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I have a small legal services business of 3 people that turns over £300k. What accounting system should I buy?

I have 15-20 sales invoices and 30-40 purchase invoices. I want to grow but as I've just bought the business, I need to balance a system that will be solid if I grow, but also need to keep costs down so don't want to spend a fortune.

Public Comments

1. Jeez and people think lawyers are clever ?
2. I have been running a small business for many years and have not got on at all well with accounts packages, and have heard a number of tales of problems encountered by other small firms. If you have accountancy training you may be able to manage a package successfully; if not you may well struggle and end up with a mess. My advice is to set up simple sales and purchase ledgers etc in a spreadsheet such as Excel. These can then be presented to an accountant if necessary for producing annual accounts and tax returns. If alternatively you feel competent to do so you can produce your own accounts and tax return. Accountants and bank managers like to sell accounting packages - unless you are confident of receiving the backup which you will require, you should resist their sales pitches! If you are totally inexperienced in book-keeping then I advise buying a book or two or going on a course, Once you are aware of the basic principles you can set up your spreadsheets to suit your needs.
3. sage are pretty good, easy to use too!
4. I'm with John on this one. Although Sage is a very good accounting software it could not be recommended to someone without considerable training. It is especially difficult to remove a mistake without causing chaos. A simple spread sheet with a row at the bottom to allow the consolidation of your balance against your bank statements is virtually fool proof and easy to understand. There is one being added to the free material at "Set Up and Grow" next week. It is free to guests.