Manish covered the most you need to know, still i'll add on.
Tally is exclusively made for the purpose of accounting, you won't need to focus or think about many basic accounting function as Taaly already cover them, for eg. you enter a voucher,
Tally will automatically update your Balance Sheet, P&L a/c, Cash flow, it will also produce ratios, and will help you by providing information like no. of Vouchers, Also Tally is manageable, you can change Periods, Date, and vouchers type while auditing or going through the accounts as per your need,
If you are using Tally for the first time it maybe a bit difficult for you But for that too Tally provides Modules that are easily available (Just Google it)
HOWEVER When it comes to prepare FS, there is nothing like Excel. Reason being, you can custom, Format your FS as per your need and liking. and doing that is very simple as TALLY9 onwards provide option to Export DATA in excel, once it's done all you have to do is "Formatting". (you can also export Data from Tally7.2 by using a indirect method i.e. Export>> HTML>> open it>> copy all>> paste in excel).
So it's completely on your needs and preferences.