified by the tax authorities can do the job - or you must turn to an accountant.

In my case I use TO3000 for project management only and an accounting software for bookkeeping.
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Doron Greenspan MITI
Doron Greenspan MITI  Identity Verified
Israel
Local time: 04:56
Member (2005)
English to Hebrew
+ ...
TO3000 too Apr 22, 2007

I can add my vote to TO3000 - a very useful tool which I learnt to use almost automatically when I get new jobs, and which does a very good job on the accounting front.

If I had the time for that, I'm sure I could design their very flexible templates so that I have an invoice that suits my tax inspector too. In the mean time, I still fill the old-fashioned invoices.

Their customer services is also very good.

Doron


 
Vito Smolej
Vito Smolej
Germany
Local time: 02:56
Member (2004)
English to Slovenian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
T3000 Apr 22, 2007

+1

PS: I think you can download a trial version, and then make up your own mind. Have a look on ProZ / search on what the community thinks of it.

[Edited at 2007-04-22 19:07]


 
Chunyi Chen
Chunyi Chen
United States
Local time: 18:56
English to Chinese
Creating invoices at the end of the month? Apr 24, 2007

Following positive comments on this software, I joined the crowd and downloaded an evaluation version from their website the other day. So far I haven't found it user-friendly--at least for a user like me. Could someone enlighten me on how to create an invoice for a client/project I entered earlier, upon the completion of a job? A colleague said that creating invoices at the month end is only a few clicks away, although I feel it makes more sense to create and send in an invoice along with yo... See more
Following positive comments on this software, I joined the crowd and downloaded an evaluation version from their website the other day. So far I haven't found it user-friendly--at least for a user like me. Could someone enlighten me on how to create an invoice for a client/project I entered earlier, upon the completion of a job? A colleague said that creating invoices at the month end is only a few clicks away, although I feel it makes more sense to create and send in an invoice along with your translation, particularly if the assignment happens in the beginning of the month.
Thank you very much for helping, and I certainly hope it's not going to be another undesirable experience as I have had with Trados!
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Sergei Tumanov
Sergei Tumanov  Identity Verified
Local time: 03:56
English to Russian
+ ...
quickbooks Apr 24, 2007

for accounting I would recommend Quickbooks accounting software from Intuit

versions for UK and European states are available here - www.quickbooks.co.uk

In combination with translation office mentioned above it works great.
You can manage all projects in TO3000 (including issuing invoices) and transfer revenues into Qbooks, where tracing of expenditures to be run.

... See more
for accounting I would recommend Quickbooks accounting software from Intuit

versions for UK and European states are available here - www.quickbooks.co.uk

In combination with translation office mentioned above it works great.
You can manage all projects in TO3000 (including issuing invoices) and transfer revenues into Qbooks, where tracing of expenditures to be run.

Transfer of revenues can be done in the end of a month or a quarter or even in the end of a fiscal year. Or they may be transfered with maximum level of detail to be processed and analysed with powerful QB.

Great combination.

+
as far as invoices in the end of a month topic is concerned:

in to3000 you a) start job, and b) complete it. After this you c) create a relevant invoice for the job. When you get the payment you d) create a payment and link it with the invoice or invoices.

If you have several jobs completed but not yet invoiced, a new invoice will automatically include all complete jobs not invoiced yet.
So, you can create one invoice in the end of a month, and it will automatically include all your jobs of the month. Very simple.
Nothing prevents a translator to create invoices the same day when the job is complete. In such case you will get as many invoices for one month as you have jobs.

List of jobs covered by an invoice may be edited in the process of invoice preparation. The jobs excluded will remain in the list of complete not invoiced jobs.

[Edited at 2007-04-24 18:44]

[Edited at 2007-04-24 21:17]
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Natalia Eklund
Natalia Eklund  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 02:56
French to English
+ ...
Grisbi - for free Apr 25, 2007

HI,
Nice timing on this post. I was looking for an accounting software too, especially since my 'centre de gestion' just sent me a letter warning me that in the event of an audit, accounts held using Excel are not considered valid.

So, I asked some IT guys I know who work for an accounting firm. I was ready to buy some expensive software, but they showed me several open-source software out there and they said that Grisbi is probably the best adapted for a freelancer.
... See more
HI,
Nice timing on this post. I was looking for an accounting software too, especially since my 'centre de gestion' just sent me a letter warning me that in the event of an audit, accounts held using Excel are not considered valid.

So, I asked some IT guys I know who work for an accounting firm. I was ready to buy some expensive software, but they showed me several open-source software out there and they said that Grisbi is probably the best adapted for a freelancer.

Grisbi was originally designed for Linux, but it now has a Windows version.

Like they say on the site, it really is intuitive and it's simple to install. I know how to translate the stuff, but I'm still a novice for setting up accounts, yet this wasn't over my head.

Also for those in France, Grisbi was written by French programmers making sure that it respects French accounting requirements, which some other programs don't necessarily do.

You can also keep your books in several currencies if you wish.

The site's available in Spanish, Dutch, German, English and French.
And by the way, they're always looking for translators to help.

http://www.grisbi.org/index.en.html

Hope this helps someone!
Natalia

[Edited at 2007-04-25 18:31]
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PMMeddings (X)
PMMeddings (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:56
Swedish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Many thanks for your help May 1, 2007

Thank you everyone for your help. I have tried out TO3K and I think it's cracked the problem.

 


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