Thanks ell281.  I have heard Xero recommended elsewhere too. For us the main issue is we have hundreds of Clients and jobs set up on QuickBooks desktop and every other accountancy system seems to require the jobs to be set up as services.  Also the migration from doing this in a customer/job hierarchy to a customer/product and services way has rendered the migration unusable.  The migrated file is clogged up with entries that no longer reconcile and a data in a format we cannot use going forward.  A clean start from opening balances in a new package seems the only viable way forward right now. 

What are the main challenges your clients are facing?  In case we've missed something further in our evaluation.  I am only able to assess the situation in small chunks of time as it makes me so cross!  Surely software houses have a responsibility to their users?  Although I understand from an internet search today that Sage 50 is heading the same way....