For a long time, it has been inconceivable to carry “the numbers of the company” without an accounting program. They have become an indispensable tool, but there are so many classes, brands, prices, characteristics that are sometimes opting for one or the other can be a bit complicated. This article intends to offer you the information that can help you make a decision when buying an accounting program.

The term SMEs refers to small and medium-sized companies, whatever their type and whatever legal form they have.  In other words, a company will be an SME or not based on its “size” (turnover, number of workers, and value of its assets), and it will be so whether it is a natural person -autonomous- or a legal person -society-.  However, sometimes the expression “SMEs and self-employed” is used with a different meaning because:

• SMEs are the major part of society
• SMEs identifies with the employer, who is a natural person

One of these cases is the subject at hand, because when speaking of:

Accounting program for SMEs refers to the one used to carry the accounting to which commercial companies are required. While the Self-Employed Accounting Program refers to the one used to fulfill the accounting obligations of individuals.

Accounting programs for SMEs

Commercial companies (and other types of entities determined by law) are obliged to keep the accounts of their company by the provisions of the Commercial Code.  This implies that they have to prepare individual mandatory books and present their annual accounts in the Mercantile Registry.

And to do this, you need an accounting program in the strict sense of the term. A program with which to record all operations carried out by the company and to prepare necessary reports. When an entrepreneur is a natural person, his accounting obligations are much simpler than in the case of companies:

You do not have to keep accounting as such, but your mandatory books are records of income and expenses. Therefore, the accounting programs for the self-employed are those that allow employers who are natural persons to fulfill their legal obligations. Nothing prevents an individual entrepreneur from accounting as if he were a company. Many do it for the benefits that it entails (and that is not appropriate to expose in this article). A few years ago, all accounting programs had to be installed on a computer.

With the advent of the internet and the rise of everything online, many of the companies dedicated to the world of accounting software are betting on accounting software in the cloud.

The change among both is obvious

With accounting software for pc, you have your program and your data on your computer. With accounting software in the cloud, the program and your data are on the servers of the company that provides the software, and you access them online.

In this difference, some see advantages and other disadvantages, as happens with almost everything in life. Both in the PC and online versions, some free programs and programs are paid, but, as you can imagine, the accounting programs most used in Spain are paid versions.

Free accounting programs

We are not referring to any possibility of testing any software for free. The fact that there are free accounting programs that can be used without any time limit and in all their breadth without any charge. Within the free accounting programs, most of the times, one of the following situations usually occurs:

That there is an entirely free basic version and a more advanced one that is already paid. That the use of the program is free of charge, but the supplying company offers you the possibility of hiring (already paying) the updates or technical support.

We suggest that you can hire Mint Accountax for both online bookkeepers and accosting software. We provide the best solutions for all accounting needs. Feel free to catch us. You can visit our website and get more information regarding your queries. We provide the top notch Bookkeeping services in London. We have team of professional accountants which are certified too. We work with you with every aspect of the accounting.