Accounting software company Reckon is hoping sharp pricing will propel its cloud accounting program at its re-launch on 31 May.
The refreshed Reckon One looks better than the old one and has some neat features such as a customisable and interactive dashboard. But it’s biggest drawcard will be the price. The base package is A$5 per month and extra modules start at A$3 each.
“A builder with basic payroll and bank feeds would pay just A$11 a month,” said Sam Allert, Reckon’s new managing director for Australia and New Zealand, at the Sydney roadshow.
Reckon One is the only program in the market which will pause a subscription until the business needs to use it. A seasonal business such as fruit-picking or tourism could turn off their subscription during the quiet months. Reckon will store Reckon One files for free for up to seven years.
The pricing is also favourable to users who turn on a module mid-month. There is no charge for the module in that month and the user only pays for it the following month. Modules can be switched on and off on any month, changing the pricing on the fly.
Cloud is Overpriced: Reckon CEO
Micro-businesses have paid $50 a month or more for cloud accounting software such as Xero because they haven’t had a cheaper alternative, Clive Rabie, CEO of Reckon, told Digital First.
“Reckon Accounts Hosted used to be $250 a seat. now it’s $450 a year – rich in functionality and unlimited data files. When I saw accounting software at $500 a year I didn’t think that it was equitable,” Rabie said. “I remember selling products to micro-businesses for $100 a perpetual licence, and that’s what people are used to paying.”
Reckon had a history of successfully developing software at a profit and could do so with Reckon One, despite the low price, Rabie said. “We produce APS, an enterprise grade program used by 70 percent of the top 1,000 accounting firms (in Australia). We have developed it within the budget we have,” Rabie said. “We don’t feel that Reckon One is such a development challenge except for a user experience challenge.”
Listen to the full interview with Reckon CEO Clive Rabie below.
Reckon One Details
Reckon had to rewrite Reckon One in another programming language, HTML5, after Microsoft pulled support for its Silverlight platform, Reckon’s first choice. The new version, codenamed Evolution, has picked up an improved user interface and is now hosted on Amazon Web Services’ Sydney data centre.
Reckon One users can choose to migrate their files to the new version on 31 May or keep using the Silverlight platform for several more months (no cut-off date was announced).
Allert also previewed the payroll app which he said would arrive sometime in the July to September quarter. Reckon is providing free conversion of balances to Reckon One and will do the same for payroll. Businesses can request up to 10 years of transactional history but this is a paid service with price by quote.
Reckon also launched Reckon Invoices, a free app for smaprthone for iOS (next week) and Android (avail today). Invoices is a basic app for businesses who currently type out invoices on Word documents. Users can create an invoice, select a customer from a drop-down menu, add a product to the invoice, preview and email it directly to the customer.
Reckon Invoices “is not for someone who’s using Reckon Accounts and creating all their invoices,” Allert said. “This is for clients who are keeping receipts, travelling around but they just want a nice way to create invoices and receipts on the fly.”
The mobile app is effectively a funnel for Reckon’s cloud accounting program. An accountant could share the app with a client who hadn’t used cloud software before. When they ask for more features the accountant can recommend Reckon One.