There are numerous accounting software packages and supporting web sites. The most widely used software packages are Peachtree and QuickBooks. Which one(s) should you choose? What are the differences between Peachtree and QuickBooks? How do I use the Internet to learn more? What about online delivery?

Should I use one or more software packages?
Most computer accounting courses focus on one software package: Peachtree or QuickBooks. Carol Yacht’s Computer Accounting with Peachtree for Microsoft Windows, Release 7.0, 4/e; or Donna Ulmer’s Computer Accounting with QuickBooks 2000, 2/e, fit that bill nicely.

Some computer accounting courses teach more than one accounting software program. Or, many programs have a short 1-hour continuing education course on a specific software program. That’s where the Computer Accounting Resource Guide can help. Separate workbooks cover individual software packages.

What are the differences between Peachtree and QuickBooks? Peachtree and QuickBooks are more similar than different. Both Peachtree and QuickBooks use form-based screens – in computer-lingo this is known as the Graphical User Interface. Both Peachtree and QuickBooks require that students have a fundamental understanding of the financial accounting cycle; translation, students should know how to debit and credit. Students must understand the financial accounting cycle before they begin Peachtree or QuickBooks.

The two programs differ in one significant way: Peachtree includes the special journals and subsidiary ledgers. For example, in Peachtree the Purchases/Receive Inventory task is the Purchase Journal and it posts to the vendor ledger. Peachtree is described as being “accounting aware.” In QuickBooks, all entries go to one journal—the General Journal. There are no special journals in QuickBooks. QuickBooks’s reports and registers simulate the subsidiary ledgers. QuickBooks hides the accounting process.

How do I use the Internet in Accounting?
There are many accounting related Internet sites. A way to keep up is to subscribe to the Accounting Education using Computers & Multimedia listserv. Visit their web site at http://pacioli.loyola.edu/aecm/ to subscribe.

When developing Internet assignments for your students, spell out what you want them to achieve. For example, “Using a word processing program, write up a summary of the Internet site that you visited. Your summary should have no more than 100 words or less than 75 words. Include the appropriate web site addresses. Turn your paper in no later than March 15, 2001.”

Web sites are time and date sensitive. This means they can change. The purpose of the exercises is to give your students an opportunity to explore the Internet. They may need to search for current sites, using www.Yahoo.com or other favorite search engine.

What about teaching online?
McGraw-Hill/Irwin offers many formats for online delivery of course material. A visit to McGraw-Hill’s Digital Solutions web site at http://www.mhhe.com/solutions will tell you more about their online delivery systems such as PageOut, WebCT, Blackboard and Top Class.

Carol Yacht is a McGraw-Hill/Irwin author. The Computer Accounting Resource Guide is in press. The fifth edition of Computer Accounting with Peachtree Complete 8.0 will be available April 2001 (www.mhhe.com/business/accounting/yacht2). Donna Ulmer’s Computer Accounting with QuickBooks Pro 2000 was published August 2000 (www.mhhe.com/ulmer2000).