What accounting software should I be learning

[chris]

I am a college student planning to start a career in accounting and/or cost
analysis. I plan on going for my CPA. Are there any accounting software
packages, besides MS Office Suite, that I should learn to give me an edge
starting out? What are the popular accounting and financial software
packages out there right now?

Any help you can offer would be much appreciated. Thank you

 

[SBT Bill]

I would start with Peachtree. It is popular and does a good job of
bookkeeping. If you are looking for larger business jobs would look at ACCPAC.
Small business is heavily into Quickbooks, which I regard as total junk.
Course you easily cook the books and steal from the company using it.

There is also Oracale, Edwards, etc for the fortune 500 type companies.

Other things to learn would be Access, Crystal Reports, and R&R. Excel is also
important though I prefer the Word Perfect package which is also cheaper.

Finally I would take a year of programming. Language isn't to important. Half
the CPA's I meet think they understand how accounting software works but do
not have a clue.

Bill Couture

 

[Allan Martin]

I would play it safe and spend the extra time you would have spent learning
a software package you may or may not use in the future, on your regular
studies and up your grade point average.

In any event, you can spend your entire career honing your skills in MS
Office Suite and still not master it completly.

 

[David Jensen]

I am a college student planning to start a career in accounting and/or cost
analysis. I plan on going for my CPA. Are there any accounting software
packages, besides MS Office Suite, that I should learn to give me an edge
starting out? What are the popular accounting and financial software
packages out there right now?

Any help you can offer would be much appreciated. Thank you

I've taught a number of different accounting classes, all without using
an accounting package. Don't worry too much about which one you learn. I
would say that a part-time bookkeeping job would help you, no matter
which package your employer uses.

There are a number of packages focused on different segments of the
market. Off the top of my head, these are a few the many that you might
run into in smaller businesses.

Small:

Quickbooks
Simply Accounting
Peachtree

Small-medium:

MAS 90
Solomon
Great Plains
ACCPAC

 

[David Jensen]

I would play it safe and spend the extra time you would have spent learning
a software package you may or may not use in the future, on your regular
studies and up your grade point average.

In any event, you can spend your entire career honing your skills in MS
Office Suite and still not master it completly.

Avoid companies that are looking for people with PowerPoint experience.

 

[Allan Martin]

Bill,

I'm surprised. You actually have something nice to say about an accounting
package other than SBT. Could it be that you do Peachtree consulting?

I've been following your posts and it appears that you tend to summarily
dismiss any package that you do not derive income from. I'm not finding
fault here, but you describe yourself as a programmer, I'd also say that you
were a salesperson as well.

I personally find it almost impossible to judge accounting software products
other than those I sell and support. I came to the conclusion a long time
ago that the only way to objectively rate a software suite is to actually
sit down with the package and use it.

Since I do not have the funds, time, or inclination to test out all the
software out there, when a prospect asks how a comparable product stacks up
against mine I tell them the truth, that I am not familar with the other
product. I know this is wrong and should lie and tell them that the other
product stinks but I can't help myself. I'm a CPA not a programer or a
salesman.

 

[Duane Bozarth]

I am a college student planning to start a career in accounting and/or cost
analysis. I plan on going for my CPA. Are there any accounting software
packages, besides MS Office Suite, that I should learn to give me an edge
starting out? What are the popular accounting and financial software
packages out there right now?

Any help you can offer would be much appreciated. Thank you

My personal opinion is that learning software as a substitute for
education is a misguided waste of time (for any profession). While
there is some user familiarity with any given software package, in the
end it is nothing but that--there's <no> fundamental knowledge to be
gained.

 

[SBT Bill]

Yes, I make money supporting software and sell ACCPAC and Cougar Mountain
products. I also do a small amount of data and training work on QB, which I do
own a copy of and have read several versions of the manual off. I also train
Peachtree users. I've found Dynamics to be a worthy competitor. Solomon also
used to be good though it has been so long since I've seen it couldn't say,
now.

Bill Couture

 

[Stuart Nottingham]

Bill,
Solomon is still alive and kicking, just not as hard. It's one child of
the Microsoft Business Solutions line, along with Great Plains, Navision,
and Small Business Manager.

Stuart Nottingham
Management Applications, Inc.