AccountEdge Review

Pros

• Advanced features
• Ample accounting reports
• Highly customizable
• On-premise
• PC and Mac-based
• Double-entry accounting
• Mobile app

Cons

• Steep learning curve
• Limited integrations
• Limited invoicing

Overview

AccountEdge, a locally-installed software that used to be part of MYOB, was so loved that two MYOB employees bought themselves out and took control of the US branch known as ACCLIVITY. Now owned by Priority, AccountEdge may have changed hands but hasn’t changed heart.

AccountEdge is as comprehensive as ever with ample features, strong accounting, and over 300 reports. Some of the best features include contact management, lead management, inventory with item serialization and warehouse management, shipping management, and budgeting. In addition to a great feature selection, AccountEdge sets itself apart by being one of the few locally-installed accounting programs that still offers cloud accessibility, a mobile app, and support for both Mac and Windows users. Plus, unlike QuickBooks, there are no forced updates, making AccountEdge a more affordable solution.

While the software has a lot going for it, a steep learning curve, limited invoicing, and limited integrations may rule this software out for some users. The company also makes users pay extra for phone support, which is less than ideal, and there are no live bank feeds available.

Despite these drawbacks, AccountEdge could be a great solution for business looking for traditional accounting and highly developed locally-installed software. Read on to learn more.

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Pricing

Rating: Good

AccountEdge is a locally-installed program with two pricing plans: AccountEdge Basic and AccountEdge Pro. Unlike QuickBooks, when you purchase an AccountEdge license there are no forced upgrades. Your license can be a one-time purchase (although you can upgrade for a discounted cost whenever you please). So you can choose to upgrade every year, two years, five years — or not at all.

AccountEdge offers a free 30-day trial of both plans, which also sets it apart from QuickBooks. No credit card or banking information is required. AccountEdge offers a referral program where you can earn a $25 – $100 rebate check for referring a friend.

AccountEdge Basic

• $149 for a single-user license
• Invoices and quotes
• Contact management
• Expense tracking
• Items list
• Job costing
• Reporting
• Budgeting
• Multiple currencies

AccountEdge Pro

• $399 for a single-user license
• Invoices and quotes
• Contact management
• Expense tracking
• Items list
• Job costing
• Reporting
• Budgeting
• Multiple currencies
• Departmental accounting
• Accounts payable
• Payroll
• Time tracking
• Retainer, trust, and escrow accounts

If you outgrow AccountEdge, the company that runs AccountEdge offers an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution called Priority ERP. For enterprises needing more advanced features, Priority ERP supports finance management and accounting as well as advanced CRM, warehouse control, MRP for manufacturing, production planning, human resource management, and more.

Extra Costs:

Before purchasing AccountEdge, there are several extra costs to be aware of. The cost for these add-ons can add up quickly, but luckily AccountEdge doesn’t force software updates, so odds are the software will likely still be cheaper than QuickBooks. Here are the potential extra costs to anticipate:

• Additional Users: Each license only supports one user, so you’ll have to purchase additional workstation licenses. In the past, these licenses cost $249/year for each additional user or $999/year for a 5-user pack. However, AccountEdge doesn’t make this information readily available on their site, so you’ll need to contact them directly for the most up-to-date pricing.
• Upgrades: A single-user upgrade costs $99 for AccountEdge Basic and $199 for AccountEdge Pro.
• Payroll: AccountEdge Pro comes with built-in payroll. There will still be extra costs for updating payroll tax tables and AccountEdge’s payroll forms service. Contact AccountEdge directly for pricing.
• Direct Deposit: The direct deposit for payroll option can be added for $14.95/per month or $0.99/per transaction.
• Phone Support: Phone support costs $199/year.
• Credit Card Processing: AccountEdge offers credit card processing with two pricing structures: a variable fee plan or flat fee plan. The variable plan costs $15/month plus processing as low as 1.97% + $0.30/per card-present transaction or 2.29% + $0.30/per card-not-present transaction. The flat free plan costs as low as 2.65% + $0.30/per card-present transaction or 2.9% + $0.30/per card-not-present transaction. Read our post on understanding payment processing to learn more.
• Card Reader: AccountEdge partners with Forte to bring users a card reader solution. A Forte card reader traditionally costs $399, but AccountEdge users get an exclusive $100 discount.
• AccountEdge Connect: Although AccountEdge is a locally-installed program, there’s a cloud option where your employees, accountants, contractors, and vendors can use the software on the cloud. All of the data will automatically sync to your desktop file. There are four pricing plans ranging from $10 – $100/per month depending on the number of users you need.
• Conversion Services: If you are switching over from QuickBooks, you can pay for AccountEdge’s conversion services, which start at $400.
• Checks: You can purchase checks, envelopes, tax forms, deposit slips, packing slips, and much more from AccountEdge. Users receive 25% of their first-time order, plus free shipping. Visit the AccountEdge website for pricing details.
• Network Edition: Mac users can purchase the Network Edition of AccountEdge, which allows multiple users to access AccountEdge if they’re on the same network. Contact the company for pricing and setup details.

Cloud-Based Or Locally-Installed

Locally-installed. The software is downloaded to a single computer and must be used on that computer (unless additional users are purchased).

However, unlike most locally-installed software, AccountEdge does offer a mobile app, and a service called AccountEdge Connect where users can access their account online and the data will automatically sync with your desktop version of AccountEdge.

Hardware & Software Requirements

Rating: Good

AccountEdge is compatible with Mac and Windows. Here are some of the basic system requirements for each:

AccountEdge For Mac

• Mac OS X 10.11 to 10.14
• 200+ MB of disc space for installation
• Screen resolution of 1152 x 720 (minimum)

Certain features may require internet access and Office for Mac.

AccountEdge For Windows

• Windows 7 SP2, 8, or 10
• 2 GHz processor or higher
• 2 GB RAM or higher
• 200+ MB of disc space for installation
• Screen resolution of 1152 x 720 (minimum)

Certain features may require internet access, Microsoft Office, or a PDF viewer. Visit the AccountEdge website for the most up-to-date and detailed system requirements.

AccountEdge also offers AccountEdge Mobile, an app for iPhones and iPads (iOS 8.0+). There is no Android app at this time.

Specific Size Of Business

AccountEdge Basic is geared toward small businesses while AccountEdge Pro is designed for small to large-sized businesses. The software is ideal for businesses looking for numerous features, strong accounting, and locally-installed software that can still be accessed on the web. The steep learning curve of the software is not for the faint of heart and may require a lot of time to learn if you don’t have a background in accounting.

AccountEdge charges extra for additional users, which may make the software a bit expensive for mid-sized businesses (although you won’t be forced to upgrade the software which may save you money compared to QuickBooks; plus the Pro plan comes with built-in payroll). There is an audit trail, and you have detailed control over which features your users can and cannot access.

AccountEdge offers an international version called AccountEdge International that offers many of the same great features (minus the built-in payroll). Contact the company directly to see if your country is supported.

Accounting Method

Rating: Excellent

Both cash-basis and accrual accounting.

Ease Of Use

Rating: Poor

With so many features available, AccountEdge has a steep learning curve and can take quite a while to learn. While the software is fairly well-organized, there are some features that are really clunky, and the software’s UI is a bit outdated. Oftentimes, when I was inputting data into fields, the software wouldn’t respond correctly.

Despite these drawbacks, one thing AccountEdge gets right is that there’s a help icon on nearly every screen that will take you to a how-to article in AccountEdge’s knowledge base. Users who have a background in traditional accounting or QuickBooks may have a much easier time adjusting to AccountEdge.

Features

Rating: Excellent

This is where AccountEdge excels. AccountEdge supports an extensive number of features, especially for users with the Pro plan. Here’s an overview of the most notable features AccountEdge has to offer (the pictures features below are from AccountEdge Pro):

• Organization: AccountEdge doesn’t have a traditional “dashboard” as you’d expect to find in a cloud-based alternative. Instead, the software is organized into Command Centers such as Accounts, Banking, Sales, Time Billing, Purchases, Payroll, Inventory, and Card File. Each Command Center has icon buttons for main features and arrows to guide you through the proper accounting workflows.

• Invoicing: Invoices can be created for services, items, or times. There are only two very basic template options and invoice customizations are virtually nonexistent. You can create recurring invoices and add a salesperson, shipment method, journal memo, comments, delivery status, and category to your invoices. You can email or print invoices, or you can set up a client portal with AccountEdge’s Web Pay payment processing service.

• Quotes: You can create quotes in AccountEdge and easily convert quotes to invoices, orders, or purchase orders.

• Contact Management: AccountEdge’s well-developed CRM feature allows you to record and manage your customers and suppliers. Contacts are referred to as “cards.” Each card file can include information like contact details, default sales terms, an image, default discount, default shipping information, notes, and more. You can also track jobs by customers and view their full history. You can attach important documents, like contracts, to each contact as well.

• Lead Management: In addition to managing customers and suppliers, AccountEdge is one of the few accounting solutions to offer lead management.
• Employee Management: You can also manage your employees and record detailed information like their contact information, personal details, photo, identifiers, department, commission rate, custom lists, assigned parking, team affiliation, partner’s name, wages, deductions, employer expenses, taxes, pay frequency — you get the picture.

• Expense Tracking: You can import bank statements into AccountEdge via .ofx, .qfx, .qif, .ofc, or .qbo to track your business’s income and expenses. AccountEdge automatically matches transactions by date, item, and amount. You can also set specific matching guidelines. Unlike most every other accounting software, AccountEdge does not offer live bank feeds, which means you will have to spend time manually importing your bank transactions on a regular basis.
• Bank Reconciliation: You can reconcile bank accounts and run a bank reconciliation report in AccountEdge.
• Chart Of Accounts: AccountEdge has a detailed, traditional chart of accounts. You can edit, combine, and add new accounts to fit your business needs. There is no fixed asset management feature, but you can use the chart of accounts and journal entries to keep track of assets and depreciation.

• Accounts Payable (Pro Plan Only): You can create and manage bills and recurring bills in AccountEdge. You can prepare electronic payments or print checks directly from AccountEdge and apply them towards your accounts payable. You can also set up automatic payment reminders so you never miss a bill.

• Checks: You can prepare and print checks, as well as mailing labels, directly from AccountEdge.
• Inventory (Pro Plan Only): AccountEdge Basic offers a simple item list. AccountEdge Pro offers a well-developed, advanced inventory feature. In addition to typical item descriptions and tracking, the inventory function also offers serialization, warranty tracking, item kits, product variations (like color, size, etc), and more. You can easily manage your inventory’s location and create multiple pricing levels for items. The inventory Command Center makes it easy to adjust inventory, count inventory, build items, and receive items, and there are several inventory reports as well.

• Project Management: AccountEdge offers project management and job costing. You can link projects to another job, a contact, manager, or customer. You can track the job status and any expenses or time associated with the job.

• Time Tracking (Pro Plan Only): AccountEdge allows you to track billable and unbillable hours in real-time and attach hours to jobs, invoices, and quotes. The software also supports timesheets, making it easy to run payroll.
• Payroll (Pro Plan Only): You can run payroll and send paystubs as invoices or pay customers directly using direct deposit or checks printed from AccountEdge. You can also manage healthcare, 401(k)s, sick leave, vacation time, overtime, and more. You will still have to pay for payroll forms and to update your payroll tax tables.

• Commission (Pro Plan Only): AccountEdge is one of the only programs I know of that also allows businesses to track commission. This feature synchronizes with the payroll function.
• Reports: AccountEdge offers an incredible number of reports, just over 300 to be specific. One of the most notable reports is the cash flow analysis report that helps business manage and understand their cash flow.
• Budget (Pro Plan Only): Through AccountEdge, you can create yearly budgets. You can also use the previous year’s data and reports to create future budgets.
• Journal Entries: You can create journal entries.
• Purchase Orders: The software supports purchase orders and recurring purchase orders. You can also add shipping instructions to your POs.

• Credit Memos: You can create credit memos.
• Class Tracking: You can track locations, departments, and categories in AccountEdge to better manage your company and gain more detailed reporting.
• Sales Receipts: You can create and print sales receipts.
• Default Email Messages: You can set default email messages for 15 different types of forms and scenarios.
• Retainers, Escrows, & Trusts (Pro Plan Only): You can spend directly from a retainer, escrow, or trust account and apply funds to bills. This function also allows you to set up invoices for retainers, trusts, or escrows.
• Shipping Manager: If you enable the UPS integration, AccountEdge has a unique shipping manager where you can record and track shipments, print shipping labels, and estimate shipping costs.
• Sales Tax: You can create an unlimited number of sales tax rates in AccountEdge.
• Tax Support: Depending on your plan, AccountEdge can offer up to 330 tax forms, which far succeeds any of its competition. These forms can include W-2s, 1099s, 1096s, etc.
• Mileage Deductions: You can easily track mileage deductions. When you enter the rate and the starting and ending odometer reading, AccountEdge will automatically calculate the miles driven and total mileage expense.

• Multiple Currencies: AccountEdge has nine pre-set currencies. If you need additional currencies, you’ll have to manually enter the currency and exchange rate.
• Importing & Exporting: You can import and export almost all data with AccountEdge.

Customer Service & Support

Rating: Fair

Customer service is generally limited to email support. Phone support is available but costs an additional $199/year. When it comes down to it, customer support is expensive and email response times aren’t ideal with responses taking between 1-3 days. There are many customer complaints about the company’s support as well, especially from users who don’t like paying extra to talk to a representative on the phone.

However, AccountEdge does have a well-developed knowledge base and several other support resources available to users. And, despite the customer complaints, there’s an equal number of users who comment positively on their customer service experiences with AccountEdge.

Here are all of AccountEdge’s available support options:

• Phone: Phone support is available at an additional cost.
• Email: You can email AccountEdge for support.
• Support Form: AccountEdge has an online support form as well.
• In-Software Help: You can access AccountEdge’s knowledge base directly from within the software. You can also hit the F1 command on nearly any page to learn more about how that particular feature or workflow functions.
• Knowledge Base: AccountEdge has a detailed Help Center with dozens of helpful articles.  There’s also an FAQ section. With slower email response times, this is definitely a good place to look for support.
• User Guides: AccountEdge offers various user guides found both in the software itself and online. Some notable guides include Getting Started, Accounting 101, and Business Insights 101.
• Blog: The AccountEdge blog features updates, business advice, and news about the company.
• YouTube: For those visual learners, like myself, this is a great option. AccountEdge’s YouTube channel features 200+ videos with step-by-step instructions for anything and everything AccountEdge related.
• Newsletter: AccountEdge sends customers a monthly newsletter with tips and tricks for using AccountEdge.
• Customer Suggestions: AccountEdge also accepts customer suggestions and product requests.
• Social Media: AccountEdge maintains Facebook and Twitter profiles.

User Reviews

Rating: Good

Negative Reviews & Complaints

Previously, finding customer reviews regarding AccountEdge was difficult, but now the cat’s out of the bag about this program and users are speaking up — and what they have to say is fairly positive across the board. Although most reviews are positive, there are some recurring complaints:

• Poor Customer Service: The main complaint is that AccountEdge has poor customer support. Users also dislike having to pay extra for phone support.
• Limited Record Access: A few customers complain that it’s difficult to access their previous year’s records.
• Steep Learning Curve: As mentioned previously, the learning curve for AccountEdge is steep, and many users find the software unintuitive and time-consuming to learn.
• Limited Integrations: A couple of users wish for more integrations.

Positive Reviews & Testimonials

AccountEdge receives predominantly positive reviews from its users. Many of the users leaving reviews have also been using the software for years, even decades, which is a good sign. AccountEdge receives 4.5/5 stars on Software Advice (based on 74 reviews) and 8.2/10 stars (based on 31 reviews). The company also has a page dedicated to customer testimonials.

Here are some of the most common highlights users share:

• Easy To Use: While some users find the software difficult to use, far more praise AccountEdge for its ease of use.
• Good Customer Support: Along the same vein, although there are reports of poor customer service, many customers have good things to say about AccountEdge’s customer support.
• Ideal For Macs: AccountEdge was literally made for Macs as the product was originally part of MYOB’s US mac software development. Many customers appreciate this, especially a few years back when Macs weren’t as widely used and the software options were more limited.
• Feature Selection: One of the most common, positive reviews of AccountEdge is that it has everything. Customers love the selection of features, especially the payroll, inventory, and tax support functions.
• Better Than QuickBooks: Several users say they prefer AccountEdge over other big-name players like QuickBooks and Sage.

Here’s what a few users are saying:

I’ve been using AccountEdge Pro since it came out. Before that I was using MYOB. I have tried QuickBooks and Quicken and frankly AccountEdge Pro works like I think. Entering invoices and purchases is simple and quick and updates my inventory. All of my bank accounts, credit cards, loans, lines are easily reconciled and auto payments keeps them updated.

I started using the software in 1994 when it was MYOB. I love it. It has really helped us keep track of our expenses, income and referral sources, which has allowed us to tweak our advertising and marketing dollars to their full advantage. My CPA loves the reports, I love AccountEdge. AccountEdge I consider the best small and medium business software on the market. Beyond AccountEdge, I have used and taught other people Peachtree, Sage, Quickbooks, and Simply Accounting. So I have experience with a lot of accounting software.

I strongly recommend AccountEdge Pro for anyone needing a robust, complete, usable, multi-platform accounting solution made up of superb software, top-notch support, affordable cost, flexible reporting and great human engineering. AccountEdge allows me to quickly and easily take care of my organization’s accounting needs.

Integrations & Add-Ons

Rating: Poor

AccountEdge has incredibly limited integrations offerings. You’ll only find seven integrations available.

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Security

Rating: Fair

As Accountedge is a locally-installed accounting program, security is handled on your personal server. The company has zero access to your account or information, so firewall precautions and data backups are up to you.

Read our article How to Keep Your Locally Installed Accounting Software Secure post to learn about protecting your data.

Contact AccountEdge for security details regarding AccountEdge Connect and Mobile.

Final Verdict

Even if you just browsed through the Features section, it’s easy to see that AccountEdge offers an incredible number of features. Not only are there a ton of features, but these features are also all highly developed (minus invoicing). The range and uniqueness of these features are almost unrivaled, especially compared to the other accounting software programs. This makes AccountEdge particularly ideal for medium to large-sized companies that need advanced capabilities and customizability.

However, the steep learning curve and outdated UI may make some companies reconsider whether the features are worth it. For those with accounting experience or familiar with locally-installed programs like QuickBooks, this shouldn’t be a problem, but those with little to no accounting experience might be better off choosing simpler accounting software.

But as far as locally-installed software goes, AccountEdge has one other secret weapon that competitors like QuickBooks don’t — the cloud. AccountEdge Connect and AccountEdge Mobile give users the best of both worlds. This is also one of the few locally-installed accounting solutions for Macs.

In terms of pricing, both the Basic and Pro plan could be economical options depending on how often you upgrade the software. But for most companies, that one-time purchase fee isn’t going to cover everything, and the extra costs could add up fast, especially for businesses with multiple users or needing phone support.

While the features AccountEdge offers are impressive, it’s up to you to decide whether those features outweigh the hidden costs, the learning curve, limited integrations, lack of live bank feeds, and the slow customer service. The good news is that AccountEdge offers a free 30-day trial so you can easily play around with the software to get an idea of whether or not it’s a good fit for your business.