Kusasa Management Holdings, in conjunction with UK-based accounting firm Andrew Webster, has introduced an online accounting package to the South African market designed for small business and customised for local tax regulations and currency.
"Webster Accounts Online is an example of technology bringing professional software and services to small and medium business," Kusasa CEO Craig Field said at the launch in Johannesburg last night.
Webster Accounts is a browser-based thin-client accounting application that uses encryption and secure socket layer technology similar to that used in online banking.
"This combination ensures company information and interactions with the server are safe from unauthorised access," explained Andrew Webster, who devised the application in partnership with software developers.
The online accounting service has been available in the UK since October 2003 and is used by around 100 companies.
"What was originally conceived as a means of recording business transactions efficiently and facilitating smarter communication between business owners and bookkeepers, soon developed into a fully-fledged accounting package," said Webster.
"We believe online accounting will soon become as popular and commonly accepted by the local market as online banking because it makes business accounts accessible to business owners and bookkeepers at any time, from anywhere using common Web browsers," said Field.
Webster agreed to develop a South African version of the application because of the potential of increasing the user base and the opportunity of making South African accounting skills available to UK business at much lower rates. During his visit to Johannesburg, Webster is to meet accountants and accounting firms interested in servicing UK clients.
"I also saw this as a way of creating employment in SA and contributing to local small business development by providing an affordable and flexible accounting package," said Webster.
Although claiming the package is better than most entry-level accounting applications, Webster emphasised Webster Accounts did not include payroll functionality and is best suited to small companies controlled by a single person with around six employees.
Webster demonstrated the application`s menu-driven user interface with multiple drop-down lists for filling in details to perform a variety of accounting functions.
"Kusasa believes Webster Accounts provides good business value in comparison with traditional accounting packages at around R400 a month, considering that fee is fully inclusive of technical support, regular data backup, disaster recovery and application updates," said Field.
The licence agreement does not limit the number of users who may access the application, but unlike traditional accounting packages, business owners are required to purchase a separate licence for each individual business they may own.
When asked about bandwidth constraints in SA, Field said although the extra speed of ISDN or ADSL Internet connections would be beneficial, Webster Accounts is fully functional using an ordinary dial-up account with a 56Kb modem.
Webster Accounts for SA is scheduled to go live on the Internet next week with the first application update due to take place in May.
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