General Ledger Accounting Software Solutions

General Ledger Accounting Software is essentially the heart of any organization and a critical part of accounting. It is the core for accounting setup and tracking as well as the key resource for trend analysis, forecasting and understanding the financial health of the company. General ledger accounting software will help organize all the accounting data in one central repository that enables easier monitoring, tracking, reporting and forecasting.

Advantages

While there are many integrated software products for accounting available in the industry, a generalledgeraccountingsoftware as a standalone product is also available. Stand alone packages are beneficial in a number of ways.

They have a better overall design and are easier to navigate owing to the simplicity of the operation.
They are far more cost effective and still meet the accounting needs of the organization.
They are far easier to train for and can be adapted to much faster.

Key Features

When looking for the right fit for your organization, it is important to compare and contrast the different available options in the market. It is important to consider the different features, cost and other factors when choosing the product. Some of the key features to look for when making your choice are:

General ledger or journal with the ability to handle both general and recurring entries.
Budgeting capabilities for different departments.
Balance sheet generation.
Income sheet generation with the capability to produce profit and loss statements.
Comparison, trend reports as well as historical data tracking and reporting.
Ability to keep an audit trail for every transaction

Key Differentiators

While the key features refer to the standard aspects to look for in a general ledger accounting software, if your wish is to differentiate yourself in the market the below features will be a good place to start planning for your your business requirements.

Tracking by departments or cost centers.
Ability to handle mergers and acquisitions.
Ability to track multiple organizations.
Ability to integrate with other accounting products to the extent of being able to import and export data.
Robust reporting capabilities including ability to use historical data to do trend analysis as well as demand forecasting.
Scalability - ability to grow with the organization.
Security - A robust system with effective authentication and authorization mechanisms.
Training - A well documented training manual to help the organization make the move to the general ledger accounting software.
Implementation - The implementation should be easy and the transition to the system should be hassle free.
Maintainability - Maintaining the system and making changes or enhancements should be simple.
Customization - While some parts of the software may work as is, it might be essential to customize the application to the unique needs of the organization and this should be made easy.
Support - Adequate application support should be available once the organization starts using the system.
Cost effective - While providing all the required features, the product should also be cost effective and affordable.

A general ledger accounting software is critical for the organization as it will determine how the business process will work. Hence it is important to make the right choice after adequate research and analysis.

Peachtree Tutorial Adding General Ledger Journal
Entries - Sage Training Lesson 3.5

Learn how to add a general ledger journal entry in Sage Peachtree at
www.teachUcomp.com. A clip from Mastering Peachtree Made Easy v. 2009.