50 Key Differences
Between BusinessWorksÒ 11.0 and PeachtreeÒ Complete For
WindowsÒ
This list of 50 key differences between Peachtree
Accounting for Windows and BusinessWorks clearly illustrates that these products are
vastly different. This comparison is not intended to be all inclusive there are
hundreds of differences between these products.
Peachtree is usually adequate for companies with less than
five employees and annual revenues under $500,000, working on a stand-alone system as
opposed to multiple users on a network. A larger company, or even a small one fitting this
profile that has plans for growth in the near future, will quickly outgrow
Peachtrees capabilities. For businesses with annual revenues over $500,000,
BusinessWorks provides a more complete and more appropriate solution.
| System Wide |
PeachTree COMPLETE 3.5 |
BusinessWorks 11.0 |
Executive Summary Reports
(Flash Reports)
|
Not Available |
Flash Reports are available in all
modules and provide managers with an executive summary of key information. |
Renaming IDs and GL
Account Numbers
|
Renaming customers, vendors, parts,
employees, account numbers, etc. is not available. |
Any ID (customer, vendor, part or job)
can be easily renamed. GL account numbers can also be renumbered. |
Closing Periods
|
Users cannot close by month. They can
close only the fiscal or payroll year. |
For better control, users can close
months and close the year when appropriate. |
Exporting Data
|
Supports only comma separated values. |
In addition to CSV, BusinessWorks
supports 30 formats including formats supported by Microsoft® Excel, Works, Word and Lotus®. |
Purging Data
|
Data can only be purged at fiscal year
close. Large data files can slow down processing and report printing time. |
The user defines how long to keep data
and can purge monthly if desired. |
Decimal Places
|
Only one system-wide setting for decimal
places; if 3 or 4 are needed for inventory item sales/purchasing, all quantity and unit
price fields in AR and AP will contain 3 or 4 decimal places. |
The number of decimal places needed is
defined at the inventory item level and does not affect data entry screens which do not
require additional places. |
| NetWork OPERATION |
Peachtree COMPLETE
3.5 |
BusinessWorks
Version 11.0 |
Appropriate Inventory Locking
|
Using real time posting, a user viewing
inventory locks everyone else out of AP or AR invoicing. |
Uses appropriate locks so that when one
user views an inventory part, other users have access to other parts of the system. |
Multiple Postings
|
Allows multiple and duplicate postings to
the same customer or vendor at the same time. |
Does not allow users to post transactions
to the same vendor at the same time. This prevents duplicate postings. |
| Security |
PeachTree COMPLETE 3.5 |
BusinessWorks Version
11.0 |
Audit Trails
|
None. Any user can edit or erase any
transaction at any time without an audit trail to reflect the change. |
Provides a complete audit trail of every
transaction in the system. No transaction can be deleted to ensure that the integrity of
the audit trail remains intact. |
Passwords
|
Levels are by module. For example, if a
user has privileges in AP, they can enter invoices and print checks as well as perform any
other AP functions. |
Broken down by module and by tasks
within modules. You can determine which tasks within a module a user can access. |
Access to Company Data
|
A user with even the most minimal access
has the ability to change system wide settings or even delete a company! |
Company maintenance tasks are open only
to users with "Manager" access. |
| Print Preparation
& Search Speed |
PeachTree COMPLETE 3.5 |
BusinessWorks Version
11.0 |
Wait time for 500 entry Parts List to start printing
|
2 minutes, 16 seconds |
8 seconds (17 times faster!) |
Wait time for 500 entry Customer List to start printing
|
2 minutes, 10 seconds |
10 seconds (13 times faster!) |
Wait time for first letter of a search to appear for a search of 5,000
entries
|
12 seconds |
Instantaneous |
| General Ledger |
Peachtree COMPLETE
3.5 |
BusinessWorks
Version 11.0 |
Budgeting
|
Budgets must be input manually as a
dollar amount per month, or an annual figure which is divided equally into the months.
Next years budget can only be a copy of last years budget. Account budgets
must be increased or decreased manually, one account at a time. |
Budgets can be set up by amount or
percent of an annual figure. Previous, current or future budgets can be calculated
automatically using a wide variety of criteria including actuals or budgets from other
periods. You can even increase or decrease the budget for multiple accounts
simultaneously. |
Recurring Journal Templates
|
Recurring journal entries must have all
debit and credit amounts in balance. A list of recurring entries cannot be generated for
review and updating. |
BusinessWorks allows you to set up
recurring journal entry templates for entries that may change from month to month. A
recurring journal entry list can be printed for period review and updating. |
Departmental Account Copying
|
GL accounts must be entered for each
department manually. |
GL accounts can be copied from one
department to another, saving valuable data entry time. |
Multiple Company Consolidation
|
Not Available |
Can merge data for multiple companies or
locations to provide consolidated financial statements. |
| Accounts Payable |
Peachtree COMPLETE
3.5 |
BusinessWorks
Version 11.0 |
Expense Allocation Tables
|
Not Available |
Used to save data entry time by
automatically distributing amounts based on user-defined percentages. Up to 20 GL accounts
can be assigned to an allocation table. |
Credit Memos/Debit Memos
|
Not Available |
Used to adjust invoices and helps provide
a complete audit trail of changes made to invoices. |
Ability to Track Open Credits
|
Not Available |
Completely supported including the
application of open credits and reporting capability. |
Cash Flow Analysis
|
Limited to one summary report. |
Available, and includes complete detail
to let you analyze how much cash will be needed to pay invoices based on a variety of
selection criteria. |
AP and AP Discount by Vendor
|
If multiple AP accounts are used, the
account must be entered on the Purchases screen, making it easy to post to the wrong
account (system default is the last account used). |
Default AP and AP discount accounts can
be set up at the vendor level; if left blank, it will default to the system AP and AP
discount accounts. |
Discount Analysis
|
Requires user to write a custom report. |
Included as a standard report analyzing
all discounts taken, lost and available. |
| Accounts Receivable |
Peachtree COMPLETE
3.5 |
BusinessWorks
Version 11.0 |
Credit Memos/Debit Memos
|
Not Available |
Used to adjust invoices and helps provide
a complete audit trail of changes made to invoices. |
Ability to Track Open Credits
|
Not Available |
Completely supported including the
application of open credits and reporting capability. |
Global Customer Changes
|
Not Available |
A wide variety of customer defaults for a
range of customers can be changed simultaneously. |
Payment Analysis Reporting
|
Not Available |
Available as a standard report to analyze
a customers payment trends including average days to pay. |
Cash Flow Analysis
|
Limited to one summary report. |
Available, and includes complete detail
to let you analyze how much cash will be received based on a variety of selection
criteria. |
| Payroll |
Peachtree COMPLETE
3.5 |
BusinessWorks
Version 11.0 |
Employee
Review Report |
Report can be created showing date, but
cannot be sorted by a review date range. |
Employee review list can be printed by
review date or department for a specific date range, with numerous other selection
criteria. |
Allocation of Wages to Multiple GL accounts
|
Gross wages or hours can be allocated to
a very limited number of GL accounts per paycheck, depending on the companys payroll
wage type. |
Using task codes, an employees
wages can be allocated to a large number of GL accounts and Workers Compensation
codes. Reports are also available showing wages by task code. |
Tracking Tax Deposits
|
No automatic tracking of tax deposits. |
Fully automated tax deposits tracking. |
Direct Deposit
|
Not Available |
Fully implemented direct deposit system. |
| Order Entry |
Peachtree COMPLETE
3.5 |
BusinessWorks
Version 11.0 |
Quotes
|
Limited functionality with expiration
date only. |
Full quote functionality including
status, percent probability, expiration date and required date. A quote from one customer
can be used as a template and copied to a quote, sales order or invoice for another
customer. |
Sales Order Printing
|
Not Available |
Orders can be printed with a variety of
options including open items, back ordered quantities, orders on hold, and previously
printed orders. |
Tracking On Order, Committed and Back Ordered
|
Limited functionality. |
Complete tracking with multiple reports
and inquiry screens. |
Automatic Conversion of Orders to Invoices
|
Not Available |
Can choose to automatically convert all
orders or a range based on customers, orders and categories. Can also have the system
automatically skip orders where inventory quantities are insufficient, backorder and
select or go negative on hand. |
Tracking Returns
|
Not Available |
Returns are tracked in the Order Entry
module by invoice or by part with full reporting capabilities. |
| Inventory Control |
Peachtree COMPLETE
3.5 |
BusinessWorks
Version 11.0 |
Fields in Inventory for On Order, Committed or Back Ordered Quantities
|
Not Available |
Can easily view the On Order, Committed
and Back Ordered quantities in the part maintenance screen as well as on a report. |
Maintaining and Categorizing Parts
|
User must type in an "Item
Type" on each part which is inefficient and cumbersome because they are case
sensitive. |
In addition to Part ID, user defined
categories allow for the customization of five field definitions such as size, style and
color. |
Product Line Tracking
|
Not Available |
Product line tracking is supported for
more detailed reporting of inventory performance for a group of parts. Prices and posting
accounts can be globally changed for all parts assigned to a product line. |
Sales Promotions
|
Not Available |
Special promotions can be applied to all
or a range of product lines for a specific period of time, and will automatically expire. |
Global Price Change and Model Part
|
Not Available |
Both of these features are included in
BusinessWorks to save data entry time. |
Pricing Levels/Pricing Methods/Quantity Price Levels
|
Supports only five absolute prices per
part. |
Pricing methods include absolute, margin,
markup or product line. Three pricing levels are available (good,
better, best) and up to five user- defined quantity breaks are available per part. |
Standard Costing
|
Not Available |
Available with BusinessWorks. |
Physical Inventory
|
Worksheet only. |
Complete functionality including the
ability to lock other users from Inventory. Also can update parts by absolute or relative
counts. |
| Job Cost |
Peachtree COMPLETE
3.5 |
BusinessWorks
Version 11.0 |
Tracking Job Phases
|
Limited to phase ID, description and cost
type. |
Complete tracking of job phases including
phase ID, description, start and completion dates, suggested price, estimated costs and
comments. |
Tracking Overhead Method Amounts
|
Not Available |
Six different overhead methods are
available for automatic calculation of additional costs for a project. |
Entering/Tracking Bids
|
Not Available |
Included in BusinessWorks. |
Analyze Job by Cost Code
|
Limited to ID, description and cost type. |
Has categorized job codes and
automatically calculates changes in prices and costs based on job code detail.
Additionally has the ability to merge detail from inventory parts. |
|