Greetings from RSM Bird Cameron's Canberra office where the Xero Cloud Accounting Software from NZ is being demonstrated. When the GST was introduced into Australia, the government provided a voucher for software, which on my account's advice I used to buy a very simple Microsoft Windows based accounting package. This worked reasonably well for several years until I phased out Windows for Linux. My accountant could not recommend any Linux accounting software, so I signed up for the Saasu cloud based accounting software. This works much the same as the previous software, but with the advantage I don't have to install software upgrades. My account has access to download data from the service. Xero seems to be very similar to Saasu.
One feature of Xero is that you can post a text comment to your accountant against a transaction (and they reply).
One improvement I suggested to Xero (and would be useful in Saasu) would be an option two factor authentication. That is if the system detected the user was on a computer they had not used before, a code would be sent by SMS to their phone, which they have to enter, along with their usual ID and password. This would provide more protection against someone hacking the account, without causing too much inconvenience.
Showing posts with label Saasu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saasu. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Web based accounting package
These are some initial comments about the Saasu web based accounting package. The idea is that I just need a web browser and Internet access to run my business, with no special software on my computer.
After replacing my Windows XP laptop with a Linux Netbook I realised that I would need to consider what accounting software to use. Previously I had used Cashflow Manager but this runs on Microsoft Windows. There is some discussion online of it working on under Wine on Linux. But I thought I might avoid the problem by using a web based accounting package.
My consulting business has very few transactions and I only used the accounting program once a quarter when preparing a Business Activity Statement to send the Australian Tax Office my GST payments.
My accountant doesn't provide web access to their system. But they did mention there was another client using Saasu. I was sceptical, thinking this would be a US based product which would not be able to handle Australian accounting and taxation requirements. But on their front page I noticed a photo of Stephen Collins from Acidlabs recommending the product: "Saasu rocks. Have recently moved from MYOB. Would not go back. ". Normally I think these product endorsements are fictional, from non-existant people. But this is someone from here in Canberra who I know.
I signed up online for the free limited Saasu account. This allows for 15 transactions a month. I am not sure what a "transaction" is, but even if I have to pay the Saasu monthly rate, the cost of the service appears comparable to Cashflow Manager.
Signing up was not entirely straightforward. The conformation message from Saasu was trapped by my Spam filter. Then when I attempted to log in, the user id screen of Saasu kept giving "not a email address" when I attempted to enter my email address. When past that problem I was presented with two options: one for a sample set of accounts and the other to start work on my business.
Starting up the "dashboard" for my business defaulted to this financial year, correctly selected the Australian financial period. The web page has a simple menu across the top with: Dashboard, Sales, Purchases, Contacts and Reports. I selected "Purchases" then "Add". AT this point the different with Cashflow Manager becomes apparent, as this package allows for much more advanced accounting options, which Cashflow Manager was shielding me from.
A few minutes with the package has given me the confidence to try entering some data. The package seems to know about Australian requirements, such as ABNs and company numbers, as well as GST codes. I will try entering a months worth of purchases and invoices and see how much of the free 15 transactions this uses up.
After replacing my Windows XP laptop with a Linux Netbook I realised that I would need to consider what accounting software to use. Previously I had used Cashflow Manager but this runs on Microsoft Windows. There is some discussion online of it working on under Wine on Linux. But I thought I might avoid the problem by using a web based accounting package.
My consulting business has very few transactions and I only used the accounting program once a quarter when preparing a Business Activity Statement to send the Australian Tax Office my GST payments.
My accountant doesn't provide web access to their system. But they did mention there was another client using Saasu. I was sceptical, thinking this would be a US based product which would not be able to handle Australian accounting and taxation requirements. But on their front page I noticed a photo of Stephen Collins from Acidlabs recommending the product: "Saasu rocks. Have recently moved from MYOB. Would not go back. ". Normally I think these product endorsements are fictional, from non-existant people. But this is someone from here in Canberra who I know.
I signed up online for the free limited Saasu account. This allows for 15 transactions a month. I am not sure what a "transaction" is, but even if I have to pay the Saasu monthly rate, the cost of the service appears comparable to Cashflow Manager.
Signing up was not entirely straightforward. The conformation message from Saasu was trapped by my Spam filter. Then when I attempted to log in, the user id screen of Saasu kept giving "not a email address" when I attempted to enter my email address. When past that problem I was presented with two options: one for a sample set of accounts and the other to start work on my business.
Starting up the "dashboard" for my business defaulted to this financial year, correctly selected the Australian financial period. The web page has a simple menu across the top with: Dashboard, Sales, Purchases, Contacts and Reports. I selected "Purchases" then "Add". AT this point the different with Cashflow Manager becomes apparent, as this package allows for much more advanced accounting options, which Cashflow Manager was shielding me from.
A few minutes with the package has given me the confidence to try entering some data. The package seems to know about Australian requirements, such as ABNs and company numbers, as well as GST codes. I will try entering a months worth of purchases and invoices and see how much of the free 15 transactions this uses up.
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