Best Accounting Software

The CHIP Test Center of CHIP Magazine reviewed 10 leading Windows based accounting software packages in their March 1999 issue.

And Wings Accounting came out on top - with the only A+ rating among the 10 packages, and recommended as THE BEST.
Reproduced here is the full review that appeared in the magazine.

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Tweak it as you like, as many times as you like

Starting with a DOS-based version in 1988, Wings Business Systems have launched the latest revision of their accounting product, Wings For Windows (Release 1). Developed using Borland and C++ with a proprietary database, Wings is 32-bit, Y2K-compatible, and offers accounting solutions for Windows 95 and Windows NT based systems.

This software can be easily recommended to novice accountants. It is totally stripped of jargon and has an easy-to-use interface that closely resembles Microsoft Word.

Tricky Installation

Packed into two floppies, Wings for Windows occupies a minimal 2MB of space on your hard disk. By default, three executable files get loaded on your system - one is a single user version (WOW32.exe), another a client version (WOW32C.exe), and the last one for the server (WOW32S.exe). After installation you need to manually create an icon for that executable file, either on the desktop, or in the Start menu. A hardware lock (bundled with the package) has to be attached to the printer port of your machine or the server, for security reasons.

When creating new entries for individual companies, store the company data in separate directories. Also, before you set up a new account, the software will ask you to specify the directory where you would like to store the data. This will simplify the Housekeeping process.

Classic Customisations

Classic Customisations

The Screen Settings option under the Settings menu serves two purposes: it allows you to choose and customise the fields that you need for data entry in the forms, and lets you disable certain fields using the Supervisor password to prevent other users from re-setting these options.

Depending upon your requirements, you can add extra fields to your data entry screen and even generate reports for these.

Drop-down Settings options can be used to configure the application to display related information about your products, taxes, accounts, etc. For example, when filling out a Sales Voucher for a new company, you can confirm information about the company such as its credit or debit limits, current balance, account types, etc.

You can access the voucher directly from the ledger using the drop-down list or the set Tax slabs depending on date ranges.

Masters can be set using an Explorer type tree structure making the hierarchy of objects very clear.

Wings 2000 offers complete support for batch-wise reporting. You can select any default report, modify it and also save it as your customised report. This can be accessed again through a dedicated menu called "Your Reports". For customised reports you can set conditions up to six levels for display of data under each field.

Using the boolean switches you can filter out data, and if required you can also put in a formula that gets applied to the data in your report. For better formatting and display, configure prefixes and suffixes as well as use colour codes for your data.

On the whole an impressive package, Wings lacks certain essential components - like support for multiple currencies and a provision for back up.

Conclusion

After having tested the Accounting software on all the essential features that a good accounting package should offer, the CHIP Test Centre recommends Wings For Windows as the best (...from out of the 10 tested).

The winner Wings for Windows had its share of problems - it does not offer you any option of backing up or restoring data from within the application. But despite this, it proves to be the best bet. Windows-type interface and complete mouse functionality including drop-down menus makes it very easy to navigate. It occupies just 2 MB of disk space and the installation process is a breeze. The extent of customisation is far greater than in any other software. Reports can be customised and entry forms can be modified.

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