Less Accounting Review

Less Accounting

Less Accounting scored a massive 97% against all our requirements.  It’s the only one with a Highrise import (37 Signals CRM application).  It feels very similar to FreeAgent Central and FreshBooks – very clean and professional – with a clear navigation and dashboard layout.  I liked it a lot.

Less Accounting has a QuickBooks import – as far as I could tell this is only for bank account balances.  I’ve got a feeling it would be quicker simply to type them in.

The Highrise import worked well – I tested it with almost 4,000 contacts from our Highrise account – it took a while – but it worked fine.  Again, I’m not sure how much use this type of batch import really is, because client details change quite frequently and keeping several systems updated is prone to error and wastes time.

Ideally, the API could be used to perform a regular synchronisation of the client details from one master system to update all the others.

Less Accounting has a comprehensive reports section which seemed to have all the right numbers in there – much more usable than the reports on QuickBooks which I struggle to decipher every time I look at one.

One nice touch is the ability to translate different text fields on the invoice – to produce invoices for clients speaking different languages.  It’s an either/or choice – so you have to choose Invoice Total or

Less Accounting template translation

Seeing this feature got me thinking about our own requirements a bit more – because we do have clients in different countries who require an invoice that they can actually read and understand (and therefore, pay).

Rather than cobble together a dual-language invoice, the ideal situation would be to ‘detect’ the language preference of the client (something our internal systems already know) and use that information to create an appropriately worded/translated invoice via the API.

Even though we currently have a manual process using QuickBooks – this does allow us to choose a different invoice template for each client in their preferred language.  This requirement slipped through unnoticed until we played with the Less Accounting application.

Less Accounting also allows you to email invoices in HTML or PDF format – a nice touch. Guess what though?  The only payment gateway is PayPal.  So close, yet so far.

Conclusions

Less Accounting got closer than most with their perfectly formed application – despite the lack of European gateways.  The application is so good that it made us rethink some of our requirements and their priorities.

Now we know that we need to produce invoices in different languages (somehow) and that the Highrise interface and data imports are pretty much worthless – IF the API is up to scratch.

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