inniaccounts & vendor lock-in?

[cosmos]

I’m on the cusp of handing my notice in at my long-time permie job and entering the world of IT contracting. One of the first things I need to sort is an accountancy firm and there’s an overwhelming level of choice just online, before I’ve even spoken to any local firms.
I came across one called inniaccounts which seems to meet my needs. I great website and I went through their online demo of their service which seems really manageable. However, I’m worried that if I put everything through this, am I effectively tied to them forever hereafter? Their web portal seems like a proprietary bit of software (as nice and user friendly as it is) and I don’t want to lock myself in.
The software seems so intuitive that I think my Wife could handle most of it on my behalf (and then get a wage?).
Also, has anyone used these in the past and did you have any good/bad experiences with them?

P.s. I have no affiliation or experience of this company, I’m just on the hunt for someone to really get me started in IT contracting.

[Bozwell]

I don't know about Inni specifically (I'm with Crunch) but they almost certainly will have a data export feature that would allow you to move everything to another accounting system whether it be online or software you run yourself.

[Maslins]

It is one potential downside of going with an accountancy practice who have proprietary bookkeeping software. If you like one part of the deal but not the other, it can be difficult to swap. Of course if both the software and advice surrounding it is great, no problem.

If this is a big concern, might be worth looking at an accountancy firm who partner with an independent software package (eg FreeAgent/Xero/Kashflow). Therefore you should be able to change one bit without changing the other.

Most will have a data export feature of some kind, but that'll likely just dump out a massive, hard to interpret csv file. If you're anticipating you can easily upload it to any other software package I think you'll be disappointed.

[northernladuk]

You could have a look at Gorilla Accounting. They use freeagent which is great and headed up by an ex SJD person so know their contracting stuff!

[Kenny@MyAccountantFriend]

I am sure if you ask them they will explain how you can get your information from their portal if you were to leave, it may well be an excel document as mentioned above.

You would not be tied in and have to stay with them as circumstances change and as a result you can always change accountant in the future if needed.

[Michael at BI Accountancy]

Most will have a data export feature of some kind, but that'll likely just dump out a massive, hard to interpret csv file. If you're anticipating you can easily upload it to any other software package I think you'll be disappointed.

I would second that!

[inniAccounts]

I thought I'd chime in with my tuppence worth...

Yes, our software is built in-house. This has an upside for users - it's tailored specifically for contractors, unlike more generic packages (you won't find the word 'credit' or 'debit' anywhere in inni!). Plus, all our developers are full-time, and in house which is great for two reasons: firstly, you can influence our roadmap and beta test new features, but, importantly, as we own the database our dbas can help you move should you want your data in a specific format. As Maslins & Kenny have pointed out, we do have a self-service report centre where you can export Excel data files. If they don't meet your needs we're happy to help, as long as you don't want it hand-written on parchment!

As for data import, APIs are the way to go these days. You could take a data dump from inniAccounts and create a bash or ruby script to replay the data in to your app of choice (we are on an IT contractor portal after all!). If your skills aren't up to it I'm sure you could find someone on here, or People Per Hour to take care of this for you.

The other aspect to consider when switching accountant is how long is takes for your outgoing accountant to release your information to your new accountant. It's quite an involved process these days, especially in the world of RTI where if your accountants drop the ball you'll get an instant £100 fine. Here at inniAccounts we're very pragmatic. If you decide to leave then there's no hard feelings and we'll help you move to your new accountant as quickly as possible.

The same cannot be said for other firms. For example, we have a difficult time when clients wish to move from Brookson to inniAccounts. They will not release any information for 90 days, and even then it requires some chasing. I know we're not the only firm who feels this pain - one of the contributors to this very thread was recently venting on the same issue on Twitter recently.

Anyway, I'm veering off course. In summary, as our devs and accountants are in the same office, we'll help you with your data should you decide to leave.

James.