Media Atelier developed “GrandTotal”, which is a user-friendly package to keep a clear view on all outgoing invoices. It’s made for Mac.
Some people intend to start their own business, but are afraid of expensive software packages or accountants, and yet, the solution is very simple. Start easy but professionally and combine GrandTotal with TimeLog and you have the perfect software to run a small business accounting. This review will convince you!
Installation
By surfing to the website and downloading the trial version of GrandTotal, you will see within a few minutes that the program is ready to be installed and that you can start right away.
GrandTotal
© Grandtotal
What can we expect from GrandTotal?
- A simple accounting program
- Recording of clients with all requested information
- Recording of all products and services
- Recording of all different layouts for price offers, invoices and credit notes
- Follow-up of all invoices
- Possibility to use different taxes
- Integration with other programs such as iCal, contact list, …
- Different ways to export (f.i. to PDF)
- Follow-up on iPhone (only in combination with Mobile Me)
- And much more
The program is very easy to use. In the main window, you can see everything very clearly and you will be amazed to see how fast you will discover all possibilities.
To start, you first have to determine the language as well as the taxes in use in the country where you will be operating. This can be done very easily.
Then you can start to create your customers. You can use the plus sign (+) at the bottom of your window and get your contact from your file on the Mac or you can create a new customer. On the next screen you can add all necessary information related to that client with open fields to add very specific information by company or person.
Once the clients have been created in the system, you can start with the creation of the layout of your price offers, your invoices and credit notes. You can do this by choosing one of the existing layouts or by importing from an existing layout (saved as a PDF file). Each layout contains a first page, a second page and a composition page. In this last page, you decide in fact the entire layout.
Of course the system is not limited to one layout, you can even choose which layout belongs to which client.
© Grandtotal
Although I needed some time to get used to the composition page, it was quite easy to adapt the columns. Sometimes it is easier making up a test invoice in order to better understand the whole structure.
Once this is done, you can start making price offers and invoices.
TimeLog
TimeLog is a program created for contractors/companies for which the number of performed hours is important. They can simply introduce the number of hours and instantly get a correct invoice. TimeLog is extremely helpful here. With the integration of iCal you can perfectly calculate the work on each project.
© Grandtotal
To restart projects you simply click on the icon in the upper bar of the display. To be informed about the progress of your projects you can synchronize all information to your iPhone under the condition that you have activated the Mobile Me.
© Grandtotal
iPhone App
Since version 1.2 there is now also a free iPhone application to download. This will show you almost everything: your entire price offers, your invoices, payments and overdue invoices. Of course you first have to introduce this information in the program. GrandTotal is not checking your bank account!
It is a pity that GrandTotal has not foreseen an automatic reminder of an outstanding/overdue invoice.
You need to have the Mobile Me in order to be able to use that possibility. If a new version would foresee this, I would consider this as a valuable asset to the program!
Prices
GrandTotal costs 49 Euro and TimeLog 19 Euro.
If you decide to buy both of them, the package will cost you just 59 Euro.
Conclusion
GrandTotal and TimeLog can definitely be recommended. It is an easy/user friendly accountancy package, which will certainly be appreciated by small or starting companies. The iPhone application comes in very handy when asking the client whether or not payment has been passed, unfortunately this doesn’t work without Mobile Me. The integration of iCal in your existing list of contacts is very nice. The only conclusion to make is: are you looking for such a package? Just download the free test version and try it out during 30 days.
Best regards,
Sven Michiels