Accounting software vendor Reckon has launched a new Cloud service, CashBook Online which allows small businesses to manage their accounts online or without and Internet connection.
The CashBook product is designed for “micro-businesses and soletraders”, according to Reckon, and the Online offering is the latest in an overall “Reckon Online” strategy to make its software available from any device.
At the launch event in Sydney, Reckon’s business division CEO, Gavin Dixon, said as many 600,000 of Australia’s 2 million sole traders and SMEs don’t use any form of computerised accounting system.
“We want to monetise that market with a solution that works online and offline which is important with Cloud computing today,” Dixon said.
CashBook Online has all the regular accounting software features like income and expense recording, bank account reconciliation, GST returns and profit and loss statements.
The Web interface is cross-browser and works with Firefox, IE and Safari and the desktop edition, which can be downloaded by right-clicking on the Web interface will run on Windows or Mac OS X. CashBook online requires Microsoft Silverlight 4.0.
With the offline version a snapshot of the accounts is taken for a selected period and any data that is added locally is then synchronised to the online version. The Cashbook Online data is hosted in Sydney.
Dixon said Cashbook Online reduces the potential for conflicting data between businesses and accountants.
“CashBook Online is designed for users that require less functionality than QuickBooks and spend less time using computers,” Dixon said, adding straightforward graphs and reports are part of the subscription.
CashBook Online is $198 (inc GST) per year and after the first year people can choose to renew annually or monthly at $18.15 per month. The app allows an unlimited number of cashbooks and transactions.
Reckon’s first online accounting software offering, QuickBooks Hosted, was launched in 2009 and there are now more than 10,000 users.
The company also announced Reckon BankData for automatic feeds of bank transaction data into its online accounting services.
So far St George, ANZ and NAB are supported and Reckon is in talks with Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank. BankData is available at no cost for the first three months.
Dixon also demonstrated Reckon’s work on support for Standard Business Reporting with its GovConnect service.
“With SBR we pick up errors at the time you are reporting hence avoiding time-consuming returns,” he said. “Also, if businesses lodge with SBR they have two weeks to make a payment.”
GovConnect is developed in Reckon’s North Sydney offices. It is available free to QuickBooks 2011/2012 subscribers.
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