Do you recommend business owners use accounting software and why?

Most business owners will realize some definite advantages if they get a software program to handle their accounting. The main purpose with accounting software is that it allows the easy production of reports verses having to sit down with manual records and trying to put together your reports. So there is not a lot of time saving when you use the accounting programs except when you get to the report level and that's where the value comes in. As far as the type of program, what I always recommend is that people talk to their accountant before they jump into a program.

It's so easy to buy something off the shelf and then realize after getting back to the place of business that it might not be for the company. If you have an accountant that's familiar with your business, there is a lot of software out there that especially designed for certain industries. So if your accountant deals in your industry, he can put you in touch with the software that would be specific for your company. This will allow you to bypass a lot of the set-up time and go right into some relevant accounting helped by the accountant who is familiar with the software. Even if your accountant is not industry specific, often they have expertise in some of the more popular packages like QuickBooks or Peachtree and if they are comfortable with one or the other packages you would tend to want to go with them so they can look at your data and be able to work with you on a more one on one basis.