I've been using Peachtree Accounting software for nearly 4 years. While more expensive than QuickBooks Pro, it offers features and details the QB can't touch. The latest version 8.0 adds some great features like the ability to transfer a report into an Excel spreadsheet which prior to 8.0 had to be done with edit cuts and pastes and a lot of editing in the spreadsheet afterwards.

If you don't have a clue about accounting and can't tell a credit from a debit (let alone how they affect liabilities, assets, expenses and revenue) then Peachtree will most likely frustrate you. However, so will Quickbooks, only Peachtree minimizes the damage the uninitiated can do to the "books". First, you must close out your years, you may not go willy nilly and change old data (that would severely effect reporting consistencies) and you must ~*~gasp~*~ decide prior to company setup if you'll be reporting on a cash or accrual basis. I've seen major confusion with Quickbooks ability to change for reporting purposes the filing status and Peachtree will have none of that.

The tutorials in Peachtree are top notch and walk you through all you need to know. They also feature a tutorial on accounting basics, but if you have no knowledge, do take a night course in the subject to really become familiar with the principles and practices.

Entering information is easy, once you're familiar with the software's workings. Entering fresh information isn't too difficult to do "on the fly". 8.0 also includes a feature wherein you can change a vendor ID lest your phone company gets aquired yet again by another company, you can change the ID and the name now and be able to track your total expenses and the like.

Annoyances of the program include the Peachtree Today screen that can drain an older computer system's resources of memory. Good news though! You can go into preferences and disable the feature from ever occuring again. Make sure to save your preferences before leaving the Today screen.

Another great new feture of 8.0 is the ability to backup on the harddrive (no more floppies) and greatest of all the backups are now compressed so if you have a lot of data, you're not required to use a Zip drive anymore! Great news knowing data can be saved on 1 or 2 floppies once more or saved to a remote server or on the harddrive.. heck you could probably even email yourself the backup file, they're not that big anymore.

Altogether, this is a good program. Customer service does stink. However, becoming a Peachtree expert is not that hard to do and I've only required customer service once and they were quite helpful. I recommend using the tutorials and the sample companies and really becoming proficient with the software before using it in the "real world". It handles payroll, AR, AP, reporting, printing 1099 and the like with ease and grace. Altering templates for reporting and invoicing is also much easier than in prior editions. So far, I'd say 8.0 is the best to date!

Recommended: Yes