Hey,
I'm an independent consultant, invoice maybe three or four times a month tops. Mostly want this to be able to keep up with BAS and other things. Ideally if it can churn out my tax returns at the end of the year I'd be pretty damn happy.
Xero is suitable for this, but I'm wondering if anyone has used Reckon as well? It seems like a cheaper alternative, but I can't find much discussion about it. Interested in the thoughts of people who've used it.
Cheers
Xero is a million times better for small businesses with multiple transactions, however it is much more expensive, for your size and scale, I would recommend Reckon
MYOB is the other main competitor in this space.
FWIW, I'm not a big fan of paying monthly fees for a couple of dozen transactions a year.
An excel template, or a once-off payment licensed software like Cashbook Complete would make more sense to me.
There are a few others too, like quickbooks and sage.
If you get an accountant to do your tax, use what they recommend. The extra 30 mins it might take them to wrangle software they are unfamiliar with probably isn't worth it, if you are paying their fee per hour (although note some accountants get commissions from some accounting platforms).
If I was in a growing business, expecting to increase my needs, and not too fussed about monthly fees, I would choose Xero, because it is the hotness, and will be easiest going forward for some years.
if anyone has used Reckon
Yes…. Been there, done that. Don't do it.
Reckon is a company that ignores customer requests, just spend 30 seconds in the reckon support forums and you'll see simple basic requests for product improvement go unanswered even though its been asked a billion times to do.
It seems like a cheaper alternative, but I can't find much discussion about it.
There is a reason its cheaper…….
My partner just set up a small freelance business and chose Rounded. She loves the interface, it's Australian, does all she needs and cheaper than Xero. AU$15/mth or $20 with BASs. https://rounded.com.au/
I work at Accounting firm. Avoid Reckon at all costs. Its just too clunky. Xero will take a while to get use to but once you do it will be great!
Avoid Reckon at all costs
Its funny, everyone says this, but sadly lots of customers are locked in and its just too hard to change.
Reckon has never broken away from its roots, which was taking someone elses software and reselling it here. Even their new 'cloud' POS is just someone elses software.
So based on them doing this all their life, Reckon can't develop its way out of a wet bag.
I just started using Reckon due to the low cost of entry and they had a 3 month half price offer. I currently have 4 clients that I do work for and it is invoiced monthly so I don't want to paying extra for something that will get little use. I do however use the payroll/stp side of it as well as the BAS. The banking feature is handy, matches invoices sent out to payments recieved and marks them on my balance sheet. I was using MYOB offline for a while but so far, this is much easier.
I do plan on going to Xero once I start needing more from my accounting software but at the moment it is hard to justify the difference in cost each month for so little gain.
Looks like Xero have decreased their starter plan price to $12.50 per month - feels like there's value there
Haven't used Reckon since 2008-9 mate! Whatever suits your workflow.
Xero all the way! Not a fan of reckon at all, avoid like the plague 😉
A cheaper alternative I can recommend is quickbooks!
I use both - Xero for my company and Reckon for my personal ABN/Business.
Xero is much much nicer and easier to use.
I don't like Reckon's interface at all.
However, saying that - I have stuck with Reckon for my personal ABN because does the job required for the 3-4 invoices i need to raise because it is significantly cheaper than Xero.