Sunday, February 2, 2014

New Accounting App "Cashsheets" : FREE online accounting software for small business and freelancers

We came across a new Accounting App that's entirely free!, "CashSheets".

Cashsheets writes: 
Simple accounting
Forget about double entry accounting, chart of accounts, or reconciliation. Transactions in cashsheets are your bank statements. It doesn't get any simpler than that.
Easy as a spreadsheet
Because it is a spreadsheet. Export transactions from your bank as a CSV file, open in a spreadsheet, then copy and paste into Cashsheets. Even invoices are timesheets are spreadsheets.
Saves you money
Because it's free.
Built for freelancers and small business
We are both freelancers and small business owners ourselves. We know how it works.
The tools you need
A spreadsheet interface to bring in transactions, filters to categorize them, beautiful invoices, a powerful timesheet tool, and simple reports to make sense of it all.
We are your partner
If you have questions, we are here to help. Have an idea, we are all ears. If something goes wrong, we'll fix it and make sure it does not happen again.
Your data is secure
Forced SSL security, high security data centers, daily backups, threat controls and more. Your data is your business, we take it very seriously.
We don't ask for your bank login
Cashsheets does not use bank feeds. At least not yet. We may offer it as an option down the line. In the meantime, transferring transactions using CSV files is as easy as pie. And besides, you're not limited to 90 days of historical transactions. Go back in time as far as you need.
Posted on 11:11 AM | Categories:

Moving to Xero? / Have any of you actually migrated to Xero from Quickbooks. (A discussion)

We came across the following discussion over at LinkedIn:



Thomas

Moving to Xero? Manager's Choice

Sole Proprietor at Thomas Amsberry CPATop Contributor
Have any of you actually migrated to Xero (from QB, etc.). I just attended their webinar and it seems attractive on many levles... but always like to get real feedback!

Comments


  • Francisco G.
    Francisco
    Especialista en PYMES hispanas
    Top Contributor
    Yes it will be great to hear comments altough I do not think I will change QBO for Xero... I'm to happy with QBO...
  • Eric H.
    Eric
    Owner, Hjortness CPAs
    Top Contributor
    I would be very interested in hearing about Xero. I just worked on a year-end with QBO. What a difficult program to have to work with for the next 10-20 years - a complete opposite from the desktop version.
  • Marilee R. S.
    Marilee R.
    CPA, MST at Wilhelm & Wilhelm, LLC
    I have one client on it. Reports are limited but easy to access. It was easy to download data to Excel. I didn't make any entries, just pulled down reports. I didn't need to read through any instructions or go in search of any help functions to figure it out. I'll probably take a closer look after tax season.
  • Chuck S.
    Chuck
    Owner, Charles E Strand CPA
    I spent a day in San Francisco at their West Coast offices and went through their adviser training for one day. I plan to bring a lot of smaller entities - nonprofits and small govt agencies to try it as it is a very easy learn curve. Marilee had some problems with the report function, but what I saw was just the opposite, as government and non profits presentations require a lot of wording change that quickbooks only addresses through their Financial Statement writer which I have had a lot of problems with
  • Heidi S.
    Heidi
    H H Schunke, MA, CPA, CGMA, CMSTT
    Xero has telephoned me for followup, and I am looking at it. Sage One on line is highly recommended. I was a blissful proadvisor for Simply Accounting for a decade to find it recently became Sage 50 in the US only in 2012/2013. Then late in 2013 apparently my full service Sage 50 was rolled into/migrated to Sage One online. I have been a qb advisor for years. I prefer more vigorous software than qb, ie no required addons for inventory, etc..
  • Chuck S.
    Chuck
    Owner, Charles E Strand CPA
    Heidi, my sage representative lead me to believe that sage one was a lower end shoe box program, with a balance sheet, is it more than that, they gave me such a short time frame to experiment with the program I really did not get to use it
  • Thomas A.
    Thomas
    Sole Proprietor at Thomas Amsberry CPA
    Top Contributor
    Thanks for all your comments. I had a few clients this last year that got thrown into running non-profits or businesses and just did not click with QB and so it was a royal mess trying to get their books up to snuff for tax purposes. (I also have problems with big companies that tend to nickel and dime you!) Anyway, I'm attracted to Xero because I would be able to help guide them in real time and on for my client's sake ... it is very intuitive and you don't have to have much accounting background. I also like that they give non-profits 25% discount. Anyway thanks for your comments. I'm grateful for this group as I have much to learn and your wisdom and insights are so helpful!
  • Carla D.
    Carla
    Founder at Carla Dirk, CPA & Associates
    I have one small non-profit that is disenchanted with QuickBooks. I would like to try Xero. How do I get in touch for a demo?
  • Chuck S.
    Chuck
    Owner, Charles E Strand CPA
    Just Google Xero accounting and try it free for 30 days

  • Jerry
    Owner of Jerry Levey Co
    I have been following the Xero growth but to make the huge change from QB Enterprise for Accountants that I use in the hosted cloud environment, not QBO which is horrible as noted in other comments but supposedly undergoing a major rewrite, would be a major undertaking that would be extremely expensive in time for training alone. That doesn't count trying to convince dozens of clients to change who would wonder what is going on. Always good to have a fallback plan though.
  • Eric H.
    Eric
    Owner, Hjortness CPAs
    Top Contributor
    A lot of good information here. It sure sounds like Xero will be to the internet what QuickBooks was for Windows 15 years ago - the simple, easy choice for small clients that need a simple basic system that is inexpensive and gets the job done. Certainly an option for startups and younger people who prefer the cloud to PCs.
  • Chuck S.
    Chuck
    Owner, Charles E Strand CPA
    Eric. it is the future, assuming that there is no security hacker problem in the cloud based accounting area. Whether it is Sage 10, Wave, Fresh books, or Xero that emerges is the question. Wave is I understand funded by, the teachers retirement of Canada, needed expansion cash because of cash flow problems and has gotten some recent influx of cash. Xero seems to have gotten the expansion money it needs with little problem. The thing about the program is the real time accounting if bank information is downloaded automatically and reconciliations are done daily. The reports are so extensive and visually pleasant, I think it creates a problem for those of us who do attest work and therefore must cross all the ts and dot all the Is. And for those not doing attest work and doing only GL work, the access to printing the statement, may draw them into the peer review area The reports we issue using the program will probably be extensive and we will have to say not independent and only go as far as a compilation and stop before we go to an assurance type service. Book keepers down the street using the same cloud based software can issue real time statements, no opinion, and the bank can know that it isn't bs because the bank can read the statement real time and compare it with their activity. As to Jerry's comment it is not, nor is it their intent to compete with QB enterprise
  • Jonathan H.
    Jonathan
    Certified Public Accountant
    Have one client who used it last year and they loved it. All I've done so far is download their reports and transaction data into Excel - that worked like a charm and was easy to then sort, re-total and analyze data. I plan to look at it closer after tax season and consider moving more clients (and my own accounting) to it.
  • Chuck S.
    Chuck
    Owner, Charles E Strand CPA
    Just talked to Melody at Xero and she will give me an example report, Monday or Tuesday their example is in Australian. Also she can have a webinar for anyone who wants to see the program and also sign any CPA up as a partner which would mean that you would not pay anything for using the program and would be able to use the practice client, also if you wish to bring a client on now they would not be charged until April so you could use them to bring client records up to date with no charge until they were happy with the program
  • Wray R.
    Wray
    CPA Certified Public Accountant CGMA Chartered Global Management Accountant
    I have 8 clients on Xero, I find it works well for the non-accountant clients who find QBO is overwhelming to them. You don't get as much reporting and to get all the same functionality as QBO, you will end up buying subscriptions to a lot of other third party apps. That has its pros and cons as some of the third party apps are very, very good at what they do because they do specialize in a niche, but that functionality usually comes at a cost for monthly subscriptions.

    I personally had to get over the fact that Xero's interface does not seem logical to my accounting mind, because it is laid out for non-accountants and that is their target audience. Overall I think Xero does a great job within their niche.
  • Eric H.
    Eric
    Owner, Hjortness CPAs
    Top Contributor
    Wray-
    This is VERY helpful. My bottom-line question is this. What does Xero cost them, and for those who switched from QuickBooks desktop are they glad they did?

  • Stephen
    Stephen Astor CPA Limited formerly Astor FTS
    Xero is a New Zealand based accounting package. It is not designed to deal with US depreciation, sales taxes or payroll taxes.
    I also question whether its ethical to promote a product that you benefit from.
  • Wray R.
    Wray
    CPA Certified Public Accountant CGMA Chartered Global Management Accountant
    Eric, two of the eight switched from QBO and both are very happy they switched. Both of them did not like QBO which is what prompted the move.

    Most of my clients are using the $30 per month version and it works fine for them. A few of them have add-ons which run $25-$40 per month.
  • Eric H.
    Eric
    Owner, Hjortness CPAs
    Top Contributor
    So, $360 per year with required renewal. Did any of them switch from QuickBooks Desktop as opposed to QuickBooks Online?
  • Wray R.
    Wray
    CPA Certified Public Accountant CGMA Chartered Global Management Accountant
    Eric,

    I don't think anyone switched from QB Desktop. 2 were on QBO, 1 was on Sage Businessworks, 1 was on nothing and the other 4 I am not sure about, but I think Xero was also their first bookkeeping app.

    If someone is using Desktop QB, then price is a consideration, but the payoff is just like with QBO, you get access from anywhere and it can also be a time savings with automatic bank feeds and ability to allow remote access for other users.

  • Jerry
    Owner of Jerry Levey Co
    I have a client who is running a couple of small businesses who said he is using a QBO version costing $170 a year plus $35 a month for payroll. Will be interesting to see how that looks and any issues. Not too thrilled he is doing that because my experience with QBO is not good.

    Comparing a desktop to a cloud base can't really be done in today's environment. Cost isn't everything and you will pay for better service and functionality. Up to us to show the client why the change to a cloud environment is necessary, unless of course you like working with multiple versions of a program, no easy access to their data, misused data files, the usual negative stuff.
Posted on 11:00 AM | Categories: