Guide to accounting software: the pluses and minuses of nine leading mid-price-range products.

The switch by most CPAs from DOS to the Windows environment occurred so quickly that our most recent review of the leading DOS-based accounting software, published only three years ago (JofA, Feb.95, page 37), was essentially obsolete a year after it appeared. This article, analyzing the current Windows-based mid-price-range products, updates the subject. But considering how quickly the Windows technology continues to advance, we can't guarantee how long before even this report will become outdated.

While some DOS accounting products continue to sell at a modest pace, most developers either are no longer updating their DOS products and milking them for as long as they sell or are abandoning them. Development efforts now focus on the Windows platform; in fact, as an indication of how fast Windows technology is moving, Microsoft NT, not Windows 95, is becoming the platform of choice for accounting programs. While many recently developed products will run on both Windows 95 and NT, few developers are making what amounts to programming compromises to achieve this dual flexibility. The developers have recognized that NT, more so than Windows 95, has the reliability needed for an application as mission-critical as accounting.

THE KEY FUNCTIONS

For this analysis, we decided to investigate the same key accounting functions assessed in our earlier research--audit trails, controls and reporting. For more on how we handled this review, see the sidebar, "How We Conducted This Analysis". Our investigations revealed that some of the new Windows packages did more than their DOS counterparts, but in at least one case--MICA--the developers simply converted the old DOS product into a Windows version with little functional improvement. As a result, although reviewed in our earlier study, MICA was dropped from this round; so, if readers are interested in our review of MICA, we suggest checking the 1995 article.

In the few years since the earlier review, some vendors have repositioned their products in the marketplace. CYMA, for example, offers a totally redesigned 32-bit product that runs on both Windows 95 and NT, but the vendor has cut the price sharply, to below its previous nearest competitors, and, as such, moved it into a lower-price category and out of the range of this review; for that reason, we omitted it from this article. Also, the maker of a product that technically ranked very high in the earlier study--ABS Accounting--says its Windows version is still under development and is not yet available for testing. In another case, we eliminated Platinum Software's product--Platinum for Windows--because, despite repeated efforts, the vendor failed to respond to our inquiries.

In the end, we selected nine Windows-based accounting packages to include in the study. Details on how to contact each vendor and the prices of their products appear in panels.

POSTING METHODS

As you know, there are two software methods for posting transactions: in real time or in batch. Certain controls discussed in this article are useful only with batch posting. We believe batch posting is the most effective posting method in most cases, and we're pleased to report it is the dominant method used by the packages we reviewed.

Although some accountants believe real-time posting is more desirable so all records are up-to-date, we question that thinking. With few exceptions, batch posting is sufficiently timely for most management reporting. Moreover, unless transactions are captured on a real-time basis, real-time posting can't produce current information: It's only as timely as the timeliness of the journalization. We do recognize that under some circumstances real-time data are essential; in such cases, both real-time data capture and real-time posting are necessary. This is especially true when accepting orders in real time (such as for airline reservations); then, inventory must be current. And of course, by its very nature, batch posting is more efficient; also, it results in fewer posting errors.

Most often, the inventory module and, less frequently, receivables (where credit limits are monitored) need real-time data. Rarely, if ever, will accounts payable and payroll require real-time posting. General ledger generally can be run on a batch-posting basis in any environment.

As shown in exhibit 1, below, only Great Plains Dynamics and Visual Accounting give users the choice of batch or real-time posting in all modules. All the products support batch posting in the general ledger and all except Impact Encore and SBT Pro support it in accounts receivable and accounts payable. In inventory, all support real-time posting. As might be expected, updates from other modules to general ledger (column 5 of the exhibit) match the posting options in the general ledger module (column 1).

Exhibit 1: Posting Methods Used by Accounting Software

                   For the general         For accounts
                   ledger: Is the          receivable: Is the
Accounting         posting of journals     posting of journals
software           to ledgers in batch     to ledgers in batch
product            or in real time?        or in real time?

ACCPAC             Batch                   Batch

Great Plains       Batch or                Batch or
Dynamics           real time               real time

Impact Encore      Batch                   Real time

MAS 90             Batch                   Batch

Progression        Batch                   Batch

SBT Pro            Batch                   Real time

Solomon            Batch                   Batch

Traverse           Batch                   Batch

Visual             Batch or                Batch or
Accounting         real time               real time

                   For accounts            For inventory:
                   payable: Is the         Is the posting of
Accounting         posting of journals     journals to ledgers
software           to ledgers in batch     in batch or in
product            or in real time?        real time?

ACCPAC             Batch                   Real time

Great Plains       Batch or                Batch or
Dynamics           real time               real time

Impact Encore      Real time               Real time

MAS 90             Batch                   Real time

Progression        Batch                   Real time

SBT Pro            Real time               Real time

Solomon            Batch                   Real time

Traverse           Batch                   Real time

Visual             Bach or                 Batch or
Accounting         real time               real time

                   For transfer to
                   the general ledger
Accounting         module from other
software           modules: Is posting
product            in batch or real time?

ACCPAC             Batch

Great Plains       Batch or
Dynamics           real time

Impact Encore      Batch

MAS 90             Batch

Progression        Batch

SBT Pro            Batch

Solomon            Batch

Traverse           Batch

Visual             Batch or
Accounting         real time

AUDIT TRAILS

Accounting software should be able to provide an audit trail--that is, a way to trace a transaction from its origin to the financial statements and vice-versa. Moreover, the software should permit users to trace from the beginning balance of each account to the ending balance and vice-versa.

Exhibit 2, describes the transaction (journals) available in each package. While all of the choices would be convenient, only the listing by reporting period is really important. All the packages except Great Plains Dynamics and MAS 90 provide satisfactory journals. Note that MAS 90 prints journals only for the general ledger module.

Exhibit 2: Journal Audit Trails for Accounting Software
                Journal Printing
                By          By
Accounting      user-       Transaction   By       By
Software        specified   entry         batch    reporting
product         date?       session?      posted?  period

ACCPAC          Yes         Yes           Yes      Yes

Great Plains    No          No            Yes      No
Dynamics

Impact          No          Yes           Yes      Yes
Encore

MAS 90          General     General       General  General
                legder      ledger        ledger   ledger
                module      module        module   module
                only        only          only     only

Progression     Yes         Yes           Yes      Yes

SBT Pro         Yes         Yes           Yes      Yes

Solomon         Yes         Yes           Yes      Yes

Traverse        No          Yes           Yes      Yes

Visual          Yes         Yes           Yes      Yes
Accounting
                                                        Is journal
                            How           Does the      printing in
                            long are      system        assigned
Accounting      Prior       journals      assign        transaction
Software        to          retained      transaction   number
product         posting?    on disk?      numbers?      order?

ACCPAC          Yes         For           Yes           Yes
                            multiple
                            years

Great Plains    Yes         For           Yes           Yes
Dynamics                    multiple
                            years

Impact          Yes         For           Yes           Yes
Encore                      multiple
                            years

MAS 90          General     For           Yes           Yes
                ledger      multiple
                module      years
                only

Progression     Yes         For           Yes           Yes
                            multiple
                            years

SBT Pro         Yes         For           Yes           Yes
                            multiple
                            years

Solomon         Yes         For           Yes           Yes
                            multiple
                            years

Traverse        Yes         For           Yes           Yes
                            multiple
                            years

Visual          Yes         For           Yes           Yes
Accounting                  multiple
                            years

                            Is there
                 Is there   a screen
Accounting       a source   lookup
Software         document   by ID
product          ID field?  field?

ACCPAC           Yes        Yes

Great Plains     Yes        Yes
Dynamics

Impact           Yes        Yes
Encore

MAS 90           Yes        Yes

Progression      Yes        Yes

SBT Pro          Yes        Yes

Solomon          Yes        Yes

Traverse         Yes        Yes

Visual           Yes        Yes
Accounting

In our earlier study, we complained that some retained journal data only until they were posted. Many of the accounting applications in this article now retain journals for a year or longer. In addition, they all assign sequential transaction numbers for identification and printing a journal in transaction number order.

We believe transaction entry screens should support a field that accepts the identity of any source document and a user should be able to look up the transaction by referring to that ID. All the packages support a source document field, and all except Great Plains Dynamics, MAS 90 and Solomon provide a lookup screen for that purpose.

THE LEDGER

The ledger continues to be a troublesome feature--as it was in our 1995 review. We define a ledger as a listing of accounts, arranged in order by an account identifier, covering a period of time and including the beginning balance, detail of transactions and the ending balance for each account. As shown in exhibit 3, all packages except Progression provide a printout of the general ledger. Although the DOS-based Macola Accounting reported on in our 1995 study printed a general ledger, Macola's current Windows product--Progression--permits only a screen display of a single general ledger account.

Exhibit 3: Ledger Audit Trails

                        Are ledgers available for
Accounting software     general        accounts      accounts
product                 ledger?        receivable?   payable

ACCPAC                                 Yes           Yes

Great Plains Dynamics   Yes            Yes           Yes

Impact Encore           Yes            Yes           Yes


MAS 90                  Yes            Yes           Yes

Progression             Screen lookup  No            No

SBT Pro                 Yes            Yes           Yes

Solomon                 Yes            Yes           Yes

Traverse                Yes            No            No

Visual Accounting       Yes            Yes           Yes

                        Is inventory measures in

Accounting software                    dollar
product                 units?         values?

ACCPAC                  No             Yes

Great Plains Dynamics   Yes            Yes

Impact Encore           Yes            No

MAS 90                  Yes            Yes

Progression             No             No

SBT Pro                 No             No

Solomon                 Yes            Yes

Traverse                Yes            Yes

Visual Accounting       Yes            No

All except Progression and Traverse provide ledgers for receivables and payables. Inventory ledgers are unique in that both units and dollar values should be presented. Great Plains Dynamics, MAS 90, Solomon and Traverse do provide the inventory ledger in both units and dollar values, but in all the other packages either one or both functions are missing--a serious emission.

The absence of ledgers may explain a phenomenon that we have not previously understood: Many CPAs want their accounting packages to transfer to the general ledger module the details of all transactions recorded in accounts receivable, accounts payable and inventory modules. The scarcity of ledgers in modules other than general ledger may account for this preference.

A continuing audit trail deficiency is the inability to easily trace entries from ledger accounts to their journal source. Exhibit 2 refers to the assignment of transaction numbers to journal entries. A particularly important use of these transaction identification numbers is to trace transactions between the journal and the ledger. A company's own check and invoice numbers are ideal for identifying cash payment and sales transactions, but other transactions lack such "natural" identifiers. For example, you can't use a company's own purchase order (PO) numbers to trace transactions between the purchases journal and the vendor ledger and vice-versa because the purchase transactions in the journal (a chronological record) will not appear in PO number sequence. Exhibit 4, lists references used in ledgers to trace transactions to their originating journals.

Exhibit 4. Reference Data Provided in Ledger Accounts for
Tracing to Source Journal

               Information provided to trace from

                                      sales entry
                                      in accounts
Accounting      general ledger        receivable
software        to general            ledger to the
product         journal               sales journal

ACCPAC          Source codes          Posting sequence,
                                      batch number
                                      and/or
                                      number

Great Plains    Journal               Document
Dynamics        entry number          number

Impact          Journal               Invoice
Encore          number                number

MAS 90          Source                Invoice
                journal code          number

Progression     Source code           Drill down

SBT Pro         Batch number          Batch number,
                and/or                customer number
                transaction           and/or invoice
                number                number

Solomon         Journal type,         Invoice number,
                batch number,         order number,
                reference             order type,
                number                date and/or
                and/or date           transaction type

Traverse        Entry number          Invoice number

Visual          Batch number,         Customer number
Accounting      user, time            and/or invoice
                and/or date           number

                cash receipt          purchase entry
                entry in accounts     in accounts
Accounting      receivable to         payable ledger
software        cash receipts         to purchases
product         journal               journal

ACCPAC          Posting               Day-end
                sequence, batch       number
                entry number and/or
                entry number

Great Plains    Document              Document
Dynamics        number                number

Impact          Check number          Invoice number
Encore          and/or reference      and/or goods
                number                received note
                                      number

MAS 90          Check number          Receipt number
                and/or date           and/or date

Progression     Drill down            Drill down

SBT Pro         Batch number,         Batch number,
                customer number       vendor number
                and/or invoice        and/or voucher
                number                number

Solomon         Reference number,     Reference number,
                transaction type      document
                and/or date           type, vendor
                                      invoice number
                                      and/or date

Traverse        Receipt number        Invoice number

Visual          Customer number       Vendor number
Accounting      and/or check          and/or invoice
                number                number

                inventory receipt     inventory
                in inventory          issuance
Accounting      ledger to             in inventory
software        purchases             ledger to
product         journal               sales journal

ACCPAC          Day-end               Day-end
                number                number

Great Plains    Receipt               Receipt
Dynamics        number                number

Impact          Goods received        Invoice
Encore          note number           number
                and/or
                purchase order
                (PO) number

MAS 90          Receipt number        Source
                and/or date           journal number
                                      and/or date

Progression     Lot number            Lot number

SBT Pro         Inventory control     The inventory
                transaction file      control journal
                has field with PO     has the
                number and sales      transaction
                order number.         number.

Solomon         In inventory          In trial
                trial balance,        balance, look
                look for receiving    for invoice
                report with           reference
                reference             number, then
                number. In PO         go to sales
                screen, enter         journal to look
                PO number or          up with F3
                receipt number.       key the invoice
                                      number.

Traverse        Receipt number        Invoice number

Visual          PO number             Customer
Accounting      and/or                number and/or
                vendor number         invoice number

All the packages provide the ability to trace from the general ledger to the general journal, with all apparently using the assigned transaction numbers except Visual Accounting, which applies the batch number. Tracing from customer accounts to sales journals employs the invoice number; tracing from vendor accounts to a purchases journal is a greater challenge. Since there is no internal, sequentially numbered document identifying a purchase transaction, the assigned transaction numbers referred to in exhibit 2 should be used to refer to the journalized transactions. A PO number, a vendor's invoice number or its receiving report number are inadequate to look up transactions because the reference numbers will not be in chronological order in the source journal.

The variety of identifying data and the omission of assigned transaction numbers in ledger accounts suggest that the software developers don't fully appreciate why and how accountants use audit trails. We were initially pleased to see a reference to a voucher number (which is what such a transaction-assigned number might reasonably be called) by SBT Pro for tracing from vendor accounts to the purchases journal. But on investigation, we found no such transaction number was created when we entered purchases and neither was there a voucher number reference in the purchases journal or in the vendor ledger.

All references in exhibit 4 to invoice or vendor number suggest, at best, that accounting software designers believe audit trail information should be sufficient to give the auditor a "hunting license" to perform a somewhat random search of relevant journals to locate a particular transaction that appears in a ledger account.

DATA FLOW AMONG MODULES

The flow of data among the various modules in an accounting package is a significant part of the audit trail. Its importance is illustrated by the fact that, until recently, accountants often preferred to obtain printouts from "subsidiary" modules that summarized module transactions and then manually entered these data in the general ledger module. With the increasing reliability of computerized systems, such a practice has become unusual. But the ability to trace data flows between the modules is as necessary as ever.

Exhibit 5, shows the nature of such data transfers and the extent of the audit trail. We applaud the option that's provided in all the packages to transfer either detail or summary data to the general ledger. When ledgers are deficient, detail transfers are necessary to obtain an audit trail. With complete ledgers in all relevant modules, we prefer summary transfers for several reasons: minimal posting activity, reduced data storage and improved scanning and analysis of general ledger accounts is expedited since only nonroutine entries appear individually in the general ledger module.

Exhibit 5: Transaction Data Transfers to General Ledger Modules From
Other Modules

                        Are data transfers to    Within the
                        the general ledger       general ledger
Accounting software     module from other        modules, data are
product                 modules in detail or     transferred to the
                        summary?

ACCPAC                  Both                       Journal
Great Plains Dynamics   Both                       Journal or ledger
Impact Encore           Both                       Journal
MAS 90                  Both                       Journal
Progression             Both                       Ledger
SBT Pro                 Both                       Journal
Solomon                 Both                       Ledger
Traverse                Both                       Journal
Visual Accounting       Both                       Journal or ledger

                             Does posting        Is printout
                          reference in general   of data transfer
Accounting software          ledger permit       available in
product                    tracing to source?    detail or
                                                 summary?

ACCPAC                          Yes                 Both
Great Plains Dynamics           Yes                Detail
Impact Encore                   Yes                 Both
MAS 90                          Yes                Detail
Progression                     Yes                 Both
SBT Pro                         Yes                 Both
Solomon                         Yes                Detail
Traverse                        Yes                 Both
Visual Accounting               Yes                 Both

Transfers to the general ledger module are often made to one or more journals in that module. Progression and Solomon transfer the data directly to the general ledger accounts. Note that both Great Plains Dynamics and Visual Accounting give the user an option. All the packages provide references in the general ledger module to sources in the other modules. The only criticism we have in this area is the failure of some packages to provide the option of a summary printout of data transfers. Obtaining a printout before posting gives the user the opportunity to judge the reasonableness of the amounts and to make any corrections before the intermodule posting occurs. Another advantage is the ability to use several modules with either a different vendor's general ledger module or with a manual general ledger.

Overall, the quality of audit trails in the packages reviewed is disappointing. We believe an excellent rating requires the printing of all journals by accounting period and the printing of all ledgers. Solomon met all of these requirements. ACCPAC shows inventory dollars but no units, while Impact Encore and Visual Accounting support inventory units but no dollar value. Progression, in contrast, supports only screen lookup of the general ledger on an account-by-account basis. In a sense, Progression's performance may portend a future in which hard-copy printouts are an option and on-screen reporting is the norm. That day has not arrived; in any case, an on-screen review should permit scanning through the entire ledger rather than requiring a call-up of one account at a time.

INTERNAL CONTROL

The need for effective internal control is widely accepted today. Operating a business involves controls, many of which must be designed into the computerized accounting system. Since we can't cover the whole subject of computer controls here, we selected what we consider the important ones.

* Access controls prevent unauthorized access to the accounting system. While most mainframe systems contain multiple, sophisticated controls, the Windows environment supports only passwords. In fact, with a couple of well-timed keystrokes one can bypass the Windows 95 password.

Exhibit 6, below, shows that all the packages permit the assignment of different passwords to individual users. This is significant because in our 1995 study some packages still used passwords common to each task. Having all users of a given task share the password dilutes control significantly. Moreover, assigning different passwords to each task compromises control further since users--who can't be expected to remember several passwords--must write them down. While some of the packages permitted task passwords as an addition to user passwords, their use was optional.

Exhibit 6: Access Controls Available

                Regarding passwords
                              What is the    What is the
                Are           minimum        maximum
                passwords     number of      number of
Accounting      assigned to   characters a   characters a
software        users         password       password
product         or tasks?     may contain?   may contain?

ACCPAC             Users        1               8
Great Plains
Dynamics           Users        1              15
Impact Encore      Users        1               4
MAS 90             Users        3               8

Progression        Users        1               10
SBT Pro            Users        Set by administrator
Solomon            Users        1               12

Traverse           Users        1               14

Visual Accounting  Users        1               15

                   Which
                   keyboard      Does a log
                   symbols       record the   Are
Accounting         can be        time of      program
software           used in       each user    files
product            passwords?    access?      compiled?

ACCPAC             Alphanumeric   No            Yes
Great Plains
Dynamics           All            Yes           Yes
Impact Encore      All            Yes           No
MAS 90             No             No            Yes
                   lowercase
Progression        All            No            Yes
SBT Pro            All            Yes           Yes
Solomon            No             Yes           Yes
                   lowercase
Traverse           All            No            No
Visual Accounting  All            No            Yes

                    Are data
Accounting          files stored        Are data
software            in ASCII            files
product             format?             encrypted?

ACCPAC               No                  No
Great Plains
Dynamics             No                  No
Impact Encore        Yes                 No
MAS 90               No                  No

Progression          No                  No
SBT Pro              No                  No
Solomon              No                  No

Traverse             No                  No
Visual Accounting    Yes                 Yes

Password systems should require users to select hard-to-guess passwords--those with a minimum length of several characters. Most of these packages require a minimum length of only one character, which is not satisfactory. The possible exception is SBT Pro, where the system administrator controls the password length. If users are conscientious about security, they can select multiple-character passwords. Unfortunately, Impact Encore limits the length to four characters. Most password system designers believe that passwords should be a minimum of six characters.

Strong password systems commonly permit all alphabetic and all numeric characters and a variety of other keyboard symbols. All of the reviewed packages except for ACCPAC, MAS 90 and Solomon permit any keyboard character. ACCPAC uses alphanumeric characters only and MAS 90 and Solomon cannot use lowercase letters.

For control purposes, the system should record who accesses the accounting program and when. Only Great Plains Dynamics, Impact Encore, SBT Pro and Solomon support such a log.

In summary, we concluded that, while the password systems are far better than nothing, little serious effort was devoted to their design.

* Program control deters users from making unauthorized changes to the software. This is possible only if the software is written in a compiler-based language. All the packages' software are compiled except Impact Encore and Traverse. Those failing to use compiled programming code rely on the programming ignorance of users to prevent unauthorized changes--hardly an effective security method.

* Data security is a critical control. While passwords embedded in accounting systems can constitute a barrier to accessing data through the accounting programs, even a relative computer novice can get into stored data through the operating system--without even entering the accounting program. Such a security lapse can occur when users store data files in an easily viewable format such as ASCII. In that case, an intruder can display such data at the DOS prompt by entering the TYPE command followed by the data file name; the data can be modified by using the EDIT command.

An additional way of modifying data is to use the programming and/or database language commands. Some database products include password systems to protect the data; others do not. Since our study didn't examine the database products used by the accounting applications, we offer this information as an alert to these potential control weaknesses.

An effective way of protecting data files from such exposures is to use encryption. While it may be an effective safeguard, encryption does have its drawbacks: Storing encrypted data requires additional space and more processing time. Various levels of data encryption are available for personal computers; the higher the level of encryption, the more costly its implementation. When we inquired about the use of encryption for data files, four vendors said it was built into their products. However, on further investigation we found three of them not only did not have it, but also the representatives providing the information did not understand the concept of encryption. Since we had not expected any of the products to support encryption, it was both surprising and gratifying to find that Visual Accounting (see exhibit 6) has implemented the technology at the 40-bit level (the maximum permitted by federal regulations for exported products). Failure by this segment of the accounting software industry to include encryption is a significant shortcoming.

* Input controls assume a critical importance in computerized accounting systems. When people process accounting data manually, they handle data multiple times. For example, a posting clerk usually can catch an entry composed of a debit to the allowance for doubtful accounts and a credit to the equipment account. But the computer won't recognize the difference and win post it automatically. Therefore, for data input errors to be caught, the emphasis must be on detection through input controls.

Two good possible data filters for account identifiers (such as general ledger accounts, customer accounts and inventory part numbers) are code checks and check digits. A code check compares the input of an account ID with a stored list of identifiers and rejects invalid identifiers. Usually, the ID lookup retrieves the account description and places it on the input screen next to the identifier, thereby providing visual confirmation of the account selected. Note that the code check per se does not assure that the input ID is correct; it assures only that a valid ID has been entered. The entry of a wrong but valid ID will be accepted. Thus, the accuracy of code checks depends heavily on a visual check. Exhibit 7, below, shows that code checks are used in all packages and the account title is displayed on the input screen.

Exhibit 7: Available Data Entry Controls During data entry

                During data entry

                is a code                         Can
                check                             reason-
                performed                         ablesness
                and the      are      are         limits be
Accounting      account      check    data type   established
software        title        digits   checks      by the
product         displayed    used?    used?       user?

ACCPAC          Yes          No       Yes         No
Great Plains
Dynamics        Yes          No       Yes         Yes
Impact Encore   Yes          No       Yes         No
MAS 90  Yes     No           Yes      No          No
Progression     Yes          No       Yes         Yes
SBT Pro         Yes          No       Yes         Yes
Solomon         Yes          No       Yes         Yes
Traverse        Yes          No       Yes         No
Visual
Accounting      Yes          No       Yes         Yes

                Can
                reason-                                 Can trans-
                ableness                                actions be
                limits be                               entered
                established                   Do hash   for other
Accounting      by the          Do batch      totals    than the
software        system ad-      totals        accu-     current
product         ministrator?    accumulate?   mulate?   period?

ACCPAC          No              Yes           No        Yes
Great Plains
Dynamics        Yes             Yes           No        Yes
Impact Encore   No              Yes           No        Yes
MAS 90          Yes             Yes           No        Yes
Progression     Yes             Yes           No        Yes
SBT Pro         Yes             Yes           No        Yes
Solomon         Yes             Yes           No        Yes
Traverse        No              No            No        Yes
Visual
Accounting      Yes             Yes           No        Yes

                Can the
                entry
                of trans-
                actions
                for other
                periods be
                controlled
Accounting      by the
software        system ad-
product         ministrator?

ACCPAC          Yes
Great Plains
Dynamics        Yes
Impact Encore   Yes
MAS 90          No
Progression     Yes
SBT Pro         Yes
Solomon         Yes
Traverse        No
Visual
Accounting      Yes

Converting to a check-digit system requires adding one digit to existing account identifiers. That digit is calculated from the numbers in the original identifier. Using a common algorithm for a check digit eliminates about 95% of the keying data errors. Thus, if there are 5,000 entries with an error rate of 2% (100 errors), only 5 errors will not be detected by such a check-digit system. Since check digits do not require any system lookups but require only that the computer calculates the check digit, required computer resources are minimized. On the other hand, if 5,000 account identifiers must be recorded, adding a seventh (check) digit will require 5,000 additional keystrokes.

Code checks need screen confirmation of data entry and thus more computer processing than do check digits; check digits require additional keying time. The presence of check digits in our checking account numbers, credit card numbers and most product bar codes attests to their utility in large data processing environments. Check digits--often associated with heads-down data entry--use an audible sound to alert data entry personnel to errors. Code checks seem to be preferred in low-transaction-volume environments, with the assumption that data entry personnel will "double-check" their work by reading the screen. Given that all of the packages we examined originated in the microcomputer marketplace, it was no surprise they all used code checks and none supported check digits.

Checks to validate quantitative values (dollar or physical) include data type and reasonableness. A data-type check ensures the data entered are composed of a specified character set such as the numbers. Such a system can ensure that entry of transaction values, sales discount rates and wage rates are composed only of numbers and perhaps a decimal point. As exhibit 7 indicates, all packages support data-type checks.

A reasonableness check is a useful control for some quantitative fields such as unit price and transaction amounts. The simplest reasonableness limit for quantitative values entered is a minimum of zero for many fields, thereby precluding the entry of negative numbers. For wage rates one might use both a minimum and a maximum. Great Plains Dynamics, Progression, SBT Pro, Solomon and Visual Accounting support reasonableness limits.

The quality of both account identifiers and values can be further enhanced by use of batch controls--batch totals and hash totals. Before data entry, the user can batch data that has been captured off-line and total both the account identifiers and the associated values. Identifier sums are known as hash totals and value totals are called batch totals. If the accounting software accumulates similar totals as data entry occurs or permits batch printouts with such totals, the processed data totals can be compared with the previously obtained totals. All except Traverse supported batch totals, but none supported hash totals.

In exhibit 1 we noted that most packages supported batch posting of transactions in all except the inventory module. A principal advantage to batch posting is that it makes it possible to find and correct journalized transactions before posting. Since batch and hash totals are a principal method of detecting such errors, their omission negates much of the potential benefit of using batch posting.

The ability to record transactions in the current period for either past or future periods is useful. But this ability, in the absence of controls, also is dangerous. All packages support out-of-period entries, but MAS 90 and Traverse provide no administrator controls.

* Processing controls--in which accounting tasks must be performed in the proper order--are necessary if an organization is to obtain reliable outputs. Manual systems control the sequence of operations by notations on the accounting records and by checklists. Ideally, computerized systems maintain "electronic checklists" that guide users in the proper sequence of operations. While there are many such sequencing rules, we asked four questions to assess the use of these controls in the packages studied. In each case, we asked whether it's possible to perform a specified task before another task that would logically precede it. The possible answers for processing controls in exhibit 8, were yes, no and warning (which means yes, but not before providing a warning).

Exhibit 8: Processing and Output Controls

                          General ledger:        General ledger:
                          Can the financial      Can the books
                          statements be          be closed when
                          printed when           the financial
Accounting                there are              statements
software                  unposted               have not
product                   transactions?          been printed?

ACCPAC                    Yes                    Yes

Great Plains Dynamics     Yes                    Yes

Impact Encore             Yes                    Yes

MAS 90                    No                     No

Progression               Yes                    Yes

SBT Pro                   Yes                    Yes

Solomon                   Yes                    Warning

Traverse                  Yes                    No

Visual Accounting         Yes                    Warning

                          General ledger:        Accounts
                          Can the books          receivable:
                          be closed              Can the books
                          when journals          be closed when
Accounting                and ledgers            journals and
software                  have not               ledgers have not
product                   been printed?          been printed?

ACCPAC                    No                     Yes

Great Plains Dynamics     Warning                Yes

Impact Encore             Yes                    No

MAS 90                    Yes                    No

Progression               Yes                    Yes

SBT Pro                   Yes                    Warning

Solomon                   Yes                    Yes

Traverse                  No                     Warning

Visual Accounting         Warning                Warning

Accounting                Are date               Are time
software                  stamps on              stamps on
product                   printouts?             printouts?

ACCPAC                    Yes                    Yes

Great Plains Dynamics     Yes                    Yes

Impact Encore             Yes                    Yes

MAS 90                    Yes                    Yes

Progression               Yes                    Yes

SBT Pro                   Yes                    Yes

Solomon                   Yes                    Yes

Traverse                  Yes                    Yes

Visual Accounting         Yes                    Yes

Note that all our questions relate to omitting a print job. In some instances, we prefer that users be able to skip certain printouts if a prior warning is given. With the easy, reliable backup systems available today, companies from the smallest to the largest may prefer to maintain information in electronic form and to make hard copy only when necessary. Electronic archiving is far superior to hard copy not only because access is easier and cheaper, but it's easier to store duplicates in alternate locations for security. Nevertheless, we believe that warnings should always be provided as a minimum.

To our surprise all packages except MAS 90 permit printing of financial statements even when unposted transactions exist. In our earlier study, both Progression and Solomon provided a warning, but no longer. However, Visual Accounting prints a warning on the statement that there are unposted transactions and SBT Pro identifies the last batch posted. All except MAS 90, Solomon, Traverse and Visual Accounting permit closing the general ledger with no warning even though financial statements have not been printed. ACCPAC and Traverse prohibit closing the books until journals and ledgers have been printed, while Great Plains Dynamics and Visual Accounting provide a warning before allowing the closing.

To find out about the use of processing sequence controls in other modules, we asked about closing the receivables module without printing the journals and ledgers. Although some of the respondents only produced partial journals and ledgers in receivables modules, we accepted that as if adequate records could be obtained. On these issues performance ratings improved considerably. Five of the packages either prohibited the action or gave a warning.

The increasing availability of economical electronic storage partially mitigates our concern for a lack of processing controls. All packages except Traverse have the ability to store transaction data for multiple years (see exhibit 2). Consequently, they can print prior-year data for several years after the fact. Note that Traverse has better controls than the other packages. This is particularly important since Traverse stores data only for a single year.

* Output controls were assessed for this study by determining whether the packages included date/time stamps on the hard copy. The date/time stamps indicate when printing occurred and may thus suggest what data are included. We believe the date/time stamps are economical and useful controls and, as indicated in exhibit 8, they're in all the packages studied.

* Controls over changes to accounts are vital for accounting software. Password and input controls may be effective for transactions entered, but they do not protect nontransaction data stored in ledger master files. An effective control provides a chronological log of changes for each master file. These include general ledger, receivables, payables, inventory, payroll and any other modules for which master files exist. The sales and PO modules contain only even files representing unconsummated transactions and thus need no log. Master file changes such as budget revisions, customer address changes and inventory supplier authorizations should be recorded in chronological logs (one for each master file) that show the changes, when they were made and who made them.

Exhibit 9, shows that only MAS 90, SBT Pro and Visual Accounting provide master file activity logs for all of the four modules considered. Progression supports the logs for all of the "subsidiary" modules--receivables, payables and inventory. ACCPAC, Great Plains Dynamics, Impact Encore, Solomon and Traverse maintain no listing of master file changes, although Solomon does maintain master file histories by each master file record.

Exhibit 9: How Nontransaction Changes to Master File Are Monitored

Is there a log of direct changes to the master file for

Accounting software     general   accounts      accounts
product                 ledger?   receivable?   payable?  inventory?

ACCPAC                  No        No            No        No

Great Plains Dynamics   No        No            No        No

Impact Encore           No        No            No        No

MAS 90                  Yes       Yes           Yes       Yes

Progression             No        Yes           Yes       Yes

SBT Pro                 Yes       Yes           Yes       Yes

Solomon                 History   History       History   History

Traverse                No        No            No        No

Visual Accounting       Yes       Yes           Yes       Yes

                        Does the dog
                        contains the
                        ID of the
Accounting software     person making     Log
product                 the change?       medium

ACCPAC                  NA                NA

Great Plains Dynamics   NA                NA

Impact Encore           NA                NA

MAS 90                  Yes               Paper or electronic

Progression             No                Paper or electronic

SBT Pro                 Yes               Paper or electronic

Solomon                 NA                NA

Traverse                NA                NA

Visual Accounting       Yes               Paper or electronic

Logs maintained by MAS 90, SBT Pro and Visual Accounting capture the ID of the person making the change-an essential if the log is to be effective. Logs are more convenient to access if users can view them both on the screen and as hard copy. MAS 90, Progression, SBT Pro and Visual Accounting support both.

REPORTING CAPABILITIES

Previously, when we examined reporting abilities of DOS accounting software, some of the packages included third-party proprietary general-purpose report writers. With the move to Windows, we discovered that most of the vendors have done the same. They took that route because they would find it difficult to match those third-party capabilities. These powerful reporting tools generally permit users to extract data from all modules, to manipulate data and to display data in many formats. Exhibit 10, shows the third-party reporting tools distributed with each accounting package or available as an option.

Exhibit 10: Third-Party Reporting Tools and Drill-Down

                                                       Are on-screen
                                                       drill-down
                         Third-party reporting         capabilities
                         tools provided:               supported?

ACCPAC                   Crystal Reports, BRIO Query
                         Report and Analysis Report
                         Master for Windows,
                         Viewmaster for Windows,
                         Unisoft                        Yes

Great Plains Dynamics   Crystal Reports, FRx            Yes

Impact Encore           Crystal Reports                 Yes

MAS 90                  Crystal Reports, FRx, F9        Yes

Progression             Crystal Reports, FRx, F9, ERS   Yes

SBT Pro                 F9                              Yes

Solomon                 Crystal Reports, FRx            Yes

Traverse                Crystal Reports                 No

Visual Accounting       F9, ViewMix, FRx, Crystal       Yes
                         Reports, R&R

A powerful general reporting capability that many accounting programs now use is "drill-down": the ability to begin, say, with the view of an account balance, then to drill down to the account details and, then, after selecting an Item in, the account, to drill down even further to the underlying journal entry and, in some instances, to an on-line image of a transaction document. Exhibit 10 shows that all the packages except Traverse can perform some type of drill-down.

* General ledger reporting is provided in most packages. However, ACCPAC, Impact Encore and Solomon include no general ledger reports but, instead, include third-party reporting tools and rely on the reseller or the customer to develop those reports. Given the flexibility and power of these tools, one might conclude that end-users are probably well served. But we have some doubts. Given that the accounting software developers usually have more accounting knowledge than their product resellers and users, there is little reason to believe the latter will develop better reporting capabilities than can the developers. Inclusion by developers of example reports with sample data can provide valuable guidance to the resellers and users.

Reports generated by other modules, unlike general ledger reports, have a relatively standard format and usually are included in the packages. Therefore, we don't believe that the omission of general ledger reports is critical.

In our earlier study, none of these packages presented a correct cash flow statement although most claimed to do so. The same pattern is repeated here. The first column of exhibit 11, shows how the vendors responded when we asked if their products produced a cash flow statement. However, when we examined the cash flow statements for all those claiming to produce them, we found deficiencies in all. In every case except Visual Accounting, the developers indicated that decreases in fixed-asset accounts from dispositions were netted against increases for asset acquisitions--an incorrect practice. Visual Accounting was able to show increases and decreases or the net change in fixed assets. We then asked the vendors to show how their products produced the actual cash flow with the disposition of a fixed asset at a gain or loss. None could.

Exhibit 11: General Ledger Reporting

                                    If it is
                                    available,      Is the
                                    does it         cash flow
                   Is a             show net        statement
                   cash flow        changes         available
                   statement        or detail       (our
                   available?       changes?        evaluation)?

ACCPAC             N/A              N/A             N/A

Great Plains       Yes              Net             No
Dynamics

Impact Encore      N/A              N/A             N/A

MAS 90  Yes        Net              No              Monthly/
                                                    quarterly

Progression        Yes              Net             No

SBT Pro Yes        Net              No              Monthly

Solomon N/A        N/A              N/A             N/A

Traverse           Yes              Net             No

Visual             Yes              Net/detail      No
Accounting

                   Do financial     Do financial    Do
                   statements       statements      financial
                   compare          compare         statements
                   this period      this period     compare
                   with the         with the        current
                   immediate        same period     period actual
                   prior period?    last year?      with budget?

ACCPAC             N/A              N/A             N/A

Great Plains       Monthly/         Monthly/        Monthly/
Dynamics           quarterly        quarterly       quarterly/yearly

Impact Encore      N/A              N/A             N/A

MAS 90  Yes        Monthly/         Monthly/        Monthly/
                   quarterly        yearly          yearly

Progression        Monthly/         Monthly/        Monthly/
                   quarterly        quarterly       quarterly/yearly

SBT Pro Yes        Monthly          Monthly         Monthly/yearly

Solomon N/A        N/A              N/A             N/A

Traverse           Monthly/         Monthly/        Monthly/
                   quarterly        quarterly       quarterly/yearly

Visual             Monthly/         Monthly/        Monthly/
Accounting         quarterly        quarterly       quarterly/yearly

                         Do                   Do
                         financial            financial
                         statements           statements
                         include              include
                         horizontal           vertical
                         analysis?            analysis?

ACCPAC                   N/A                  N/A

Great Plains Dynamics    Yes                  No

Impact Encore            N/A                  N/A

MAS 90                   Yes                  Yes

Progression              Yes                  Yes

SBT Pro                  Yes                  Yes

Solomon                  N/A                  N/A

Traverse                 No                   Yes

Visual Accounting        No                   Yes

The remainder of exhibit 11 treats comparative and analytical financial statements. All of those providing financial statements enabled some comparisons between actual and either budget or prior-period actual. However, only MAS 90, Progression and SBT Pro provide both horizontal and vertical analysis of financial statements.

To enhance understanding of financial data, some packages include ratio reports (exhibit 12). Of course, those not generating financial statements could not produce such reports. In rating each product's ability to generate ratio reports, we used as a standard those listed in Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios, published by Dun & Bradstreet Information Services. While we did not expect every ratio to be included in reports, we thought each program should include some in each of the three basic ratio categories: solvency, efficiency and profitability. Information content of the ratios is emphasized rather than the precise format. While no package excelled in ratio coverage, both Progression and SBT Pro calculated 9 of the 15 and those were well distributed among the three ratio categories.

Exhibit 12: Can the Software Produce Ratio Reports?

                         Liquidity Ratios    Current
                         Quick     Current   liabilities
                         ratio     ratio     to net worth
ACCPAC                   N/A       N/A       N/A

Great Plains Dynamics    No        No        No

Impact Encore            N/A       N/A       N/A

MAS 90                   Yes       Yes       No

Progression              Yes       Yes       No

SBT Pro                  Yes       Yes       No

Solomon                  N/A       N/A       N/A

Traverse                 Yes       Yes       No

Visual Accounting        No        Yes       No

                         Current        Total         Fixed
                         liabilities    liabilities   assets
                         investment     to net worth  net worth
ACCPAC                   N/A            N/A           N/A

Great Plains Dynamics    No             No            No

Impact Encore            N/A            N/A           N/A

MAS 90                   No             Yes           No

Progression              No             No            No

SBT Pro                  No             Yes           No

Solomon                  N/A            N/A           N/A

Traverse                 No             No            No

Visual Accounting        No             Yes           No

                                        Efficiency Ratios
                         Collection     Sales to      Sales
                         period         accounts      to
                         (days)         receivable    inventory
ACCPAC                   N/A            N/A           N/A

Great Plains Dynamics    No             No            No

Impact Encore            N/A            N/A           N/A

MAS 90                   Yes            No            Yes

Progression              Yes            Yes           Yes

SBT Pro                  Yes            No            Yes

Solomon                  N/A            N/A           N/A

Traverse                 No             No            Yes

Visual Accounting        Yes            No            Yes

                         Assets         Sales to      Accounts
                         to             net working   payable
                         sales          capital       to sales
ACCPAC                   N/A            N/A           N/A

Great Plains Dynamics    No             No            No

Impact Encore            N/A            N/A           N/A

MAS 90                   No             No            No

Progression              Yes            No            No

SBT Pro                  Yes            No            No

Solomon                  N/A            N/A           N/A

Traverse                 No             No            No

Visual Accounting        Yes            No            No

                         Profitability Ratios
                         Return         Return        Return
                         on             on            on
                         sales          assets        net worth
ACCPAC                   N/A            N/A           N/A

Great Plains Dynamics    No             No            No

Impact Encore            N/A            N/A           N/A

MAS 90                   Yes            Yes           No

Progression              Yes            Yes           Yes

SBT Pro                  Yes            Yes           Yes

Solomon                  N/A            N/A           N/A

Traverse                 No             Yes           Yes

Visual Accounting        Yes            No            Yes

* Revenue process reporting, which involves the sales order and accounts receivable modules, provides information on customer orders and on cash collection activities. The first two columns in exhibit 13, at left, show the availability of aging schedules by customer and by invoice. While all packages provide a customer aging, only ACCPAC, Impact Encore, MAS 90, SBT Pro and Solomon can perform an aging by invoice. Omission of this feature is a major defect.

Exhibit 13: Revenue Process Reporting

                         Can the software
                         produce an aging       can the records to
                         schedule of            be included in
                         accounts receivable    reports
                                   by           be
                                   invoice      based on
                         by        (open item   account
                         customer  assumed      balances?
ACCPAC                   Yes       Yes          Yes

Great Plains Dynamics    Yes       No           No

Impact Encore            Yes       Yes          No

MAS 90                   Yes       Yes          No

Progression              Yes       No           Some

SBT Pro                  Yes       Yes          Some

Solomon                  Yes       Yes          Yes

Traverse                 Yes       No           No

Visual Accounting        Yes       No           Yes

                        can the records to
                        be included in
                        reports
                         be based on      be
                         the difference   selected
                         between account  by a date
                         balances and     or a range
                         budget amount?   of dates?
ACCPAC                   Yes              Yes

Great Plains Dynamics    No               Yes

Impact Encore            No               Some

MAS 90                   No               Some

Progression              No               Some

SBT Pro                  No               Some

Solomon                  No               Yes

Traverse                 No               Yes

Visual Accounting        Yes              Yes

                         Is there a report
                         comparing discounts
                         offered to discounts taken

                         in total
                         for the        by            by
                         period?        customers?    invoice
ACCPAC                   No             No            No

Great Plains Dynamics    No             No            No

Impact Encore            No             No            No

MAS 90                   No             No            No

Progression              No             No            No

SBT Pro                  No             No            No

Solomon                  No             No            No

Traverse                 No             No            No

Visual Accounting        Yes            Yes           Yes

                         Can a          Can a         Can a
                         projected      report of     report of
                         cash receipts  sales by      gross profit
                         report be      customer      by customer
                         produced?      be produced   be produced?
ACCPAC                   No             Yes           No

Great Plains Dynamics    Yes            Yes           Yes

Impact Encore            No             Yes           Yes

MAS 90                   Yes            Yes           Yes

Progression              Yes            Yes           Yes

SBT Pro                  Yes            Yes           No

Solomon                  Yes            Yes           Yes

Traverse                 Yes            Yes           Yes

Visual Accounting        Yes            Yes           No

The next three columns relate to receivables reports and indicate the degree to which exception reporting is supported. Note that of those packages providing an aging by invoice, only ACCPAC and Solomon can select records for inclusion based on balances; thus they can exclude customer accounts having a trivial balance. Progression and SBT Pro can select in some reports, but not all. In such cases, the selection capability is not customizable and usually is restricted to only a few reports. Only ACCPAC and Visual Accounting can select records based on differences between account balances and budget amounts. This ability is the mark of true performance reporting, since such a report should include only accounts requiring management attention.

Performance is better for selection of accounts based on dates. ACCPAC, Great Plains Dynamics, Solomon, Traverse and Visual Accounting do that.

Visual Accounting is the only package that supports an ability to monitor cash discounts taken; it does the job very effectively by providing reports in total, by customer and by invoice. All the packages except ACCPAC and Impact Encore can project cash flow from receivables.

Reports of sales and gross profit by customer are required to determine which customers are the best. All of the packages provide a sales-by-customer report. Of course, gross profit by customer is a more critical measure, and ACCPAC, SBT Pro and Visual Accounting fall to provide it.

* Purchasing process reporting, which includes PO and accounts payable modules, has as its purpose the effective management of purchasing activities and of trade debt. A report used to monitor whether cash discounts are available is an essential requirement for this task. Since the conventional credit terms of 1/10, net/30 represent an effective annual interest rate of about 18%, only under unusual circumstances should discounts be forfeited. But as exhibit 14, shows, only one package in this survey--Visual Accounting--can provide complete reporting. Four programs, MAS 90, SBT Pro, Traverse and Visual Accounting, provide a report of total discounts lost for a fiscal period. MAS 90, Progression, SBT Pro and Visual Accounting show discounts lost for each vendor. And only Visual Accounting provides a report of the discounts lost on the invoice level.

Exhibit 14: Purchasing Process Reporting
Can one obtain a report of discounts offered and lost

                           in total for     by          by
                           the period?      vendor?     invoice?

ACCPAC                     No               No          No

Great Plains Dynamics      No               No          No

Impact Encore              No               No          No

MAS 90                     Yes              Yes         Yes

Progression                No               Yes         No

SBT Pro                    Yes              Yes         No

Solomon                    No               No          No

Traverse                   Yes              No          No

Visual Accounting          Yes              Yes         Yes

                          Can one obtain reports by vendor for

                          late          returns            account
                          shipments?    and allowances?    balances?

ACCPAC                    No            No                 No

Great Plains Dynamics     No            No                 No

Impact Encore             Yes           Yes                No

MAS 90                    Yes           No                 No

Progression               No            No                 No

SBT Pro                   Yes           Yes                No

Solomon                   Yes           No                 Yes

Traverse                  No            No                 No

Visual Accounting         Yes           Yes                Yes

                    Can an             Can a report    Can a report
                    inventory report   on inventory    on inventory
                    on returns and     items' sales    items' gross
                    allowances         be generated?   profit be
                    be generated?                      generated?

ACCPAC              Yes                Yes             Yes

Great Plains        No                 Yes             No
 Dynamics

Impact Encore       No                 Yes             Yes

MAS 90              Yes                Yes             Yes

Progression         Yes                Yes             Yes

SBT Pro             No                 Yes             No

Solomon             No                 Yes             Yes

Traverse            No                 Yes             Yes

Visual Accounting   Yes                Yes             Yes

The ability to evaluate vendor performance is critical to effective supply-chain management. We selected two reports as indicators of the overall performance ability of the packages: late shipments by vendor and returns and allowances. Five of the packages--Impact Encore, MAS 90, SBT Pro, Solomon and Visual Accounting--could produce a late shipment report. Of them, Impact Encore, SBT Pro and Visual Accounting could produce a returns and allowances report.

The ability of the packages to do exception reporting, based on account balances or differences between balances and budget, is somewhat poorer than in the case of receivables. Solomon and Visual Accounting do reports based on balances, and only Visual Accounting can select based on differences. All the packages except ACCPAC, MAS 90 and SBT Pro can select by date. And all the packages provide a report of projected cash requirements for trade obligations.

INVENTORY REPORTING

Realizing that assessment of manufacturing inventory management was beyond the scope of this review, we assumed a retailer and wholesaler environment in selecting inventory reports for consideration.

An order recommendations report can be used to ensure an adequate stock of merchandise. Only ACCPAC falls to provide such a report (exhibit 15). Some vendors call an order recommendations report an inventory report. The report usually calculates whether an order should be placed and for how much. Thus, we asked if an order quantity was suggested, and all reports did.

Exhibit 15: Inventory Reporting

                                                  Is the order
                                                  quantity
                                 Does the order   suggested
                Can an order     recommendation   on the order
                recommendation   report suggest   recommendation
                report be        the order        report equal to an
                generated?       quantity?        EOQ formula?

ACCPAC          No               N/A              N/A
Great Plains
 Dynamics       Yes              Yes              Yes
Impact Encore   Yes              Yes              Yes
MAS 90          Yes              Yes              Yes
Progression     Yes              Yes              Yes
SBT Pro         Yes              Yes              No
Solomon         Yes              Yes              Yes
Traverse        Yes              Yes              Yes
Visual
 Accounting     Yes              Yes              Yes

                Can a report of                     Can a report
                available and                       of inventory
                on-order           Can a report     turnover
                inventory (with    of excess        by inventory
                arrival dates)     inventory be     item be
                be generated?      generated        generated?

ACCPAC          No                 Yes              Yes
Great Plains
 Dynamics       No                 No               Yes
Impact Encore   Yes                Yes              Yes
MAS 90          Yes                Yes              Yes
Progression     Yes                Yes              Yes
SBT Pro         Yes                No               No
Solomon         No                 Yes              No
Traverse        Yes                Yes              Yes
Visual
 Accounting     Yes                Yes              Yes

                Can reports to be included
                in reports be based on

                                                 Can a report of
                difference between   date        projected cash
                account balances     or range    requirements
                and budget amount?   of dates?   be produced?

ACCPAC          No                   N/A         Yes
Great Plains
 Dynamics       No                   Yes         Yes
Impact Encore   No                   Yes         Yes
MAS 90          No                   No          Yes
Progression     No                   Yes         Yes
SBT Pro         No                   No          Yes
Solomon         No                   Yes         Yes
Traverse        No                   Yes         Yes
Visual
 Accounting     Yes                  Yes         Yes

Not only must management place orders in a timely way but it also must monitor the status of inventory and POs outstanding. All except ACCPAC, Great Plains Dynamics and SBT Pro support such reporting.

Another vital report tells when stock on hand exceeds the maximum stocking level. All except Great Plains Dynamics and Progression have such a report.

Obsolete inventory is indicated by low inventory turnover. Progression, SBT Pro and Solomon do not provide such a report.

Good business managers always investigate inventory items that are returned frequently or that generate many requests for allowances. Consequently, we asked if one or more reports are available showing that information. Four of the nine packages--ACCPAC, MAS 90, Progression and Visual Accounting---supported such reporting.

When considering the revenue process, we had asked whether the packages could prepare reports on sales and gross profits by customers; now we posed the same questions for inventory items. Again, all packages report on sales by inventory item, but Great Plains Dynamics and SBT Pro lack reporting by gross profit.

PRACTICAL ADVICE

What we learned from this study--and we pass this on to wary shoppers-is that all claims about a product, especially if the function is critical to your business, should be checked out and confirmed carefully.

The selection of accounting software is a difficult and complex task. Each user has unique requirements. Consequently, we believe that if we cite a package for what we consider a technical shortcoming, that does not mean the product would not be effective for some users.

The bottom line: There is no simple way to assess a match between a software package and a company. If you're in the market for a new package, we suggest you first outline in detail the functions you need and the functions you would like to have. Only then should you use this review to check off the functions that are closest to your selections. We then suggest you contact the vendors and arrange to receive evaluation copies of the candidate products. At that point you should load some test data and vigorously test each software function that's important to you.

RELATED ARTICLE: When Is a Trial Balance a Ledger?

We believe that casual use of accounting terms is the greatest single handicap of accounting systems. To illustrate this, we retained the exact vendor responses in exhibit 4, even though we did not fully understand what was meant by all of them. We thought the table still provided ample evidence of poor audit trails in general. Moreover, by including the exact responses, you can understand how the lack of precision in terminology not only made our research difficult but also contributed to overall confusion in the design and use of accounting systems.

An example is the use of the conventional and/or date term trial balance. It's often used to refer to a ledger or a listing of transactions rather than to a simple listing of account balances. We believe that the terms used in accounting packages should be immediately understandable by most accountants.

RELATED ARTICLE: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

* ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE developers are now focusing on the Windows platform; in fact, as an indication of how fast Windows technology is moving, Microsoft NT, not Windows 95, is becoming the platform of choice for accounting programs.

* THIS ANALYSIS OF PROGRAMS investigated audit trails, controls and reporting. The investigations revealed that some of the new Windows packages did more than their DOS counterparts.

* THE AUTHORS' EARLIER STUDY noted that some packages retained journal data only until they were posted. Many accounting applications had eliminated that shortcoming; in fact, all the systems in this review retained journals for a year or longer. In addition, they all assigned sequential transaction numbers for identification and printing a journal in transaction number order.

* SELECTING ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE is a difficult and complex task. For each user, the requirements are unique. Consequently, if a package has a technical shortcoming, according to the authors, it does not mean the product would not be effective for some users.

* ALL CLAIMS ABOUT A PRODUCT--especially if the function is critical to your business--should be checked out and confirmed carefully.

RELATED ARTICLE: How We Conducted This Analysis

Each vendor completed a 94-item questionnaire. Each also furnished us with evaluation copies of its software, with documentation and access to technical support, so we could install the software and validate selected questionnaire responses.

Sometimes getting a vendor to fill out and return a questionnaire took several follow-up calls. In addition, the responses often were incorrect or incomplete. We believe the poor responses resulted from several problems. In a few cases, we concede a question may have been ambiguous or hard to understand. In other cases, however, we thought the respondents did not give adequate attention to a question. For example, it appeared that some respondents worked on the assumption that a "yes" answer reflected well on their product. But several questions--particularly in the control section--asked whether one could perform a given operation when the ability to do so would reflect adversely on the package. In several instances, respondents answered "yes," but when we examined the product, we realized the answers were incorrect.

But the most serious problem we experienced was the lack of product knowledge by many of the vendors' sales representatives. We experienced this problem in our 1995 review, too. The most obvious example was when several respondents indicated that their products used check digits and/or encryption to ensure the accuracy and safety of data. But when we asked for details (such as the weights and modulus used for check digits and the bit-level of the encryption algorithm), it became apparent that not only did the products lack these functions but also the representatives were not familiar with the technology--yet they responded affirmatively anyway.

And as in our earlier study, often the respondents did not understand what constitutes an adequate journal and ledger.

As a practical matter, we could not confirm every claim by a vendor. Often, we had to rely on the consistency of answers, our knowledge of the subject and, frankly, our intuitive judgment. Given the complexity of accounting software, when a vendor said a feature was missing or there was a shortcoming in the software, we accepted the response--except when it was not credible or when we had knowledge otherwise. We usually confirmed affirmative answers by examining the software. If we were unable to verify an answer ourselves, we called the software company for further explanation. Finally, we visited with representatives of all except one vendor to review questionable answers. Since proving the absence of a feature is a formidable task, the assistance of company representatives was essential. In most cases, they were able to guide us to the solution and, in others, the vendor conceded that the information they had provided in the questionnaire was not correct.

RELATED ARTICLE: How to Contact the Vendors

Product                 Vendor                  Address
ACCPAC for Windows      ACCPAC International    2525 Augustine Dr.,
                                                Santa Clara, CA
                                                95054
Great Plains Dynamics   Great Plains Software   1701 Southwest 38th
                                                St., Fargo, ND
                                                58103
Impact Encore           Syspro Impact           Metro Pointe,
                        Software                959 South Coast Dr.,
                                                Suite 100, Costa
                                                Mesa, CA 92626
MAS 90 for Windows      State of the Art        56 Technology,
                        Accounting Software     Irvine, CA 92618
Progression             Macola Software         333 East Center St.,
                                                P.O. Box 1824,
                                                Marion, OH 43302
SBT Pro Series          SBT Corp.               1401 Los Gamos Dr.,
                                                San Rafael, CA 94903
Solomon IV for Windows  Solomon Software        200 East Hardin St.,
                                                P.O. Box 414,
                                                Findlay, OH 45840
Traverse                Open Systems            7626 Golden Triangle
                                                Dr., Eden Prairie,
                                                MN 55344
Visual Accounting       RealWorld Corp.         P.O. Box 9516,
for Windows                                     670 Commercial St.,
                                                Manchester, NH 03108

Product                 Phone           Internet address
ACCPAC for Windows      800-773-5445    www.accpac.com

Great Plains Dynamics   800-456-0025    www.gps.com

Impact Encore           800-369-8649    www.impactsoft.com

MAS 90 for Windows      800-845-3415    www.sota.com

Progression             800-468-0834    www.macola.com

SBT Pro Series          800-944-1000    www.sbt.com

Solomon IV for Windows  800-4-SOLOMON   www.solomon.com

Traverse                800-328-2276    www.osas.com

Visual Accounting       800-678-6336    www.realworld.com
for Windows

RELATED ARTICLE: Consistently Inconsistent

A phenomenon we observed repeatedly was the implementation of a concept in one place but its omission in other equally appropriate locations. For example, gross profit reporting by customer and by inventory item for each of the packages were compared as follows:

             Gross profit reported by:   Consistent
Package             Customer   Product   treatment?

ACCPAC              No         Yes       No
Great Plains
 Dynamics           Yes        No        No
Impact Encore       Yes        Yes       Yes
MAS 90              Yes        Yes       Yes
Progression         Yes        Yes       Yes
SBT Pro             No         No        Yes
Solomon             Yes        Yes       Yes
Traverse            Yes        Yes       Yes
Visual Accounting   No         Yes       No

This pattern was repeated countless times in most of the packages. We developed a consistency ratio based on the number of consistent applications of a concept to the number of inconsistent ones and called it the design consistency index. In the above case, the ratio is expressed as 6:3 since six packages were consistent and three were not.

Because in some respects the accounting for receivables and for payables are mirror images, one might,expect more consistency in the software design between the two. But it is not the case. The ability to select records by date in receivables (exhibit 13, column 5) and payables (exhibit 14, column 8) has a consistency ratio of 4:5. Thus four had consistent design and five did not.

Accounting Software Prices

                                           Single-user version

Package                    Version         Cost

ACCPAC                     3.0             $1,300 system
                                           manager + $1,300
                                           per module

Great Plains Dynamics      4.0             $1,000 system
                                           manager + $500-
                                           $1,000 per module

Impact Encore              3.2             $600 system
                                           manager + $600
                                           per module per module

MAS 90                     3.2             $675 system
                                           manager + $1,300-
                                           $1,500 per module

Progression                7.0             $2,500 system
                                           manager + $1,150-
                                           $1,650 per module

SBI Pro                    N/A             N/A

Solomon                    2.06            $195 system
                                           manager + $695-
                                           $995 per module

Traverse                   N/A             $395 system
                                           manager + $395
                                           per module

Visual Accounting          4.11            $795 system
                                           manager + $495
                                           per module

                         Multiuser version
                                                 Number
Package                  Cost                    of users

ACCPAC                   $1,500 system           10 users
                         manager + $1,300
                         per module

Great Plains Dynamics    $3,000 system           4 users    plus
                         manager + $1,000-
                         $2,000 per module

Impact Encore            $1,000 system           4 users    or
                         manager + $1,000
                         per module

MAS 90                   $2,375 system           5 users
                         manager +$1,300-
                         $1,500 per module

Progression              $2,500 system           5 users    or
                         manager + $1,250-
                         $1,750 per module

SBI Pro                  $1,200 system           5 users    or
                         manager + $1,200
                         per module

Solomon                  Scalable SQL:           3 users    or
                         $3,095 system
                         manager + $1,395-
                         $1,895 per module

Traverse                 $795 system             2 users    plus
                         manager +$795
                         per module

Visual Accounting        $1,495 system           3 users    or
                         manager + $895
                         per module

                                                 Number
Package                  Cost                    of users

ACCPAC

Great Plains Dynamics    $1,000 per
                         additional user

Impact Encore            $1,400 system           8 users
                         manager + $1,400

MAS 90

Progression              $4,500 system           10 users
                         manager +
                         $1,350-$1850
                         per module

SBI Pro                  $2,700 system           10 users
                         manager + $1,200
                         per module

Solomon                  MS SQL: $7,995          3 users
                         system manager +
                         $2,995-$4,995
                         per module

Traverse                 $395 per
                         additional user

Visual Accounting        $1,995 system           5 users
                         manager + $1,495
                         per module

HARLEY M. COURTNEY, CPA, PhD, is a professor of accounting and director of the Center for Accounting Software Evaluation at the University of Texas, Arlington. CHERYL L. PRACHYL, CPA, PhD, is an assistant professor at the University of Texas, Arlington.