The Benchmark for Buying Accounting Software: Purchase Price or After-Sale Support?

By Tim Mattingly and Nathan Ross

With the rapid growth of accounting software in the marketplace, CPAs now have myriad choices to accommodate their unique business and professional needs. If a market niche remains unfilled, scores of software vendors already are scrambling around to develop and release new products to close the gaps.

Yet, in many ways the software deluge is creating more difficult software purchasing decisions for CPAs, rather than simplifying the selection process. A key consideration of mid- to upper-tier software is whether the initial purchase price or expense of after-sale support should be the primary purchasing criteria. While pro and con cases can be made for either criterion, resellers also factor into the equation because of their prominent role in the sale of accounting software.

The Basics

First, let’s look at the basic decision-making behind purchasing software. Entry level accounting packages by their very economical nature place a premium on price. Therefore, only mid- to upper-tier products present a price vs. after-sale support conundrum. For these higher-level markets, individuals or firms usually stick to their budgets, which tend to account for the software’s initial cost as well as training, implementation and ongoing support expenses.

No longer on a company’s wish list, software has integrated itself into the fabric of business as an everyday tool that any viable entity is expected to have. While software costs have not necessarily dropped in the market, prices have been assuaged by the greatly increased functionality—more bang for the buck—that is common to today’s software packages. Therefore, training, implementation and ongoing support take center stage as the dominant variables that must be evaluated in product purchase decisions.

Critical Considerations

How critical are these variables? If the purchaser/user is not also an information technology (IT) expert, then a paid consultant must be brought in for support. For example, the paid consultant would be responsible for system configuration, which is necessary and could involve installing the software and configuring the system with respect to the network infrastructure, users and security. Also, with today’s requirement for, or mere fascination with, the ability to reach anyone, anywhere, at any time, remote access could also be included in system configuration work. Similarly, making new software user ready could require data conversion to convert existing system data into a format that can be utilized in the new system. Additionally, system reporting beyond standard reports could be necessary. In the final part of the after-sale loop, ongoing support could include system enhancements, service packs and general system maintenance.

Different Software, Different Issues

Depending on the particular accounting software package, other diverse issues could exist. For instance, mid-market systems vary with respect to their import/export capabilities for data conversion—in terms of their flexibility regarding establishment of take-on balances in order to initiate the system.

Perhaps the greatest difference amongst accounting software is the level of technical support, which may be approached from various angles. Traditionally, software vendors tend to provide telephone problem resolution through a help desk. In contrast, technical support provided by VARs (Value Added Resellers) may be more hands on, such as working directly on user data in designing a report. Some mid-markets players provide both issue-based and day-to-day problem solving expertise. The choice made usually depends on the user’s underlying needs.

In fact, and possibly a surprise to many users who view resellers strictly as product sales and not support, it’s to the reseller’s advantage to work closely with the vendor and users. User relationships are successfully built by both sales and support, with support translating into telephone support as well as consultancy. Therefore, all three parties—vendor, reseller and user—potentially benefit. The reseller is able to leverage consulting time while the vendor cultivates the reseller channel, thus keeping users satisfied with product sales and high quality of technical support.

After-Sales Support: A Growing Trend

With the advent of widely expanded ways for computers and software to expedite accounting tasks and perform as a significant business tool, technological complexities have increased, too. As a result, a growing trend is for technology-related companies to remove most of the technology burden from users’ collective backs. Most accountants take this option because they are not large enough to maintain an IT staff or even one IT expert on staff, so they outsource the “problem.” Either way, after-sale support is a key component for accounting decision-makers.

That’s the core of the sale vs. after-sale support issue. It’s really a Return on Investment (ROI) issue that goes directly to the bottom line of most accountants. Would they rather (a) focus on the lowest software purchase price or (b) more productively serve their clientele without having to become ad hoc IT experts? By choosing option B, CPAs can maximize their software investment.

Conclusion

As with many technological issues, there is no definitive answer to the question of “Which is most important: price or after-sale support?” The key is for CPAs to weigh their planned/budgeted expenditure in terms of software cost and related upfront costs vs. the degree, if any, to which they want to get involved in implementation, training and ongoing support. Then they should evaluate their options whenever they want a system component modified or enhanced.

Generally, that could involve contracting with a software vendor that works closely with resellers while remaining committed to providing direct help to users in all phases of implementation, training and support. Alternatively, other vendors primarily are reseller channel-oriented. In making this evaluation, CPAs should always remember that the major brand names may or may not be the best choice in terms of providing hands-on support.

The decision is analogous to the old automobile muffler commercial, where the technician says to the customer who wants to scrimp on spending: “You can pay me now or pay me (more) later.”