The challenge of moving from an accounting package with which you are unhappy but not being sure that replacing it will ease or worsen the problem, is a real issue.

One often hears potential users saying: The package we currently have is difficult to use and not giving us what we want, but is it worth changing. This is the question asked more often than not according to EconoAccounting managing director Keith Levenstein.

It is suprising how many SMEs are not happy with their accounting software, but scared to change because of the possibility of installing something even worse, he says.

The most common reasons for being unhappy are inflexibility, too much functionality and at the top of the list, difficult to use. This was the decision facing the SLA Group, the supplier of instrumentation and control products.

Company bookkeeper Charlene Nieman adds: When we selected EconoAccounting we were concerned about the switchover. How would we transfer the data and ensure a smooth transition? she says.

There was no need for concern. The switchover went smoothly and the data was easily transferred. We downloaded four months of transactions from ABSA and, using the auto-allocation feature, it saved an enormous amount of time in allocating transactions.

The download facility can only be described as awesome Charlene says. β€œIt saved weeks of work, not to mention the possibility of errors in manually transcribing the data. Without this we would probably not have been able to cope.

Charlene says another unique feature is the ability to define your own chart of accounts. With other packages, you have to work to a set profile. With EconoAccounting each user can suite themselves with the layout of the accounts.

Prior to installing EconoAccounting, SLA was spending R1 500 per month on an accountant. Now we dont even use one, she says.

Charlene says the entire concept behind EconoAccounting is that it can be used by people who dont have accounting or bookkeeping knowledge.

It is not only easy to use, but fun to use. Sometimes I liken it to playing a video game. But it is highly effective and the accounts are 100% correct, she says. Charlene never worked as a bookkeeper prior to using EconoAccounting.

Now I understand everything about our financials and I can answer questions and produce reports including a trial balance, income statement and balance sheet at the push of a button.

For more information on Electronic Components contact Charlene Nieman at 011 672 8666 or This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it