Accounting software developer Softline Pastel has responded to the press announcement released by ACCPAC Africa regarding the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruling on its advertising campaign.
"Whatever ACCPAC Africa's intentions were in issuing their press announcement, their statement presented facts selectively and there were a number of omissions that failed to accurately convey the real situation and the background circumstances," said Softline Pastel MD Steven Cohen.
"The nub of the matter is that independent marketing research confirmed that 9 out of every 10 of those accountants who make recommendations on accounting software in the SME market recommend Pastel Accounting, with the qualification that this applies in the major metropolitan areas of Johannesburg, Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal, where the research was conducted.
"We believe it would therefore be reasonable to infer that if this result held true for research conducted in major metropolitan areas, a similar situation would also apply in smaller commercial centres as well. In fact, our research was corroborated by ACCPAC's own research, which confirmed that of the accountants who recommend accounting or business applications software, 91.3% recommend Pastel. So the fuss has really been about the qualification that the research base was in the major metropolitan areas and in the SME market."
Cohen said it was disappointing that competitors in the market were reckless about the accuracy of their statements and added that the full background facts to be considered in respect of ACCPAC contesting the Pastel claims are:
Pastel complained to the ASA in November 2002 following the publication of a disparaging advertising campaign run by Simply Accounting (an ACCPAC product). ACCPAC Africa withdrew its advertisement prior to the ASA's ruling after Pastel's attorneys threatened legal action. The campaign was subsequently found by the ASA to be unsubstantiated, disparaging and aimed at promoting ACCPAC at Pastel's expense. The ACCPAC complaint was only made after Pastel had raised issues with respect to the Simply Accounting campaign, notwithstanding that the Pastel "9 out of every 10 accountants recommend Pastel" campaign began in 2001 and had been running for about a year before the complaint by ACCPAC.
Pastel's claim that "9 out of every 10 accountants recommend Pastel" was based on research conducted by Objectivity, a nationally recognised market research company and a member of the South African Market Research Association (SAMRA). The sample group selected by Objectivity was 201 professional accountants working in Gauteng, Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal. Pulse, commissioned by ACCPAC Africa to dispute the Pastel findings, used a sample base of the same size.
ACCPAC Africa based its complaint on the fact that it has research data showing that 60% of accountants do not recommend any accounting software applications to their clients. Pastel research, however, was never to show what percentage of accountants are willing to recommend software applications to their clients. It was to establish what percentage of accountants who ordinarily do recommend accounting software applications to their clients, recommended Pastel Accounting.
The complaint was referred by the ASA to SAMRA, which evaluated the research documents of both companies. SAMRA's conclusion was that "both research findings are statistically in the same region if you compare 'apples with apples' and are valid for the regions they represent. However, the interpretation of the research data needs to be more specific namely '9 out of every 10 accountants in the Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg metropoles recommending accounting software usage in SME recommended the product (Pastel)."
Following the SAMRA ruling, the ASA directorate ruling said, "the research data only confirms that 9 out of every 10 accountants in the Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg metropoles recommending accounting software usage in SME, recommended the product (Pastel).
"As the SME market (businesses with turnovers of R1 million to R50 million) accounting software leader, Softline Pastel focuses on highlighting product features and benefits backed by a service and support infrastructure established over the past 16 years," added Cohen. "Pastel is a home-grown product conceived and developed in SA and our in-depth knowledge and understanding of the business dynamics in the South African context continue to benefit our user base of more than 100 000 businesses."
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Softline Pastel is SA's largest accounting and payroll software developer. Softline Pastel has for more than a decade exported products to Africa, Europe, UK, the US, Australia and Asia. Pastel accounting software is used by more than 100 000 companies, operating in 42 countries.