Peachtree Complete Accounting 2003

Rating:
Summary: Good Software
Review: Don't be fooled. If you buy 2003 chances are you'll be purchasing a tax update in January 2004 for the previous year. Peachtree no longer supports its new customers should the IRS make changes to the current payroll year even though you may have purchased the most current software. Your W-2 formatting information if changed by the IRS during the year will require you to spend another $180.00 plus shipping. And then you'll still have to buy tax service for the new year.

Rating:
Summary: Small business users BEWARE
Review: Don't be fooled. If you buy 2003 chances are you'll be purchasing a tax update in January 2004 for the previous year. Peachtree no longer supports its new customers should the IRS make changes to the current payroll year even though you may have purchased the most current software. Your W-2 formatting information if changed by the IRS during the year will require you to spend another $180.00 plus shipping. And then you'll still have to buy tax service for the new year.

Rating:
Summary: Get hassled in 3 easy steps.
Review: I have the 02 version. My comments reflect on that.

You will likely end up PAYING MULTIPLES OF YOUR QUOTED PRICE, in order to get a accounting and invoicing system to work correctly out of the box, with this company.

As a buisiness owner, I find Peachtree's buisiness practices to be loathsome...

Things like EMAIL INVOICING... NOT INCLUDED in a 300$ package. They wanted an extra 150$ or something for an account management package.

I have found the account management tools in my package to be severely cumbersome. This is completely unacceptable in a internet buisiness arena where direct sales often means one time customers.

They called me for months after I registered the product, trying to sell me those features they should have included in the default package.

As an owner of a Peachtree product, it is my opinion that shrewd buisiness owners would do well to pass this company and its products by.

Rating:
Summary: Good Software
Review: I have used this software for three years and love it. I didn't realize how much until one of my employers purchased QuickBooks Pro.
The difference is amazing. My favorite is the reports. It is easy to get canned reports and even easier to build custom reports. Try doing these in QuickBooks, NOT.
The menues are laid out in a way that you find what you want to do with little or no searching even as a beginner.
The technical support is the best. I can say this with experience as one that has tried to use QuickBooks support also.
I heartily recommend over QuickBooks.

Rating:
Summary: Incremental Upgrade for the class of the genre
Review: I've used computer accounting systems from those running on mainframe computers in the early 70' through DOS and now Windows for the PC. For my own businesses, I've used Peachtree Complete for Windows since their very first Windows offering (which curiously was Version 2.0). I think it is superior to other similarly priced software - by a substantial margin.

No bookkeeping system, whether it is a Big Chief tablet, a souped up check register like Quicken or any other software, is going to make an accountant out of a sow's ear. The production of reasonably accurate financial records and Financial Statements requires dedication and some understanding of accounting concepts and processes. That said, Peachtree does a pretty good job of isolating the user from the exoterics of double entry accounting through the use of on screen "forms" for check writing, invoicing, etc. (but every such screen has a menu option you can click on to see your entry in debit/credit "journal" format).

Peachtree is a double entry, General Ledger based system - that is to say the full detail of every transaction, from whatever source (accounts payable, payroll, etc.), is posted directly to the General Ledger. There are no optional stand alone modules; General Ledger, Accounts Receivable (sales), Accounts Payable (purchases), Payroll, Inventory and Time & Billing are all integral parts of the system.

My favorite feature of Peachtree is its reporting capability. Just about any report one can dream up can be generated. Provided one takes the time to learn how. Learning is impeded by the fact that there are three different kinds of "reports" - Financial Statements, Forms, and Reports, each of which has its own system of modification. The integral "Report Wizard, of questionable value - it is certainly no substitute for learning how to use the report designer An optional extra cost version of Crystal Reports that integrates into Peachtree is available. In addition, any report Peachtree generates can be "dumped" into a spreadsheet for further massage simply by clicking the Excel icon on the toolbar.

Financial statements can be designed with up to 30 columns and almost any date range and subset of data (such as departments, enterprises, regions, etc.) The structure of financial statements is not tied to the order of the account numbering scheme.

Two fiscal years of detail are always "open" in which you can edit, add or delete transactions. If you discover you had made an error in posting in the past, you can go back to the original transaction and correct the error (as opposed to making a correcting journal entry). If you are in an environment where these sorts of changes need to be tracked, there is an option to activate the "Audit Trail" that logs when a person enters data, maintains (edits) existing data, and removes data. Password protection, down to screen level, can be implemented.

This IS a Windows program, so it is very mouse aware. Fortunately, since keyboarding is usually faster, almost all data entry tasks can be accomplished using the keyboard for navigation and entry. You can go from Peachtree's opening screen to posting a purchase to creating, posting and printing the check to pay the vendor while adding/editing accounts, vendors, etc. along the way without having to use the mouse.

Payroll functions are very good. In addition to the basics (printing W-2 forms, state & federal reports etc.), you can set up 401k deductions, maintain important dates, track vacation time, etc. Peachtree aggressively markets its Payroll Tax service but it is fairly easy to update the tax tables yourself. At least for now. Beginning about version 8.0 users have been locked out of the "global" or default tax tables. Fortunately, the user can also set up and maintain Company Tax Tables. The Payroll Tax service only updates the Global Tables; if the appropriate information has been entered in the Company Tax Tables, these will be the ones used by the in your payroll calculations.

Other features include a very good Inventory system and a really cool Jobs capability which allows you to accumulate income and expense information across fiscal years which is not cleared when income and expense accounts are closed at the end of a fiscal year (for example, a report that shows the total income and expenses associated with a construction project that covers several years).

As with earlier upgrades, 2003 isn't revolutionary but has lots of little improvements over 2002. Among them are two, either of which would have been enough to entice me to upgrade. One of these is the ability to suppress the monthly subtotals in the General Ledger report. This can dramatically reduce the amount of paper it takes to print the G.L. which you may need to do for an annual audit or whatever. Another is the option to print invoice detail on the billing statement. Before, the only description printed on a Customer Billing Statement was the invoice numbers. Copies of invoices had to be mailed with the statements to show the description of actual charges. Now you can print this detail, by invoice, on the billing statement itself.

If you have an older version - say 7.0 or earlier - by all means consider upgrading (with the caveat that somewhere around version 7.0 extra "licenses" began to be required for more than one user). Among the things you will gain are alphabetical listing of customized reports in the Reports Menu, an ability to preview almost anything before it is printed (including checks, invoices, etc.), a "find transactions" facility that permits you to search for transactions by a plethora of criteria, and numerous new standard reports.

There are many other features that I like that could be discussed. And some things I'd like to see changed. But in the field of moderately priced small business accounting software, Peachtree Complete 2003 is the system to beat.

Rating:
Summary: Simple/Common items missing...
Review: One thing that is pretty much common to every business is buying in one quantity say by the case, and selling in another quantity in this case "each". Peachtree does not have the capability to automatically do this simple task and it WILL complicate your life without it. In order to get this common feature you need to spend $600 on a more robust version of the software.

Don't make the same mistake I did, investigate every detail of the software before you purchase it. Otherwise you will have an expensive coffee cup holder.

Rating:
Summary: Clarification
Review: Pardon me for jumping back in but I want to clarify comments made by an earlier reviewer who indicated changes in W-2 layouts from year to year necessitate ordering the pricy payroll service. Not usually true. W-2 "reports" are customizable - you can go to the designer and add or remove fields that are printed on the W-2 as will as place them anywhere on the page you want them.

The same is true for other "standard" reports. I have customized the provided California DE-6 quarterly state payroll report so that I can print my own Quarterly Unemployment Tax report directly on the forms sent out by Texas Workforce Commission (course, this report can be filed electronically as well.) Admittedly, customizing forms takes a little time, and some trial and error but it can be done.

Rating:
Summary: Incremental Upgrade for the class of the genre
Review: Peachtree Complete Accounting 2003 is the latest version of a very solid accounting application. Unfortunately Peachtree has still done very little to overcome its lack of user friendliness in this version.

I have used Peachtree Accounting for about 8 years now. I am happy with its capabilities, but it is not particularly user friendly. Despite efforts to improve it with the addition of "Peachtree Today", a point and click user navigation guide, it is still cumbersome to get around. The account reconciliation program for balancing your checkbooks is still unwieldy and difficult to use.

I have an MBA and a strong accounting background and it definitely helps in using this program. I think this is more of a useful tool for accountants or professional bookkeepers than your average entrepreneurial Joe running his own small business. For that type of user, I would probably recommend QuickBooks.

Peachtree is far superior for keeping track of inventory and its payroll features are excellent. It also has a job costing feature that I use that I don't think can be matched by any other software in its price range.

Peachtree 2003 concentrates mostly on report changes from earlier versions, adding a drill down feature which is useful but not revolutionary. However, the ponderous day to day entry and output functions remain largely unchanged. I upgraded from 8.0, which is two years older and the upgrade was still not worth the money. For those who currently have 7.0, or later I would recommend that you save your money and NOT upgrade.

Another reason not to upgrade is the payroll lockout. In older versions of Peachtree, the payroll deduction tables were included in the software and the user could edit the tables each year as the payroll publications were published by the state and federal governments. Now, the payroll tables are not included and they have locked the user out from editing the tables, forcing you to spend another couple of hundred dollars on their payroll tax add-on. This effectively doubles the price of the software for most companies. In my case, I already had the tax tables for 2002 correctly updated and it erased the update and locked me out. When I complained about this to customer service they were unsympathetic and told me my only solution was to purchase the tax module.

For those considering Peachtree for the first time there are some caveats. If you are an intermediate to expert computer user and have a strong knowledge of accounting, or do a lot of job costing or work with inventories, this is an excellent tool. But it is clearly not for everyone. If you don't need some of these features, or if you want the program to demystify accounting and make it easy, you might want to look for a product that is easier to use or more appropriate to your accounting needs.

Rating:
Summary: A solid product, but not worth the upgrade
Review: Peachtree Complete Accounting 2003 is the latest version of a very solid accounting application. Unfortunately Peachtree has still done very little to overcome its lack of user friendliness in this version.

I have used Peachtree Accounting for about 8 years now. I am happy with its capabilities, but it is not particularly user friendly. Despite efforts to improve it with the addition of "Peachtree Today", a point and click user navigation guide, it is still cumbersome to get around. The account reconciliation program for balancing your checkbooks is still unwieldy and difficult to use.

I have an MBA and a strong accounting background and it definitely helps in using this program. I think this is more of a useful tool for accountants or professional bookkeepers than your average entrepreneurial Joe running his own small business. For that type of user, I would probably recommend QuickBooks.

Peachtree is far superior for keeping track of inventory and its payroll features are excellent. It also has a job costing feature that I use that I don't think can be matched by any other software in its price range.

Peachtree 2003 concentrates mostly on report changes from earlier versions, adding a drill down feature which is useful but not revolutionary. However, the ponderous day to day entry and output functions remain largely unchanged. I upgraded from 8.0, which is two years older and the upgrade was still not worth the money. For those who currently have 7.0, or later I would recommend that you save your money and NOT upgrade.

Another reason not to upgrade is the payroll lockout. In older versions of Peachtree, the payroll deduction tables were included in the software and the user could edit the tables each year as the payroll publications were published by the state and federal governments. Now, the payroll tables are not included and they have locked the user out from editing the tables, forcing you to spend another couple of hundred dollars on their payroll tax add-on. This effectively doubles the price of the software for most companies. In my case, I already had the tax tables for 2002 correctly updated and it erased the update and locked me out. When I complained about this to customer service they were unsympathetic and told me my only solution was to purchase the tax module.

For those considering Peachtree for the first time there are some caveats. If you are an intermediate to expert computer user and have a strong knowledge of accounting, or do a lot of job costing or work with inventories, this is an excellent tool. But it is clearly not for everyone. If you don't need some of these features, or if you want the program to demystify accounting and make it easy, you might want to look for a product that is easier to use or more appropriate to your accounting needs.

Rating:
Summary: Peachtree Complete Accounting 2003
Review: This product is a very good product for small to medium sized businesses. I have used older versions of it in the past, and that is why I have come back to it. The instructions are very thorough and easy to follow. It is also very easy to convert to Peachtree from Quick books. When you are ready to graduate from a smaller accounting system, this is the product for you.