PC User Software Review

If you're one of those people who gets dizzy when faced with a spreadsheet, you can relax with BusinessBreeze. The program is an Australian-developed financial program for small businesses with no in-house bookkeeping expertise. The program manages both cash and accrual systems, streamlines Business Activity Statement calculation, and has a payroll function that can manage up to 300 employees. It's available for both Windows and Mac systems.

The program is constructed in the form of modules, such as Cash Book, Invoicing, Employees, and Payroll, and you interact with the program via these modules. The manual instructs users only to use the command options from the main BusinessBreeze window, rather than use menu options. While this makes the program easy to use for beginners, it also makes the program inflexible. For example, if you want to import your current financial and address book information, there's no way to do this, so you'll need to enter all your data from scratch.

The program is easy to set up. Once you've entered your company and employee information, you can enter inventory, supplier and customer information as you go, and generate invoices as you need them. Program security is via an initial password that allows access to the entire program.

Unfortunately, you can't block access to the individual modules, so if you want to allow an employee access to the Cash Book, they also gain access to the Employees and Payroll modules. There's a useful Stationery module, so you can create business cards and letterhead. However, there's no way to write letters and generate mail merges, or to send Address Book data to your word processing program.

If you've just started a business or are looking for an easy bookkeeping solution, BusinessBreeze provides enough for your basic bookkeeping needs. - Angela Booth