Looking for Numbers/Accounting Software for Service Businesses

[addV]

Hello everyone,

I am currently in search of an accounting software that caters specifically to service businesses and provides a user-friendly experience for understanding my company's financials, without the complexity of Excel.

While Quickbooks appears to be a popular choice, I have encountered difficulties in configuring it to display a basic gross margin for a software business. My primary goal is to accurately allocate costs related to the individuals delivering the services, and have them reflected in the gross margin and cost of sales.

To provide further context, let me present a simple example with test numbers. In my view, it would be logical to include all direct costs associated with the service delivery in the gross profit calculation. This would involve accounting for expenses such as salaries, project-specific travel expenses, as well as laptops, subscriptions, and other resources used by the employees involved in delivering projects:



I am uncertain about the specific challenges I am facing, and I would appreciate your insights:

• Am I approaching this in an incorrect manner? (While I am not an accountant, this is how my industry typically calculates margins, and I would like to compare accordingly. For instance, a standard gross margin is usually around 30%.)
• Is there a crucial aspect I might be overlooking while using Quickbooks?
• Are there other software options better suited for service businesses?
• Does this problem resonate with others? If so, I would consider developing a solution myself.

I look forward to your valuable input and guidance. Thank you!

 

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[Beerbread]

You could also filter the profits/expenses by customer or vendor. From my experience, it's easier to do it on QuickBooks Desktop versus QBO, but otherwise you would have to make multiple chart of accounts and put a bunch of memos, classes, and then filter by that, and then you get your result.

 

[Eridius]

I've used it before and also hit some snags when trying to get it to show me exactly what I wanted, especially when it came to breaking down costs in a way that made sense for a service-based business like mine. It's not always as intuitive as you'd hope for handling specific accounting needs.