FAQs

Accounting Seed is an innovative, robust financial software solution that transforms the way you do accounting. Use the FAQs provided below to answer any questions you may have about Accounting Seed.

FAQs

General

What is Accounting Seed?
Accounting Seed is an innovative, robust financial software solution that transforms the way you do accounting so that you can make better informed, more timely and accurate business decisions. Backed by the strength of the Salesforce platform, Accounting Seed offers the most secure, reliable API in the industry. API is the acronym for Application Programming Interface, which is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. Native to Salesforce, our integrated software is the highest rated accounting solution on Salesforce.
What is a cloud-based accounting solution?
Online accounting solutions are cloud-based software that manages accounting processes like invoicing, billing, estimating, expense and time tracking, inventory, and project accounting through automation. This software does not take up valuable space on your hard drive because it runs in the cloud and works in your web browser. All of your accounting work is stored in a secure online environment and is accessible to you anywhere at any given time. Your bookkeeping is accessible through the accounting software’s interface, and in many cases through a mobile portal as well.
Why should I use online accounting software?

Online accounting software, like Accounting Seed, is easier to use than any server hosted or desktop accounting software. It is a perfect alternative for the now obsolete traditional desktop accounting software or excel spreadsheet.

To use desktop accounting software, you must install it on your computer and run it there. All the data relating to your accounts is also stored on your computer, which is vulnerable to hackers if you don’t have proper firewalls and security set up. Desktop accounting software is a thing of the past, even though desktop packages are still available, there’s been a significant shift to the cloud. According to RightScale’s 2018 State of the Cloud Report, about 81 percent of enterprises already have a multi-cloud strategy.

To access cloud based software, you simply visit a website and sign in with a username and password. All of your data is stored online through the company’s secure servers, which is much safer than your desktop computer. Most accounting packages aimed at small and medium-sized companies now come in cloud versions. Cloud accounting software tends to be more user-friendly and requires less technical expertise to set up. There are many issues with using non-cloud accounting software. This makes it a popular choice.

Also, don’t forget about receiving updates and new features. Using a cloud-based accounting solution will provide your team with the most up-to-date accounting features that are congruent with any new taxes or regulations. In addition to automated functions and updated features, your data is always backed up to a safe server and you can always access your account. You pay a monthly subscription fee based on the number of users you need.

How can Accounting Seed help us?

Accounting Seed can be the hub of your company. Some of the main features that keep your financial records accurate are:

  • creating quotes and estimates with sales data
  • creating and sending invoices
  • recording expenses
  • assisting in tax related functions checking cash flow or profit and loss

Accounting Seed automates many of the repetitive, manual tasks involved in maintaining your financial records, and more. Other than saving you time, Accounting Seed can give you a better understanding of your entire business. Our software generates dynamic financial reporting, as well. This gives you the ability to make crucial decisions that lead to success. Finally, accounting software will keep your records in check and help you meet all legal requirements when running a business.

Do I need to install software to do my accounting online?
Yes. Our support team will supply you with everything you need to upload our software. Our accounting software is compatible with your CRM. So, you would simply need to login to your CRM, through an internet browser, to access our software.
Can I use a mobile device to access my account?
Yes. You can access all the features of the software, like creating invoices, recording expenses, managing clients, and more.
How computer savvy do I need to be to handle the software?

You don’t need to be a tech genius to handle our software, but our software was developed for people with some accounting knowledge. If you have a question about Accounting Seed, you can always turn to our support team. A typical response is normally handled within an hour, but you should expect a response within 24 hours. We also provide written how-to documentation and video tutorials in Accounting Seed University and our Knowledge Base.

Do I need to be an accountant or bookkeeper to use Accounting Seed?
You do need some basic accounting knowledge to use Accounting Seed. Quite simply, if you put inaccurate information into our software, you’ll get inaccurate figures and information out. So it’s important to have some basic knowledge of key concepts, like your accounts payable and accounts receivable.

If all your company’s financial data is currently in a desktop version of an accounting program, you may find that cloud-based, accounting software helps you identify trends, spot revenue opportunities, and give you a better understanding of where your company stands.

Like we mentioned before, this software was developed with non-accountants in mind, so using it shouldn’t be a problem at all.

Can I use the accounting software in collaboration with my bookkeeper/CPA?
Yes, you can. If they are an internal employee that interacts with the system on a daily basis just give him/her access by adding them as a user, and you can start using Accounting Seed together. If they are an external CPA firm that only accesses the system for month end closings, you may want to give them limited access to your account. All the financial reports and data insights will be readily available to your CPA/accountant. Also, each user can have specific areas that they can access and vice versa, you can restrict access to certain areas of data to certain users, as well.
What should we think about when choosing your accounting software?

Although we offer a free, guided demo of our software, it’s a good idea to do some research before choosing Accounting Seed.

These are some of the questions you might ask:

  • Who needs to use our accounting software? How many users will you need? Will these people be in the same office, or located in different places? Are they familiar with accounting concepts?
  • What key tasks will you need to perform? For instance: invoicing, logging expenses, recording payments, tracking time spent on different projects, generating management reports, converting between currencies, etc.
  • What other software do you use? Do you need to connect Accounting Seed to other business systems or will Accounting Seed be replacing those systems as well?
  • Do you trade or accept payment in different currencies? Keeping track of exchange rates can be a headache, so if you do business in other currencies then look to Accounting Seed, which converts currencies for you and is up to date on conversion rates.
  • Do you bill for time and materials? For instance, your team will be able to input their timesheets and expense reports which can be billed back to customers if needed.
  • Does your sector have specific accounting requirements? Although our software works in all different industries, businesses in some sectors must follow particular accounting and reporting rules.
  • Do you run payroll? It’s a good idea to evaluate how you run payroll when considering our accounting software. Accounting Seed offers a seamless integration with payroll software like ADP, Paychex, etc.

Make sure you get key employees involved when evaluating Accounting Seed. Employees like accountants, company leaders like the CEO or COO, project managers, and/or a representative of your IT team. They may be able to provide a different perspective or offer helpful insights into how the software might be used.

We're a startup. Is accounting software important for us?
If you’re just starting a business, the case for accounting software is very important. You need a business solution that will provide you with financial data to make impactful decisions depending on the success and longevity of your company. Plus, it’s easier to get accustomed to accounting software if you have it from day one. Keeping this in mind, you need accounting software that grows with your business. You can be confident knowing that Accounting Seed’s flexibility is optimized to cope with your success, and that you won’t have to go through another system change later.
Can I give access to people other than my accountant/bookkeeper to use my account?
Yes, you can assign a license and any level of access to other people to use your account.
Can Accounting Seed replace our accountant?
No. Although Accounting Seed can automate some of the data entry and number crunching tasks your accountant may currently handle, it is not designed to replace your accountant entirely. It’s best to think of Accounting Seed as a way to get the most out of your relationship with your accountant. Accounting Seed is able to handle repetitive tasks like expense tracking customer invoicing, and revenue recognition, allowing your accountant or financial department to spend more time analyzing data and offering advice to help you make the best decisions.
When is the best time to switch accounting software?
You can start using Accounting Seed at any time. However, the easiest time to move to our software and go live with Accounting Seed is at the beginning of a month or quarter. It’s not necessary to make the change at the beginning of a new accounting year.
Do I need to use Salesforce?
The great thing about our software is that our customers don’t have to be currently using Salesforce to utilize Accounting Seed. If you’re already on Salesforce, it’s a smooth transition to implement Accounting Seed. Accounting Seed is powered by the Salesforce platform, so if you purchase our software as a stand-alone product and don’t want to purchase the full Salesforce CRM, you will still get many of the benefits of Salesforce functionality. If you want to purchase Salesforce and Accounting Seed, we’ll coordinate with your Salesforce Account Executive on the best solution for your company.
Is Accounting Seed for U.S. businesses only?
No, our software can be used worldwide regardless of the country and business type. In fact, Accounting Seed serves many international customers, including companies based in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. We offer many multi-company and multi-currency features for internationally based companies.

Setup

How much time does it take to get Accounting Seeed set up?

Registering for our software depends on three main areas prior to going live with your new system.

  1. Setup. This is the guts of the system. Getting your customers, vendors, chart of accounts, possibly products all entered into the system. This is accomplished with our default import templates and importing into the system.
  2. Q & A on core functionality. Now that you have the guts of the system, you can begin learning the best practices of how to use it. We provide a great online elearning tool (Accounting Seed University) as well as an extensive Knowledge Base to help with this.
  3. Opening balance migration. Bringing over open A/R, open A/P, and the closing trial balance so that there is a clear cut break between the old accounting system and the new one.

We offer implementation packages based around these three areas. If you’re moving from a previous software package, importing the data can be very easy and seamless. If you’re using online accounting software for the first time, you can either manually enter data or use the auto-import feature available for your business’ banking data, your chart of accounts, etc. Either way, make sure you spend time setting up your software depending on the size of your business and administration. To help with this, Accounting Seed offers implementation consultations.

Do I need to do the same thing for mobile?
Thankfully, no. Once you have everything set up, your information will appear on mobile as well. Users will be able to log in to their account through the Salesforce1 app or a mobile web browser.
Can I transfer data from other software into Accounting Seed?
You can transfer your books from any software into Accounting Seed, including QuickBooks. Accounting data can be migrated from the legacy accounting system to Accounting Seed either at the summary level or detailed transactional level. Transactions can first be exported to a .csv file and then uploaded to Accounting Seed. You have two options: you can either save everything in a CSV format and import the data or, if the software is cloud-based and you want to continue using it, you might be able to integrate it. The latter solution is especially recommended considering that it takes less time. Our software is compatible and integrates well with many cloud-based applications, and other salesforce based apps, as well. Be sure to check our connected apps.

Data

Is online accounting software secure?
Yes. Backed by the strength of the Salesforce platform. Using Accounting Seed is safer than having your financial data on your computer. Furthermore, your data is constantly backed up at the end of each week and is encrypted. But, you don’t really need to backup your data because it isn’t housed on an internal server, meaning your data is safe from power failures, natural disasters, etc. Feel free to check out more the security of Salesforce here.
What if Accounting Seed’s servers go down, will I lose my data?
Losing your data due to a server failure is virtually impossible. Accounting Seed utilizes Salesforce servers to ensure your data is safe at all times. Therefore, if one of them goes down another one takes its place. Remember: you’ll only lose data if you delete it.
And what about hackers and thieves?
There has never been a report of a security breach at Salesforce, and there is good reason. They’ve essentially built the Fort Knox of all data centers, not to mention they host data for companies like American Express, Western Union, Virgin, and the U.S. Government. All of your data is encrypted and each and every account is continuously monitored to ensure that nobody, aside from you and the authorized personnel, can see your precious data.
Can I export my data to back it up?
Of course! In fact, you can download your data and save it in CSV format from time to time just to be sure. Also, Salesforce offers solutions on data back-up as well. Be sure to check with your Salesforce Account Executive.

Features

What are the main features of Accounting Seed?
There are plenty of features, Accounting Seed is a full accounting system with basic features like: (recurring, multi-currency) invoicing, billing, tracking and recording expenses, creating projects, time tracking, inventory, check printing, syncing of your bank, auto-generated business reports, and payroll. The difference between Accounting Seed and any other accounting programs is our robust financial software. Accounting Seed grows with your company and delivers accurate financial data that allows for a 360 degree view of the entire business. This allows for better decision making, more accurate reporting, and more efficient operations. Talk to a specialist today to make sure we have every feature you need. Here’s a list of features too.
Can I manage my payroll using the software?

We work with all payroll providers through our payroll file import module to easily post payroll entries directly to the general ledger. You can add a number of employees who can log their own work time and get paid accordingly either by check or by direct deposit.

Pricing

Why should I pay for a recurring fee application when there are plenty of one-time fee software providers?
The reason is simple: because one-time fee software providers aren’t as secure, they don’t offer as many updates, and often catch you off guard by giving you out of touch, out-dated software. It’s better to pay a monthly subscription fee and have all the features you need and receive software updates, than having unqualified software that never updates and you end up paying more for additional features.
How much does Accounting Seed cost?
It depends on your organization, the pricing plan you choose, and how many users will be using the software. Tailored to accommodate your company’s needs no matter your industry or size, Accounting Seed offers a full-service accounting platform with a pricing model fit for your organization. Learn more about our pricing by reaching out to one of our representatives today. Simply submit the pricing form on the right and an Accounting Seed representative will reach out to you within one business day.  Reach out to an Accounting Seed account executive today to discuss pricing.
Are there discounts for the software?
Yes, there are. We offer volume discounts based on the number of users. Make sure you speak to one of our account executives today to get the best available price.
Can we preview Accounting Seed?
Our product specialists and account executives will provide a guided demo of Accounting Seed for you and your team. There are a lot of features and areas of the system to go over and we’ll be there to answer any questions you may have.

Customer Support

Do I get customer support?

Accounting Seed support staff is highly rated and is ready to handle any question you might have. Therefore, you get all the help you need – whether you just started using the software and need help implementing it, or have been using it for years and need to submit a ticket for support.

What kind of support do I get?
Aside from the usual support – like email and phone support – you can read and watch tutorials through our Accounting Seed University, ask a question in our Knowledge Base, attend events and webinars organized by the company, and read FAQs like the one you are currently reading.
Is the support 24/7?
Our in-house support staff operates on normal business hours, U.S. EST, and if you leave a message we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.
Is your support located in the U.S.?
Yes! No matter which side of the planet you are, you are getting support from Accounting Seed consultants in the U.S. Most of our connected apps and partners are located in the U.S., as well.

Basics

What is Accounting Seed?
Accounting Seed is an innovative, robust financial software solution that transforms the way you do accounting so that you can make better informed, more timely and accurate business decisions.
Where can I find information on new features?
We update our software two to three times a year. You can read about the latest release and new features in our Knowledge Base.
Can I send files to people who don’t have Accounting Seed? Will they be able to view or share the files?
Yes. You can easily download data from Accounting Seed in .csv or PDF format and share it with your colleagues.
What happens to my benefits if I decide to stop my subscription?
After you give your 30-day cancellation notice, all of your membership benefits will end 30 days after you give your notice.
What type of personalization is provided in Accounting Seed apps?
We have a team of consultants, support staff, and implementation partners dedicated to personalizing and configuring your Accounting Seed experience. There are also plenty of tools customers can use to customize Accounting Seed on their own. If you have any questions, feel free to contact one of our account executives today.
Can I add optional features later?
Yes. You can add features or implement other applications at anytime.
What reports do you offer?

Accounting Seed users have access to three types of financial reports and there are prebuilt reports within each type of financial reports.

  1. Financial reports – Includes P&L, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, Cash Flow Statement, Budgeting, as well as a custom reporting module.
  2. Management Reports – We give about 20 canned reports including accounts receivable aging, accounts payable aging, job costing, inventory balances, etc.
  3. Dashboards – These are visual reports like pie charts and bar graphs that are all on one screen to help with decision making. These can be made from data such as accounts payable, expense management, revenue recognition, etc.

All of the reporting features offer real-time data insights, as well. We also offer reporting on many different areas of your business that will help you make accurate decisions about your business. Be sure to reach out to any of our account executives today to hear more about our reporting features.

What happens if my internet access is down?
You need to be able to access the internet to use Accounting Seed. If you lose Wi-Fi, you could always access your data on a tablet or smart mobile device.