AccountEdge International
We have localized versions of AccountEdge for Mac in five countries. However, we have customers using various versions of AccountEdge in over 50 countries, even though those versions are not localized for their given country’s sales tax requirements, language, payroll, etc.
The thing is, outside of Apple’s key markets, there just aren’t many (or any) solid Mac accounting software applications for most countries.
When we realized we had so many customers in this predicament, we dusted off an old idea from the MYOB US days, one which we never had the resources to deal with, up until now: an international version of AccountEdge.
While we don’t have the resources to build localized country- and language-specific versions of AccountEdge for every country in the world, we do know that the product customers are looking for is more or less what we offer, with minor tweaks. So we’re building a version of AccountEdge that will work for small businesses just about everywhere.
So what does that mean?
Sales tax has to be flexible. We have versions of AccountEdge that separately support GST, VAT, and Sales Tax, as well as Voluntary Withholding, Input Taxed, Import Duty and a Consolidate Tax Code (combine multiple codes). So what we did is create a version that combines all tax types. You can go under the hood and create whatever tax is required for your country, and provide sales tax reports to give you what you need to fill out your tax forms.
We are building the international version off of an existing version of the software that provides tax rules flexible enough for all markets. For example, does your customer’s location decide what tax code to use, or is it the item that you are selling, or both? We can support all of those situations. We’ll also support tax inclusive pricing with the ability to toggle that on and off.
The software must support multiple currencies. AccountEdge already supports multiple currencies, but this version won’t lock in a local currency. Users can select their home currency and set up as many additional currencies as needed.
Language. Users can customize their invoices and other forms in any language they want, but the interface would be in English.
This application won’t have payroll. Payroll is just too different from country to country. It’s not possible for us to create and maintain payroll for 10+ countries. However, we will consider partnering with local payroll providers.
We started this project a few months ago, and we are ahead of schedule. In the upcoming weeks, we’ll officially announce our plans for this release, as well as a distribution partner to help us with a few countries.
If you’re interested in taking a sneak preview of the International Version, check out the videos below. I broke them out into categories covering sales tax and currency support.
-Tom
Intro and Setting up Sales Tax
How Tax Codes are Used on Transactions and Tax Inclusive Pricing
How Tax is Displayed on Invoices and Forms Customization Options
