A Review of
MAS 500
By J. Carlton Collins, CPA

I am continuously amazed by how many people I talk to who seem to think that an  entry-level product like Quickbooks should meet the needs of their sophisticated $20 million manufacturing operation. Sometimes I want to slap these people across the face with a wet mackerel. People please wake up. No product is targeted towards businesses of every size, nor is any product ideally suited for every industry. With this in mind, here is where I think MAS 500 fits best.

MAS 500 Best Fit  

Size of Company

MAS 500 is designed to meet the needs of high-end companies. The people at Best Software have built in a feature set, pricing, technology, and database support to meet the needs of companies with revenue ranging from $10 million to $ 250 million, and companies with 20 to 2,500 employees. The product is a good fit for companies with warehouse size between 25, 000 and 200,000 square feet.

Industry Solutions

MAS 500 has the functionality to meet the needs of a wide range of industries and business types. MAS 500 has a very strong General ledger, Accounts Payable, and Accounts Receivable system. In particular, the product is well suited for wholesale distribution, large manufacturers, light manufacturing/assembly, retail, importers, services, retail/wholesale catalog, and any inventory related activity. In recent years the company has made a strong push to add manufacturing functionality.