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Thread: FNB small business accounting software

  1. #1
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    FNB small business accounting software

    Hi there

    Its a while since i've been on the forum, but I wonder if any of you in practice (or other) could assist me.

    I have been asked by a client if they should use the FNB banking accounting solution for small businesses. I haven't used it and have no experience of it.

    My concerns are -
    can it produce a full IS, TB and BS.
    Can you set the chart of accounts
    Can you load budgets for comparison
    Can it handle VAT transactions
    Can you enter journals
    Can you see history in the ledgers
    can you load brought forward balances

    Would you recommend a small business using this or bite the bullet and use a proper accounting package?

    Thank you

  2. #2
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    If you are referring to their free Instant Accounting online software package, then maybe I can help.

    Yes it has IS, TB and BS reports. With the plus that these seem to be able to go back many years unlike the less than 2 years offered by Pastel.
    If you mean create your own GL account names then yes you can do that. There are existing ones but you can add your own too.
    I'm not using it for a VAT company, but there are VAT boxes to tick for supplier and customer documents (which we have left blank), so it must be able to handle VAT.
    Yes I have done journals. I can only find a way to do one journal at a time and not a batch.
    History is very good in the ledgers. Goes far back and sometimes you can drill down to see your original entry as entered in the initial form.
    We loaded our brought forward balances using general journals.

    Pro's:
    The biggest pro is that it takes your banking transactions straight off your FNB bank account and allocates them to GL accounts automatically using some set rules and rules you teach it. I really like this as it saves a lot of data capture time.
    Online so you can access from anywhere and its probably safer for data loss than the backups most of us small guys try to do.
    Has some nice pretty pictures of common graphs and other business data that is useful to see at a glance.
    Different users can access the software with various permission levesls. Great if you have an offsite book keeper for example.

    Con's:
    That damn slight delay while the internet wheels grind and your transaction gets entered, still irritates me. Its not serious but can get frustrating at times.
    As any new software, it takes a while to figure out some of the processes.
    I've got stuck on some payment allocation issues. Basically one or two payment allocations I have made to suppliers are not behaving as expected so my age analysis is looking strange. This could of course be user error.
    If you are not running your business mainly through an FNB account, I wouldn't bother.

    It is a proper accounting package in my lay mans opinion. If you don't like it you can always change to something else later. No cash lost as its a free service.

    If you bank elsewhere and want an online SA package try Smartedge. It starts off at quite low cost.
    If you want to keep your accounts on your own hardware, then many on this forum will advise you to use Quickbooks. Gnucash might work as a very small business application (its free). If you expect to expand and grow I'd suggest Omni as it allows you to start small and add features as you get bigger and richer.

    Finally there is Pastel which is actually quite a good product, but I always feel they're trying to squeeze more money out of me so its not something I generally recommend.

  3. Thank given for this post:

    Dave A (10-Oct-12), Imp (11-Oct-12)

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    FNB online accounting

    Hi

    Can this online accounting from FNB invoice in different currencies? Or pay in other currencies?

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    Bronze Member Elijah's Avatar
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    Hi Imp

    You could also consider Pastel My business Online. There is a nominal monthly fee of [I think R149pm]. It can do all of the above tat you asked. If you still deciding you test-drive the demo [for a month] which is very quick to get started. Here is the link
    https://www.pastelmybusiness.co.za/ .If you have more queries there is the support email: support@pastelmybusiness.co.za.

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    Good day all!
    I would like to know from you guys what is the best FREE accounting software out there? I have had a look at quickbooks, pastel online, and FNB accounting since I am an FNB customer.
    All I need it to do is keep track of sales and purchases. And invoicing. But my site includes invoicing so it's not that important, but I would like it all integrated into one package.
    So, any thoughts on the above mentioned software, or do you have another to add? Don't want to fill out all my stock, only to be left wanting, or overwhelmed. This is due to their primary focus being on the operations of the business leaving little time to ensure that all their transactions have been properly and accurately recorded. Also, manual record keeping has been replaced by a myriad of software packages which has left the often technophobic business owner even more confused. However software providers have become more aware of these challenges and have developed more user-friendly interfaces and easy to install all-in-one accounting packages supported by a helpdesk team that is available to assist with queries on demand.
    To this end I have selected four products to review that I believe would be suitable for small businesses of varying maturity levels and within reasonable price ranges. Two of these packages, Palladium and Quickbooks are accessible through installation on the user’s computer. The other two packages by Pastel and First National Bank are interestingly, accessible via the internet. This means that neither the application nor the data are not stored on the user’s computer. This is also an example of cloud computing, the new buzzword which many readers will be quite familiar with.

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