Avanquest Small Business Manager.(business management software)(Product/service evaluation)

Byline: Alan Stevens

Avanquest Small Business Manager

Integrated modules for accounts, invoicing, customer management and more

Aimed at companies with up to 50 employees, Avanquest's Small Business Manager 2007 is something of a curate's egg. Good in parts, but the good bits are spoilt by an interface that is far from intuitive, a lack of supporting advice and information, and an approach to business management we found hard to get to grips with.

On the plus side, it comprises a suite of seven integrated modules that can be purchased together, or mixed and matched to suit your requirements.

Key among these is the accounting module, which provides basic profit and loss facilities, with a useful optional 1Click Accounts add-on that can generate accounting records direct from online bank statements. Invoicing, however, isn't included, so most companies will also need to buy the separate invoices and estimates module, plus the bank reconciliation module.

Each of these modules costs [pounds sterling]39.99 ex Vat, with inventory control another [pounds sterling]49.99 on top. A basic customer management module is also available for [pounds sterling]39.99 ex Vat, which can import contact and appointments information from Outlook. Plus there's a business forecasting module ([pounds sterling]39.99) and a point-of-sales module ([pounds sterling]99.99), the latter adding support for cash registers and PC terminals for customer transactions.