Accountant Town

Perhaps the most common software product on the market for Accounting is Microsoft Excel.  This tool in the Microsoft Office Suite is perhaps the most crucial tool for any Accountant to be familiar with – you can never be too good with this software.  Why?  Spreadsheets are the lifeblood of Accounting and so versatile that they can be used for innumerable purposes.

Beyond this, MS Office is the most commonly used Office suite in America, therefore this increases how valuable it is.  Spreadsheets you create in Excel will be able to be viewed by anyone else that uses the software.  Conversely, switching to another type of spreadsheet software could potentially result in negative consequences.  This is because not all spreadsheet programs save in the same file type (Excel saves primarily in .XLS and .XLSX), and even among those programs that can read Excel files, not all can equally utilize the features which are available from it.  Excel has added several advanced features which other programs simply cannot mimic and thus will cause the file to not be able to be opened by other software.

Despite the fact that there are several other spreadsheet software products out there which offer similar features, better price points, and perhaps some overall improvements, Microsoft Excel maintains its dominance as the most important software for an Accountant to know due to its vast usage.  This can be compared to the English language – it is used in so many countries throughout the world that often times an American can travel and only need to speak in his native tongue.  Such is the current state of Excel’s position in the Accounting software market and will likely stay for some time.  Make sure to check out more articles in the Accounting Student’s Guide, or one of our other great guides!