By Stephanie Elsen
An accounting program can be a lot like a car. When you first buy a new car, it’s all shiny and new and hums along the highway smoothly. You probably enjoy that new car with the window down, a smile on your face, arm out the window and the wind in your hair. Who wouldn’t? And then one day, something gives out. Maybe it’s the engine or perhaps the battery dies. What do you do when this happens? Do you keep driving it anyway? The answer is ‘no’. You can’t continue to drive without an engine or a battery.
The situation is similar when the accounting software program you’ve been using for your business does not keep up with your business needs. Oh sure, everyone loved it at the start! They used the shiny new program to enter their respective data day after day; financial reports were run and distributed. Taxes were filed, and financials were managed. Things were great! And then *POOF*, one day you realized things were getting more difficult. Maybe you had two physical inventory locations but your program only let you manage one, resulting in a confusion about where in-stock items were located. Maybe you needed a key piece of information on a financial report which was unavailable for you to add. Or maybe your method for managing local taxes was getting far too time-consuming. Most probably, it was not one thing but many different things all together that made you notice your system could no longer keep up with your business.
I know, I know. You hate change, and so do your employees. You don’t want to find something new because switching is painful, and there are very few who enjoy it. But accounting programs cannot last forever. Use accounting software long enough to manage your business, and you will eventually outgrow its feature set.
If the accounting program you are using to run your business is starting to be that old rusty car with bald tires and a loud whirring noise while driving above 35mph, it’s time to look for something new. Yes the process of finding something new might be a little time-consuming, and yes it will cost you some money, and yes your employees might complain. But when the transition is complete, your business will prosper and have that *new car smell*, and you can rest easy again for a nice long time.
Make your accounting software program search easier with these tips:
Use these to help you find the right software:
Take advantage of these resources to make the transition easier:
- A plan for who does what for the transition.
- Training for all employees involved.
- Easy-to-use resources for users to find answers as time goes on.
I work for an accounting software company, Red Wing Software. Our product CenterPoint Accounting Software can help meet the needs of your growing business, especially if you are outgrowing a basic accounting program. We offer resources to ease every single step of your transition. Click to learn more about Red Wing Software’s Accounting Software Programs for business, agriculture, nonprofits and municipals.
My name is Larry Kirkpatrick, and I work in the Technical Support department at Red Wing Software. I have worked for Red Wing Software two different times: from 1981-1985, and then I came back in 1997 and have been here since then. The quality of the people I work with and service at Red Wing Software is incredible and I think it shows to our customers. I still talk to customers today who I talked to back in the 1980s. I am married and have two kids. My son Ian is 30, and my daughter Keli is 27.
When I am not working, I love to spend time with family and friends and my two dogs Kiska, a yellow lab, and Will, my boxer who has been a challenge since he was born deaf. One of them has to go everywhere with me. I also have a passion for rebuilding old cars and motorcycles, or as my wife says, ‘anything with a motor’. My wife and I have had an exciting past year. In June, my daughter was married, and two weeks later we decided to sell our larger family home and downsize to a smaller one with more property. We are finally settling in and enjoying our new home.
Accounting Today has made a list of helpful resources available to learn more about the DOMA decision and what it could mean for accountants and financial planners.
http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/doma-deciphered-what-the-decision-means-67285-1.html
Due to popular demand - we have added another training session to our CenterPoint Accounting & Payroll for Agriculture Seminars
Red Wing Software is offering a training seminar for CenterPoint Accounting and Payroll for customers at our training facility in Red Wing, Minnesota. The seminar will be held August 13-15, 2013. For more information, or to register for the seminar, please call Red Wing Software at 800-732-9464.