

Ask HN: What's the right accounting solution for a fintech US based startup? - orenbarzilai

In the process of selecting a new accounting solution (using quickbooks now), with the thought that we do not want to change it again as we grow.<p>We are evaluating oracle cloud (their small business solution) and NetSuite. But would love to learn from your experience with the above or with other alternatives
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davismwfl
I get your reasoning on not wanting to change accounting systems multiple
times. But let me say, choose what will work for now, and say the next ~12-18
months (longer is great, but I wouldn't try to predict it). Don't try to look
beyond that because you are just wasting cycles on something that will likely
need to change even if you think you know what you will need for the next 5
years.

I see 10-20M a year businesses still on Quickbooks and doing ok with it,
although most have some custom reporting or solutions added on for things like
shipping, manufacturing etc. But moving to a NetSuite, Oracle, SAP etc type
product is a lot for a startup to manage. You are looking at a minimum of a
3-6 month implementation for one of those enterprise level systems in which
time you might change things considerably and spending the $50-100k+ on that
is likely not the best use of funds early on.

I could be totally wrong as every situation is different, but I'd either stay
with QB as long as possible or pick something reasonably simple that does not
require implementation consultants to spend 2-4 months evaluating, configuring
and making things work. Now if you are into your Series A or have real revenue
and a CFO etc, then my advice would likely be different.

As for options, depending on what you need, Xero, Quickbooks, NetSuite, SAP,
Sage (Sage 100) etc. I'd outsource payroll to ADP or someone similar (PayChex
etc), simply because it makes life far easier and the cost is fairly minimal.

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ivedtara
Xero is getting a lot popular among startups these days. My company uses
Quickbooks too and we are satisfied with it.

