Hestacrest produce two 'Accounts' programs, one for a limited company, and one for a sole trader/partnership. Each costs £25..,.and the pair can be purchased for £35. The 'limited company' version is the one featured in this review.

Considering the price of the program, the instructions are poor. They form the major part of the cassette insert, and are very limited in the informtion they provide.

Hestacrest must assume that all users will have some accounting experience; the non-accountant might find the program hard to use.

From prime entries (individual transactions), the program will produce accounts summaries (profit and loss accounts, and a balance sheet with supporting schedules),. and nominal ledger listings, trial balances, prime entry listings, all to screen or ZX printer. There are 73 named account codes in-built, many of which can be altered if not suitable.

The program works well, but there are a few annoying features. All transactions must be entered twice, to credit one account and debit another.

There is no check to ensure that this is done correctly, and an imbalance in entry can give rise to tricky problems later on when the 'trial balance' or 'produce accounts' options are selected.

Spectrum business software prices are much lower than their equivalents for the "serious" micros. But then, in general, quality is also lower.

In this regard, Accounts is no exception. It offers a complete package, but lacks a little in quality.

David Nowotnik