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Number rustling: feel like your accounting is getting out of control? Rein it in with the right software.(Dollar Signs)

Entrepreneur

| March 01, 2003 | Prince, C.J. | COPYRIGHT 2003 Entrepreneur Media, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)Copyright

IF YOUR ACCOUNTANT SURPRISED YOU THIS tax season with a few disturbing tidbits about your numbers, it probably wasn't the first time. But with the past year of corporate scandals bringing billion-dollar companies to their knees, most business owners are realizing that not having a handle on the company's financial inner workings can lead to disastrous consequences for companies both big and small.

For most entrepreneurs, accounting is hardly a favorite task. According to an August 2002 Greenfield Online survey, one-third of small-business owners find accounting to be the most intimidating part of managing their businesses--not surprising, given that more than half reported having no formal accounting training at all.

That's where automating properly can make a huge difference, and the latest versions of the most popular software can vastly improve your accounting IQ. The new version of Intuit's Quickbooks Pro ($300 or $180 for upgrade; http://quickbooks.intuit.com), for example, allows business owners to restrict access to parts of the program using a password system. It also lets you turn on an audit trail, which records changes to any financial transactions as well as who made the change. That's a key improvement, says Kevin Pianko, audit partner with accounting and advisory firm Eisner LLP in New York City. "In the past, you've been able to make adjustments to historical data," he says. "Obviously, that impedes the integrity of the data, which makes it useless to someone running a business."

Microsoft's Small Business Manager 7.0 ($995 for single user or $2,495 for up to five concurrent users; www.microsoft. com/businesssolutions) includes a cashflow calendar to help businesses see on a daily basis the expected cash inflow and outflow. You can set it up to tell you which customers are not paying on time and why your balances may have fallen below what you expected them to be, says Karen Engel, lead global product manager for Microsoft Business Solutions Small Business Manager.

Peachtree's 2003 upgrade to its Complete Accounting software ($300 or $220 for upgrade; www. peachtree.com) offers a Daily Register Report, which ...

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Source: HighBeam Research, Number rustling: feel like your accounting is getting out of control?...

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