The MacReviewCast #223: Icicle, TextExpander Touch, Chronosync, Lojack, MacNerdNews

By Steve Beyer:

Today I’m here to talk about a small business Accounting Software called Accounted. The makers of this accounting application, Oranged Software, call Accounted real Accounting made easy. Accounted is an add-on to their flag ship product called Studiometry, the ultimate organizational tool. We will be discussing Studiometry in a future review.

I’m on a quest to replace Quicken for Mac with a modern Mac financial software package. I guess the bottom line is I am tired of waiting for Intuit to finally release a univeral product that will run on my Intel based Mac. Quicken is the last program that I run under the Rosetta Emulator. I am eager to embark into the Snow Leopard Universe and I am not convinced that Intuit will have a product that runs in it.

When Tim asked for a volunteer to review Accounted, I decided that this would be a good place to start. I quickly found out that accounting software is not really very easy to review.

Where’s the angle? Where is the excitement? Where’s the Drama? Ok, I know we’re getting a bit over dramatic here, but the bottom line is accounting software is really not that exciting. Practical Yes, but exciting no.

With this in mind, I thought a good place to start is to find out what Oranged Software had to say about Accounted:

“Accounted is a powerful solution with many of the features seen in more expensive accounting programs, but with the ease of use of a much smaller application.

Powerful features such as double entry accounting, accounts receivable, accounts payable, split transactions, and check printing are included.

But we also focused on the interface and user experience.

Accounted includes many small touches, such as the “totals ticker” that instantly shows several totals at the bottom of each account.

After reading this I thought, “This application sounds like it’s not to exciting” but it was time to charge forward.

Unlike Quicken and its simple checkbook metaphor, Accounted is a true double entry accounting program. In other words this is a real accounting program for the real business world. It’s not SAP, but something a small business can afford, and the clincher is it runs on a Mac and that other operating system called Windows.

Double entry accounting is used in most accounting packages because of the ability to easily calculate income and expenses. Basically, double entry accounting simply means that each transaction is associated with at least two accounts. Each Transaction has one or more debits balanced by one or more credits. The total debits of your accounting system has to equal the total credits. If they don’t equal then you have to go figure out where the mistake is located.

We don’t have time to make this into an accounting class but suffice it to say that these debits and credits are what business people use to talk about accounting They were created many hundreds of years ago by the early merchants. It is believed that double entry accounting was created by Italians somewhere in the 14th to 16th century. Accounting dates back as far as the archaeologist have found. We have examples of records found on clay tablets from the early Egyptians and Messopitamians.

The Accounted user interface is quite simple and strangely similar to Quicken. It brings back memories of old fashioned Ledger paper. For you younger Mac followers out there, we actually used accounting paper for accounting in the old days before we had a Mac. This paper usually consisted of green and white lines with 4 or sometimes more columns. This lined paper was commonly placed in thick books. One of which was called the journal which contained a running summary of daily transaction broken down into columns just like today’s spreadsheets. The other book was call the Ledger. It contains a piece of accounting paper for each business account.

At the end or each month, accountants closed the books by totaling summary information from the journal and transferring them to proper ledger pages. After this is completed, the accountants created a trial balance where all of the debits and credits were listed together. If they equalled, the accountants were ready to start all over again the next month. The only problem in this paper world was that the debit often did not match the credits and it often takes a couple of tries before this is accomplished. This whole process was repeated each month and each year over and over again.

Well enough of ancient history let get back to the user interface. The Accounted Main Window which is shown here, is where most of the input and editing of the information takes place. According to Oranged Software, this window has a sleek design meant to show a large amount of information without being overly crowded. This is no Web 2.0 interface but it is simple and traditional. I guess I was hoping for a bit more Mac pizzaz.

The main window is divided into 3 main sections. The left side of the window shows your accounts, their types, and their balances. The right side of the window shows the list of all transactions for the selected account. Transactions can be created and edited directly in the main window, or double-clicked on to edit in a separate window.

The bottom line of the window shows the totals and/or balances for the selected account

Along the top of the window is a bar of 8 menu icons. On the far left hand side we one icon for Preferences, add a new Person, add a new Account, and add a new Transaction. On the Right hand side we find icons for new payable bill, pay bills, new recieveable payment, and receive payments.

As you would expect, the Preferences are system wide options for viewing and importing data. I would recommend that this menu item be removed from the bar since it is not a daily use item and is also available as an option under the program name.

The other three items on the left hand side are the three main variables tracked by the program, Accounts, People, and Transactions.


The Right hand side contains information on future transactions. In accounting terms Accounts Receivable (what is owed us) and Accounts Payable (what we owe). I assume Oranged Software included these icons due to their frequency for most business. Since Accounts receivable and payable are not required to use this accounting program, I would recommend that the programmers provide a drag and drop option that allows the users to customize their menu bar to their requirements. Why show the users something they don’t use?

Let’s go a bit deeper into each of the main variables. There are 9 main account types, each with it’s own properties and compatibilities.

Bank type – This is Your basic account. This account can make transactions with other bank, cash, credit card accounts, as well as with income and expense accounts. Bank accounts maintain a balance. Bank accounts cannot make transactions with accounts receivable nor accounts payable. I find this a bit unusual from an accounting standpoint but that is the rules.

Cash – Cash accounts are similar to bank accounts. They can have the same transactions and maintain a balance.

Credit Card – Credit card accounts are similar to bank accounts. They also have the same transcations and maintain a balance.

Income – Income accounts are special accounts. These accounts are used to deposit money into your bank, cash, and credit card accounts. Income accounts cannot make transactions with other income accounts nor with expense accounts. This is another weird requirement because the only way to fix an error is to go back and alter a transaction. I don’t imagine that our Sarbanes-Oxley friends would be fans here. It’s better to make adjusting entries with a trail to provide security.

Income accounts are the only accounts that can make transactions with Accounts Receivable, as the receivable payment must come from an income account type. This is also not the norm.

Expense – Expense accounts are special accounts that behave similarly as income accounts. They also have the same restrictions and problems.

Accounts Receivable – Accounts receivable is a special account type used to show future income. You enter “receivable payments” into Accounted, and then later “receive payments” when the payment actually comes in. Accounts receivable can only make transactions with income accounts. I am going to jump off my soap box but I think you can see the problems.

Accounts Payable – Accounts payable is a special account type. They behave and have the same restrictions and problems.

Asset – Asset accounts can be used to track anything owned, either tangible or intangible. Paying money into an asset account will raise the balance of the account. These accounts are used in many reports in Accounted. I did not find any system for fixed assets and depreciation. I probably missed it but this is a standard for most business accounting systems. It is not required, but nice have.

Liabilities – Liability accounts are used to track anything that is owed to others. Liabilities are similar to Accounts payable, but more long-term. Paying money into a liability account will lower the balance of the account. These accounts are used in many reports in Accounted. Well in the real accounting world Accounts payable are one type of liability. It is true that liabilities are are usually broken down into short term or long term but this is not really an standard accounting principal.

People are used in Accounted to track payees for transactions. People can be Vendors, Employees, Customers, or Others. The payee type is used more for your own personal organization than for items in Accounted.

Vendor – Vendors are used to show a person or company from whom you generally purchase goods or services. Vendors are generally associated with your transactions.

Transactions are instances of receiving, paying, or transferring money from one Account to another. Transactions can also have several other fields, such as check number, payment method, memo, Payee, notes, and transaction image. The transaction image field is a great place to store scans of your receipts for future use.

Ok, this is your basic accounting stuff.
Reporting – There are several report types available in Account. They contain all of the normal reports like balance sheet, Profit and Loss Statemtents, and Cash Flows. It provides the users to adjust several variables that you normally find in accounting software. Reports are the benefit of using accounting software. They provide the needed tools to make smart business decisions. This should more than satisfy businesses in the intended target market.

Charts – Several chart types are available, which organize and present your data based on time periods. You have simple Fiscal Year and Calendar Year totals. The same data can then be shown in by Month, or year to year. These are pretty basic charting capabilities. No real holes that I could find but again no real fancy wow factor either.

Ok, we have our accounting needs met but what about the cool features? I was really quite impressed with the importing features that are provided with this software. It contained the standard Quicken, Quickbooks, and Comma Delimited Text file inputs. And better yet, when I tried the Quicken import it worked as advertised something I have not always found in the past. Links are provided to import to and from the earlier mentioned Studiometry Software. This is Oranged Software’s real secret weapon. I really like the ability to import people directly from your Apple contacts.

Accounted provides the ability to easily import PayPal transactions without needing to download logs as Quickbook or Quicken files. You can now simply navigate to your PayPal Account’s history page and copy and paste information. Since PayPal is a major method that most business in this target market accept credit cards payments, I thought this was really a great feature.

Probably the most surprising feature was Multiple Currency. If you do business in multiple countries this is a real plus. This feature is not always supported by even some of the big guys in the market. I did not try this option but if it works as advertised this is great option in this product price range.

Which brings us to the point of pricing. Oranged Software is currently listed at $79.95. Thats quite a bargain. More like a Quickbooks product at a Quicken price. A free trial is also available from the oranged software website at www.oranged.net.

Is it everything I wanted and hoped for? Well if you are a small business and you need something that you personally can use it is a nice step up from Quicken. I am not so sure I would want to use this software if I was a bit bigger company with someone else doing my bookkeeping. I am not sure it really has enough security. Some of the odd requirements would take classic accounts a bit of retraining. I think the real benefit would come from teaming this package with Oranged Software’s other program, Studiometry. Stay Tuned because my next review will dive into this program to see if my assumptions are correct.

Continue reading about Accounted: Real Accounting Made Easy