The accounting software market appears to be catching up to the Web-based economy.

Offerings to large enterprises and midsize and small companies have swelled, while application features are improving—with business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce functions as part of the mix. Some vendors are now marketing to the small and middle markets with rented applications, while others are merging or buying out their competitors.

This is good news for IT pros. While they generally don’t consider finance to be the most exciting aspect of their work, most have—at one time or another—been responsible for selecting applications for the accounting department. And with more options, they can select a package that closely meets the needs and budget of the company.
International Data Corporation forecasts that through 2002, the market share for accounting software will be broken down into the following segments:

  • Small office or home office—less than $5 million
  • Small business—$5-$19.9 million
  • Corporate or market—$20-$249.9 million
  • Small enterprise—$250-$1 billion
  • Enterprise—more than $1 billion

TechRepublic will offer a special download next month to help IT managers choose an accounting package. We’ll look at offerings from high-end vendors such as Baan, Computron, J.D. Edwards, Geac, Infinium, InterBiz, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and SAP. We’ll also explore what mid-range and small market vendors such as Accountmate, Accpac, Damgaard, Epicor, Great Plains, Macola, Navision, Sage, and Solomon have to offer.

We’d like to hear what you want from the download. If you have any burning questions or useful advice about accounting software, send us a note.

In the meantime, you might want to visit some of our previous downloads, which offer management solutions, career resources, and help on buying decisions. Find out how to complete your MBA with an IT focus or measure your company’s human resources attitude, or peruse our ASP vendor directory. You can view our entire list of downloads here.

Our accounting software download will be available April 24. Don’t miss it!