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Like any other product, you can pay for it or you can take it for free. The great majority of the free accounting software products is not very complicated and is easy to use. Although they are not suitable for large companies, they can easily be used by small businesses, because they focus on simple accounting. Many people say that with free accounting software they can perform the same tasks as with a paid version.

Anyway, either paid or free, you need to choose your accounting software correctly, a thing which, as it was mentioned earlier, can be a quite difficult thing. Here are a few pointers that should cheer you up a little bit and help you find the best solution available for you:

1. Think about and write down your needs. What’s the main objective of your company? Do you plan on making it a big one?

2. Don’t get carried away by product reviews, recommendations from friends, although you should consider them. First and foremost though, you need to concentrate on what’s suitable for YOU;

3. Don’t consider only the first few highly rated products;

4. Write down a list with all the available pieces of software. Carefully thinking about your needs, your available budget and their specifications, rule out the first few which clearly don’t fall into your preferences from the start;

5. By now, you should have narrowed down your list to about 2 or 3 products that meet your demands. Make your final decision by re-checking all of their features and making sure you check out all the other available products for that specific price. Usually, it’s best if you decide on a product made by a known company, rather than a more obscure one. Although it’s sometimes wrong to judge by that, sometimes it’s plainly safer.

Also, you may hear about a growing number of companies which are developing and providing free accounting software for marketing campaigns. Don’t discard such an option and pay attention to everything, as you may find a pleasant surprise among those products. After all, what do you have to lose if it’s free?

Still, a recommendation would be that it is always best to simply test the trail version, if you ever consider downloading free accounting software. It is the best way to see whether it suits you or not. This is because you don’t have to commit yourself to anything, and if you decide to try another one, you can simply search for it until you find the right demo for you.

So which one is going to be your option? Whatever you should finally decide upon, remember to patiently look for the right option for you. Take into consideration the nature of your business, your plans with it, its domain of activity and all the other variables. If you do all that, you will be able to find the accounting software that best suits your needs.

Businesses operate under extremely competitive circumstances. From the small business to the transnational corporations, all seek greater profits and cost competitiveness. With wafer-thin profit margins and shrinking market share, businesses can survive and grow only with constant reduction in costs. Growing complexities in accounting mean one has to adopt technology to function efficiently. There are a number of accounting software packages. Quasar is an excellent package.

Why do we need accounting software? Because, the capabilities of the accounting system of an entity should be geared towards providing better flow of operations and reporting mechanisms for control purposes. The basic functions of accounting like bookkeeping are addressed well by Quasar. Besides generating the payment, receipt and transfer entries for cash and bank, there are a number of modules that help in management reporting. The most interesting is its inventory control module. All versions of Quasar offer comprehensive inventory controls. The module allows tracking the location and quantities of all inventory items. Beyond the simple operations, the software allows inventory management for in-house assembled products. Manufacturing companies often assemble kits using raw material components from the inventory. With Quasar, when the components are removed for assembling kits, the inventory of components is adjusted suitably. It also allows grouping of items into various categories and nesting of groups into various levels. Stocks falling below the reorder level can be replenished with automatic vendor purchase orders. Costs and selling prices can be pre-set and discounted in a number of ways. Mark up and sales figures can be easily extracted.

Sales invoicing and purchases management are the main strengths of Quasar. Customer quotes are easily converted to final invoices. Adjustments for promotional schemes and discounts can be formulated depending on period, customer profile or store location. Margins can be analyzed item-wise, customer-wise or salesperson-wise. Similarly, purchase orders can be cross-checked with vendor invoice. There are several payment options including printing a check. Miscellaneous fees such as container deposits, freight charges and franchise fees can be monitored.

Quasar has an intelligent design that allows friendly user interface to facilitate quick and easy data entry. Some accounting programs do not optimize keyboard use. They depend on selection of frequently used options through the mouse. This can be a somewhat time-consuming manner of working. Quasar’s menu options are accessible through the mouse but the interface allows for development of keyboard shortcuts. Thus, data entry is speeded up saving a lot of time in the long run.

It is not just enough that you increase your sales or area of operations. You need to know whether you are actually making a profit or not. If you do not do this exercise, you will not likely judge whether your business is successful or not. Moreover, keeping track of your profit is the best way to measure effectiveness of other functions like production planning, marketing, advertising, etc. There are many instances of businesses that did high volume, but lost their advantage because they ignored adequate profit planning. For small businesses especially keeping constant track of the profit plan is the best way to increase competitiveness.

So, we repeat again that the gross revenue is not that critical as the net profit is. You need to know what eats into your profits and how you can plug it.

The best way to keep track of your profits is to make a financial plan and measure actual performance on a periodic, preferably monthly basis. This allows you to detect problems early and correct them quickly.

Here are a few surefire strategies:
Make a realistic financial plan. This means put down in money terms how much revenue you project for the period. Factor in the corresponding expenses.
Install a suitable accounting process that records the transactions in a timely and accurate manner. Always set aside some time to review your accounting transactions. This prevents frauds.

Remember that time and money lost can never be recovered. At best, you can only recast your projections and work towards a more achievable target. This approach however does not allow for risk-taking. Therefore, a plan that combines aggression with pragmatism should be followed.

Analyze the loopholes and plug them right away. If your sales have not increased as expected, consider efficiency of marketing staff or effectiveness of the marketing strategy. Remember, accounting profit does not occur out of the blue. Make team work the cornerstone of business success. Brainstorm for ideas on improving efficiency and cutting down costs.
Always do a complete cost benefit analysis for any investment. Extra outgo for the purchase should be more than matched by sales inflow.

Increasing your profit should be the motto. Therefore, attempt measures to improve profit through reduction of costs or better utilization of resources. If your growing revenues were just about matched by soaring expenses, you would soon go out of business. Higher dollar inflow from sales should actually translate as higher dollar for keeps as profit.

All of us need to grapple with accounting whether we like or not. From managing your personal finance to running a corporation, there is no escaping accounting. It might seem very complex and overwhelm a novice. The complexity is only with respect to practices and presentation. The principles are fairly simple and guided by common sense.

The purpose of all accounting is to ascertain whether the business made a profit or loss or whether its assets have increased or not. This is possible only when accurate information about the revenues and expenses are recorded, classified and compiled. Thus, accounting is concerned with tracking inflows and outflows.

The most common perception of accounting stems from the financial statements of businesses. These statements are only a culmination of the accounting processes. Accounting plays a much larger role that of assisting in managerial decision-making.

There are several elements of accounting in a business. The basic step is of course, book keeping. This is concerned with recording the transactions and preparing the periodic books and journals. Another aspect of accounting is the preparation of final statements or “financials”. These financial statements disclose information about the performance of the business. These figures are audited and tax returns are prepared.

Besides the management and the taxman, there are others too that need accurate financial statements about the business enterprise. In the case of corporations, the stockholders, sometimes thousands of them, are the owners who gauge the efficiency of the board of directors only through the financial statements. Lenders or creditors are also interested in learning about the earnings of an enterprise and its ability to meet regular payments before advancing a loan or line of credit.

Accounting records form the basis for several internal statements used in Management Information Systems. That is why, all managers need to have adequate knowledge of accounting principles. The GAAP or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles represent the codified wisdom that seeks to make accounting statements comparable and standardized. Because accounting is concerned primarily with monetary values, accounting principles closely follow the elements of consistency, accuracy, historical cost measurement and appropriate classification of capital and revenue items. Accountants spend much of their time in ensuring that the accounting processes comply with the GAAP.

Accounting offers a challenging and satisfying career avenue. Educational requirements of the profession range from a graduate degree to qualifying as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Society looks up to CPAs as the custodians of high ethical standards of reporting and accounting disclosures. They are independent professionals and are popularly called auditors. CPAs are mandated by law to conduct audits of certain types of business enterprises notably joint stock corporations, not-for-profit entities and so on.

If you choose to work as an accountant you could rise up to become the Chief Financial Officer with a number of controllers reporting to you. The main areas of focus for controllers are cash or treasury management, capital budgeting and taxation. With organizations going global, working in industry is surely a high-adrenalin situation.

Teaching and research is also a viable alternative and you could be a forerunner for developing the theoretical basis of accounting to keep pace with changing economic scenario. The domain expertise of the accountant is essential for developing advanced software for accounting, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and so on.

Accounting does not end with recording transactions. The owner or the management needs useful information about whether the business made a profit or loss or how the financial position at the end of the accounting year compares with that at the start.

From the trial balance all the income and expense items are transferred to the income statement. Further, certain other items are also adjusted before transferring the balances. Consider rent. Now, rent becomes payable at the end of a month. Therefore, following the accrual principle the accountant posts the rent as payable outstanding and adds this amount to the rent expense. The rent payable appears as current liability in the balance sheet and squared off when the actual payment is made.

Similarly, insurance payments are made annually. But, they would not match the accounting year. On the date of the preparation of final statement, there could be some months of insurance remaining prepaid. This amount is deducted from the expense and shown as current asset in the balance sheet. It becomes expense for the next accounting period.

The excess of income over expenses represents profit while the reverse scenario would mean loss. Profit adds to the equity or owners’ capital while loss erodes the same. In effect, profit means the assets have increased while liabilities have decreased. Loss means assets have decreased and liabilities have mounted.

To find out the exact position of assets and liabilities, the accountant prepares the balance sheet. Although one would know whether the business made profit or loss or the value of assets and liabilities have increased or decreased, there is a need for a statement that gives complete information about how the financial position was achieved. The Cash Flow statement serves this purpose.

The basic rationale behind the cash flow statement is that all operations of the business are connected with receiving and paying cash. This is also called the cash-to-cash cycle. The firm buys inventories, sells them, incurs expenses and pays off the dues. So, there is always a parallel run between the firm’s debtors and creditors. There are also transactions like fresh infusion of capital, paying off loans and making investments.
Therefore, to get the correct picture about how the firm’s operations and other non-operative items contributed to the changes in financial position, the cash flow statement is useful.

The starting point for the cash flow statement is the balance of cash at the start of the year. There are three segments in the cash flow statement: Operating, Investing and Financing. For the first segment, we knock off non-cash charges like depreciation and loss on sale of assets to derive the operative profit in cash terms. We also adjust the net increase or decrease in all current assets and liabilities except cash. In the second segment, we include the investments in fixed assets or financial instruments. In the third segment, we show the dividend or withdrawal of capital. The net effect of all the three segments is adjusted with the opening cash balance to get the closing cash balance.