Product Reviews

Sometimes 'less' can definitely mean 'more', especially when it comes to ease of use, as not everyone looking for a business bookkeeping package will require all the bits most programs seem to offer. Take certain options, such as order processing and stock control, that not everyone needs. The very small business or self-employed individual simply requires some means of raising invoices to customers, making banking transactions and keeping track of the VAT.

If this sounds like you, MYOB's latest incarnation should be ideal. BusinessBasics is the all-new entry-level product designed specially for the very small business, the freelancer or self-employed individual. You don't get a lot on the menu, but you do get a foot on the bottom rung of a well-established accounting software ladder.

BusinessBasics helps you keep your business bank accounts in order, analyse your costs and expenses, create sales invoices and track your outstanding customer accounts. During the process, the VAT is also dealt with and you can even assign costs and invoices to jobs if you wish - all from a simple main screen.

The software arrives with a sample file, allowing you to familiarise yourself with BusinessBasics. Sooner or later, though, you'll need to create your own set of accounts - which is traditionally where things start to get complicated. To help out, MYOB has migrated the New Company File Assistant from further up its range, so you get a step-by-step wizard to guide you through creating accounts and setting up your preferences.

The main screen is uncluttered with just Accounts, Banking and Sales on display. Accounts is where you'll find all the income and expense account information, and MYOB includes a full nominal ledger complete with balance sheet if you need it. Also, any information you enter in BusinessBasics can be used in MYOB Accounting or Accounting Plus, should you decide to upgrade. This provides a useful upgrade path without the hassle of data re-entry.

The Banking option lets you write cheques and receive monies straight into your bank, cash or credit card accounts and, if you wish, BusinessBasics places receipts on deposit instead of banking them immediately. You can then make a payslip for banking later when you're ready, which is usually the way it works in real life. You can also print your cheques in several formats

The Sales option lets you raise a quote, turn this into a sales invoice without retyping, and then print the result. You can track payments from customers, analyse debtors and print statements as and when required. Both sales and costs can be allocated to jobs, so you can get a profit and loss statement split into individual jobs to see just how well you're going.

The software looks good and works in a simple and logical way. Paying-in slips and cheque writing forms are as plain and simple as is possible, and with a nod in the general direction of QuickBooks you also get a register. Here you can enter bank payments and receipts, direct sales (without printing an invoice) and even customer payments all in the one place.

Without forcing you to jump through security hoops like most accounting software, BusinessBasics allows you to undo anything you happen to enter incorrectly. You find your erroneous entry by drilling down from whichever enquiry screen you're looking at, right through until you arrive at the original journal. Once the offending item is displayed you can correct it and resave, delete it completely or properly reverse the transaction to retain a nice neat audit trail for your accountant.

There's an email facility for sending invoices, quotes and any other reports you fancy in PDF format - you can also save printouts as HTML. Add to this an integrated contact-management option with cards for suppliers, employees and personal contacts and you have far more than you might have thought when first approaching the software.

What you don't get is a purchase ledger with the ability to track supplier accounts; being aimed at small businesses, perhaps MYOB presumes that your purchases will be mostly down the local cash and carry. You can invoice items from a product file, but there's no stock control of quantities in and out as such - although you do get a neat history of sales with number sold and total value each month.

If you do need to upgrade, MYOB Accounting can add supplier tracking, payroll and full stock control without the need to re-enter your BusinessBasics data. Plus, if you fancy multi-currency, multi-user capability, time billing and quantity break discounting then Accounting Plus should also be on your upgrade list.

BusinessBasics is a new direction for MYOB, and with the existing software upgrade path already in place it's hard to see any risk involved in giving it a try. There's more on the menu than appears immediately obvious, but you only need to implement the bits you find useful and the software is so forgiving there's no need to be nervous about making mistakes - an ideal first-time bookkeeping package.