I am looking for recommendations for an
What are good accounting software for a $40M ~200 people service based business?
Answers
Funny, on this page, Intacct, Netsuite and FinancialForce have ads. These and many more are available.
Your list however is short on the exact needs. What type of metrics or KPI's do you need. Multi-state payroll? Dashboards, and what would be on them. Security (job separation) and the list goes on.
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Wayne
Your comments are focusing on the core issue...what does the business need? The vendors you mention may all fit, but to varying degrees, depending on...
Anon:
If I may suggest a tip...determine what your client's unique and complex requirements are. (Hint: they may not know the answers yet!). Then start talking to vendors.
Example: if the business is a single location, its needs on project cost reporting and tracking are far easier than a multi-office practice where costs can be incurred in any office, yet need to be accumulated in one office for customer billing and reporting. That multi location structure gets more complex if each is a separate legal entity and if any are in another country (think: intercompany, fx, transfer pricing...). Wayne highlighted multi-state payroll as an another example.
What you sometimes think are vanilla requirements can end up being important differentiators when selecting a system. Both your client and the software vendors will appreciate knowing what's really important up front.
Regards
We use
Thanks for the feedback! In the meantime I do not have all the solid requirements but just want to get a head start to get some names of software. The company is looking to move away from QuickBooks.
In addition to expediting the invoicing processing and multi-state payroll (and possibly automating payroll) and month end close, we are looking at getting info out of the system to help report margins by job. We are only looking at cloud based solution with ability to integrate with CRM application (presumably Salesforce).
Thanks!
If you are already using QuickBooks, you might consider taking a look at the Field Service
We are a 175 employee professional services firm still using Quickbooks as well but it's really just our General Ledger and A/P module at this stage since we use OpenAir (NetSuite) for Expense Reporting, Utilization, Time Reporting and Invoicing and then use Paylocity for payroll. With this setup, we plan to keep using QB for the foreseeable future since we've moved all the intricate components of our business that require more frequent reporting and KPIs out of QB.
I think Denise and Dan are on the right track.
Rather than replace Quickbooks, leverage it for what it's good at, AR/AP/GL, and front end it with Operational automation software, specifically for professional services organizations, that integrates with QB.
That software category is called PSA software (Professional Services Automation) and there are three types; Ticket based PSA software (Break fix/Managed Services), Project based PSA software (Project/Portfolio Management) and Enterprise PSA software (CRM, Quoting, Procurement, Resource Calendar, Project Management, Time Sheets, expenses, Help desk and Portal).
There are several vendors out there, Connectwise, PROMYS, Autotask, Open Air, Tigerpaw, Intaact, to name a few. Each fall into the categories above, so it depends on your needs which one is best for you.
P.S.: Full disclosure, I work for PROMYS, but which PSA is best will depend on your requirements.
Regards, Jim Barnet
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Accounting