Are you a tax accountant, CPA , bookkeeper, or entrepreneur? Are you struggling with your accounting tools and equipment? Do you need to add new computer software to your office because the old one isn’t working? You’re in the right place. In this article, I will help you navigate through all this confusion.
Every business needs accounting tools, equipment, and software to run an effective accounting department. Understanding the importance of online accounting tools and what they do for your business, gives you a chance to refine your strategies.
Best Accounting Tools: The All-in-One Package for Small Business
Looking for a straightforward solution to all of your small business accounting needs? Not sure what accounting tools or features you’ll need down the road—or even tomorrow? Or, do you only want to deal with a single application when it comes to your small business accounting?
It makes sense to seek out an all-in-one suite of accounting software for any of these reasons. These tools can be absolute life-savers, keeping your business’s books neat and minimizing your chance for errors along the way.
Although they’ll often run for a higher price than one-off accounting tools, their more varied and flexible functionality generally more than make up for their price tags. Plus, many of these tools come with multiple payment levels, in case you need only a few features instead of everything but the kitchen sink.
Let’s take a look at the 5 biggest players in the all-in-one accounting tools industry:
1. Sage Accounting
If you own a one-person business, then Sage Accounting Start should definitely be at the top of your accounting tools list. For starters, you can record income and expenses and perform bank reconciliation for only $10 per month. And if you need more functionality, then you can upgrade to Sage Accounting—at the still quite low price of $25 a month—to get an overview of your business’s financials, cash flow forecasting, and bill vendors.
Sage Accounting is especially helpful if you’re working with freelancers or contractors for your small business, since their project management capabilities are an added bonus.
2. FreshBooks
FreshBooks is one of the big names around town when it comes to accounting tools for small business owners….
And for good reason. Although it started out just as an invoice and expense tracking software solution, FreshBooks today can integrate with your bank accounts, generate financial reports, process your payroll and business payments, and keep track of timesheets. Not to mention, FreshBooks also offers integrations with a pretty long list of popular CRM and customer service apps, so you can expand its functionality whenever you need.
If you’re interested in simple, intuitive accounting tools, then FreshBooks could be for you. And if you ever get confused, FreshBooks emphasizes its person-to-person customer service—for free—in case you ever need a helping hand.
Sample its free 30-day trial, and if it fits your needs, you can purchase FreshBooks for as low as $15 per month, and even less if you opt for yearly pricing. What’s more, for a limited time, FreshBooks is offering 60% off for six months on Lite, Plus, and Premium plans when new users skip the 30-day free trial period and opt to buy now.
3. QuickBooks Desktop
For years, QuickBooks Desktop was the go-to application for small businesses. Still popular, QuickBooks Desktop is a great option for traditionalists who prefer an on-premise software application.
QuickBooks Desktop is also the application of choice for niche industries, such as nonprofits, manufacturing, or general contractors.
QuickBooks Premier offers a nonprofit edition that includes donation tracking. Source: Intuit QuickBooks.
Packed with features, QuickBooks Desktop can also be hosted on a cloud server if you absolutely need to have access to the application 24/7.
QuickBooks Desktop includes solid accounting capability, with the option to connect your bank accounts, and good invoicing and inventory management capability included in the application.
This makes it a great choice for specialty businesses, such as manufacturing, nonprofits, and contractors who desire a more industry-specific version of the application.
For instance, the manufacturing edition offers more advanced inventory management, while the nonprofit edition includes donation tracking and campaign management.
Reporting options in QuickBooks Desktop is exceptional, with QuickBooks Premier offering more than 150 industry-specific reports, which can be customized as needed.
One of the biggest benefits of using QuickBooks Desktop is access to the community forums, where you can share problems and solutions to common issues. QuickBooks support options include both telephone and email support, though wait times can be challenging.
QuickBooks Desktop currently offers three plans: Pro, which is $299.95/year for up to three users; Premier, which includes the industry-specific editions and supports up to five users, for $499.95/year; and Enterprise, which supports up to 30 users and is $849.10/year.
Read The Blueprint’s full QuickBooks Desktop review
4. Zoho Books
If you’re a new business owner and an accounting novice, perhaps the most important thing you need to learn is how to invoice your clients properly. Zoho Books does that, and a whole lot more.
A good option for smaller businesses as well as sole proprietors, Zoho offers complete accounting capability in an easy-to-use package.
Zoho Books’ “Life Cycle of a Recurring Invoice” explains the recurring invoice process. Source: Zoho Books software.
If you’re new to retainer or recurring invoicing, be sure to check out Zoho Books “Life Cycle of an Invoice,” which takes you step by step through the entire invoicing process, not only showing you what you need to do but also explaining why you need to do it.
Along with invoicing, Zoho Books includes good inventory management, sales and customer management, and good banking management, with the option to connect your bank accounts and credit cards to Zoho, making it easier to manage expenses.
Sales orders can be created, with vendor management capability included as well. A client portal is also included in the application that allows you to share invoices and accept online payments. Zoho reporting options are decent, with a variety of reporting categories offered and all reports customizable.
One of the biggest benefits of using Zoho Books is the plethora of resources geared toward the non-accountant business owner. This ensures that you’ll feel comfortable navigating through Zoho Books in a matter of minutes.
Zoho Books is scalable, with pricing based on number of contacts used. Newer businesses may want to start with the Basic plan, which supports up to 50 contacts and two users, and is available for $9/month.
Larger or growing businesses may be better suited to the Standard plan, which supports up to 500 contacts and three users for $19/month. The Professional plan, a bargain at $29/month, supports more than 500 contacts and up to 10 users.
Read The Blueprint’s full Zoho Books review
5. Sage 50cloud Accounting
While some business owners are content with reporting basics, others desire more comprehensive reporting options. If that’s you, check out Sage 50cloud Accounting, which offers some of the best reporting options around.
Sage 50cloud Accounting offers excellent reporting tools. Source: Sage 50cloud Accounting software.
Along with complete financial statements, including balance sheet reporting, Sage 50cloud Accounting also includes general ledger, payroll, accounts payable, and accounts receivable reports.
All reports are fully customizable and can be exported to Excel for further customization. Good for small and growing businesses alike, Sage 50cloud Accounting also includes optional bank connectivity, customer and vendor management, and payroll capability.
The customer management feature allows you to effectively manage customer information, such as establishing credit limits, offering customer-specific discounts, and the ability to create customer quotes and full proposals.
Sage 50cloud Accounting also includes good inventory management capability, with the Premium and Quantum plans offering product assemblies as well.
One of the biggest benefits of using Sage 50cloud Accounting is its scalability. Another benefit is good budgeting capability for creating financial projections.
Product support options are good: Telephone, email, and chat support options are available to all registered users, with complete access to all product updates and enhancements.
Sage 50cloud Accounting is scalable, with three plans available: Pro, which is a single-user system, and is available for $299.95/year; Premium, which supports five users and is available for $1,105.95/year; and Quantum, which supports up to 40 users, with a 10-user system available for $1,978.95/year.
Read The Blueprint’s full Sage50cloud Accounting review
6. OneUp
There are report people and there are dashboard people. If you’re a dashboard person and you’re looking for good financial dashboards, OneUp may be a good fit for you.
The easy-to-access, easy-to-understand financial dashboard provides you with a quick overview of your business finances, including current profit and loss details, cash flow, and income and expense breakdowns.
OneUp’s financial dashboard offers a snapshot of company finances. Source: OneUp software.
While dashboards don’t eliminate the need for financial statements — which OneUp also includes — the availability of these mini-reports helps small business owners keep a close eye on business financials without having to run a report each time.
Along with the dashboards, OneUp also includes easy onboarding in a six-step process, which allows you to enter all the necessary information in a logical sequence.
OneUp offers good accounting capability, including custom invoice creation as well as a good inventory management module. You can request payment from your customers on their invoice, with a link to online payment options.
OneUp offers optional bank connectivity, so you can choose whether you wish to connect financial institutions or enter information manually. Another bonus is that OneUp includes fixed asset management, a rarity in small business accounting applications.
OneUp is scalable, with five plans available: Self, which is $9/month; Pro, which supports up to two users and is $19/month; Plus, which supports up to three users and is $29/month;
Team, which supports up to seven users and is $69/month, and Unlimited, which is $169/month and supports an unlimited number of users.
Read The Blueprint’s full OneUp review
Conclusions
Accounting tools and equipment keep track of your assets, liabilities, and capital allows you to track your business transactions over time as well as using your accounting software.