The advantages of accounting software are best understood against the thing it actually replaces, which in a small business is almost never nothing. It is a spreadsheet, often a good one, maintained by somebody who knows exactly how it works. Comparisons that treat the alternative as chaos are not useful to the person deciding, because their spreadsheet is not chaos, it is a system with one maintainer. The honest comparison is about what you gain, what you genuinely give up, and when the balance tips. This page makes that comparison, including the two things a spreadsheet does better and that people miss after switching.
What you gain
An audit trail: who entered what and when, which a spreadsheet cannot provide. Consistency, because the structure is enforced rather than remembered. Continuity, because the system does not leave when its author does. And a trial balance that is always available rather than assembled.
What you genuinely give up
Flexibility, and speed on unusual questions. A spreadsheet answers an odd question in five minutes; a package answers it in an export and a pivot. People who loved their spreadsheet are not being sentimental when they miss this.
When the balance tips
When a second person needs to use it, when transactions outgrow careful entry, or when the maintainer becomes a single point of failure. Volume alone is a weaker signal than any of those three. Each of the three is about people rather than transaction counts, which is why volume on its own is a poor trigger.
Questions people ask about advantages of accounting software
Can we run a business on spreadsheets?
Many do, successfully, until one of the three tipping points arrives. The risk is rarely arithmetic; it is that the system exists in one person's head.
What is the hardest part of switching?
Opening balances and the habit change, in that order. The habits are underestimated: a package rewards entering things as they happen, and a spreadsheet tolerated doing it in batches.
Does it help the month end close?
It makes the ledger current, which helps. It does not manage the close itself, which is a process rather than a record.