This type of question has always confused me. ATB and other trial balance software always seems to cost more that QuickBooks or Peachtree. Why? What will specialized trial balance software do for you that you can't do with a standard accounting package?
Assuming that you can be satisfied with something cheap and off-the shelf, I'll make my standard observation. I know I'll get lit up like a Christmas Tree for this, but I really don't care anymore. If you want software that thinks like an accountant, get Sage (Peachtree). But if you want software that thinks like Lucy Ricardo, get QuickBooks. This is because, since "anyone can use QuickBooks," according to the ads, Intuit has gone to great (some might say, extreme) lengths to disguise the fact that QuickBooks is in fact an accounting program, not a video game.
That said, if you want to import data directly into ProSeries (which I've never done), I believe QuickBooks is your only alternative.
It's kind of like you and paper filing returns, I like trial balance software. Part of that is due to doing a number of govt audits that trial balance software is just a lot more flexible than using a full fledged accounting software.
So do you have both? Or will t/b software take you all the way? I'm not being critical, I'm just curious. I've never used t/b software -- at least, I can't remember doing so -- and I'm wondering what is the extra flexibility it gives you. Can you create some or all of your audit w/ps with it?
In our office we have Peachtree and Quickbooks to cover our client needs (plus our own business needs with Peachtree). I have used ATB trial balance software for centuries and when that supposedly died off we purchased the Creative Solutions trial balance software. The only trouble is, ATB is still functional with XP so I continue to use it. I am going to be shopping for new computers in the next week or two so I think at that time I will finally put ATB to rest. The nice thing about the trial balance software is the layout allows you to load a client trial balance quickly and make journal entries just as quickly. Instead of looking through a clumsy general ledger your balances and any journal entries are recapped nicely for easy reference. I date back to an age when accounting software wasn't cheap like it is now so I grew from manual trial balances to Excel trial balances to trial balance software and I'm glad it was created.
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