"the company didn't have time to waste sourcing and installing a traditional accounting application... "
         Stephen Drew - Millifoods Limited "Now, I'm doing a job I wouldn't be able to do without Liberty, from wherever I happen to be."
         Heidi Hayes - Body Active Chiropractic Clinics "There are other systems out there,' he says, 'but there aren't any truly viable offerings that are equivalent"
         Barnaby Scott - Waywood Furniture "When I log into Liberty it immediately lets me know which client accounts are due or coming up for payment"
         Mary Palmer - Mary Palmer Consulting "Our accountant is happy with it, and the non-accountants have found it very easy to use too."
         Gregory Bricusse - 020 London Directory "They can't help you enough, so the support is fantastic"
         Tracy Purdon - London 1st Accounting "I don't have to worry about making security backups or updating the software."
         David Ryder, Treasurer - St Marks Church, Sheffield "....and Liberty was the only one with integrated payroll"
         Liam Logan - Wollaton Building Limited "If I want to get up and do my accounts at six then go for a run at nine, I can do that. Why should I commute just to get access to information...?"
         Graham Jackson - Jackson Maunders "The real beauty of an online system is that it can be tailored to fit the client"
         Ray Backler - Capsa Consultants "....who then had to re-key everything into the Revenue online portal.... automating the process saves up to 10 minutes for each return"
         David Hughes - Accountants4Contractors "Liberty Accounts looks like a package that has been thought through and developed by real users"
         Nigel Harris - AccountingWeb May 2006 "Liberty Accounts is so user friendly I don't feel intimidated..."
         Sarah McCaig - MJM Plumbing and Heating Ltd "It is possible for the firm and its clients to review and update the same financial picture, even though they're at different locations"
         Tracy Purdon - London 1st Accounting "Every day, the software provides me with a snapshot of exactly where the business is..."
         Stephen Drew - Millifoods Limited "With Liberty, Wollaton is getting an enterprise system without the big costs"
         Liam Logan - Wollaton Building Limited "We no longer have to worry about incompatible version numbers, or being locked out of the system because we don't have the latest upgrade"
         Tracy Purdon - London 1st Accounting "Because we're a charity, we pay a reduced rate... "
         David Ryder, Treasurer - St Marks Church, Sheffield "We don't have to worry about back-ups," says Jackson, "and we have very robust recovery in the event of a computer failure."
         Graham Jackson - Jackson Maunders "020 was set up so that we could all work from anywhere, and we wanted the same from our accounting system..."
         Gregory Bricusse - 020 London Directory "Liberty Accounts has revolutionised my working day..."
         Sarah McCaig - MJM Plumbing and Heating Ltd "We can make changes to our system and get them out there really quickly because we don't have to wait for the next big upgrade"
         Alan Wright - Liberty Accounts "Your customer service is probably the best I've experienced from anyone - ever..."
         Alexander Greene - Greene & Greene Wines

Want to know more? - Call us on 0845 230 9803

ONLINE ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE REVIEW: Liberty Accounts. By Nigel Harris

Source: AccountingWeb - May 2006

Liberty Accounts looks like a package that has been thought through and developed by real users. As a result, it does what it needs to do simply and without fuss, which, after all, is what we're all looking for.

Login looks secure. All online transactions use a Thawte SSL web server certificate to ensure secure transmission of your data. The home page gives a typical management snapshot, lists of outstanding sales and purchase invoices and the current bank balance. The Windows-style drop down menus mirror desktop accounting packages, each option does what you'd expect, and it operates quite slickly for a browser-based application.

Posting transactions - invoices, bank transactions or journals - is intuitive and every data entry cell has a '?' you can click on to get instant help if you get stuck. Batch postings can be made to save time.

The reporting function is excellent. Reports are generated as PDFs almost instantly and displayed automatically. The presentation of reports and the range of report options look very much like QuickBooks, so there's instant familiarity for most accountants. The reports themselves are very clear and, most importantly, they are very presentable so could be used as is with directors or the bank.

There are some useful additions to the bookkeeping functions, such as a basic share register, asset register, operating leases section and motor vehicle list. I didn't look at the payroll section, but Liberty also provides integrated payroll and online filing of end of year returns.

A nice extra is the facility to record and report P11D data which the accountant or user can use to complete the forms (the actual P11D is not produced).

Like most modern accounting packages, Liberty will allow a typical user to easily handle VAT themselves, either invoice or cash accounting, if they want to (producing a VAT transactions report and VAT form to help the user complete their VAT return). The ironic exception to this of course is the VAT Flat Rate Scheme which does not make VAT simpler in a computerised bookkeeping environment - you can do it manually but it is not as simple as for a user on the standard schemes.

The great thing about online accounting software is that it is available to authorised users from any Internet connected computer. You are no longer restricted to being in the office to produce invoices or work with your business accounts. For those with little IT expertise it has the additional advantage that there are no annual updates to install, and you don't need any new hardware or backups because the provider takes care of all that.

Liberty is designed to be a branded service for accounting firms to offer their clients. Accountant and client can then access the same accounting information and produce real-time results, either collaboratively or by sharing the bookkeeping tasks. However, some clients will prefer just to enter bank transactions and invoices and let the accountant do the VAT and the 'clever stuff'. Liberty caters for any scenario. To make production of final accounts easier, Liberty can then generate CSV files of client TBs or transaction lists, with your existing accounts production nominal code reference, for easy import into your final accounts software.