I am sure the majority of you might think it is boring and not at all exciting stuff to talk or learn about accounting tools and equipment. You might think that accounting tools and equipment are just something that the accountant should be concerned about but not you. The reality is that it is your business and not your accountant’s. The reason why I want you to know about accounting tools and equipment is that unless you know what kind of tool or equipment you need, then, you won’t be able to achieve your business objectives.
There are a ton of apps on the market today that are designed to help small business owners manage their businesses. There are apps for invoicing, apps for time tracking, apps for bill payment, and even apps for paying employees.
However, small business owners, particularly those who are wearing multiple hats in their business, would be better served looking for accounting software that does most of the work for you.
Sure, apps are great if you need to perform specific functions that your software currently doesn’t cover, but using only apps can confuse the situation and create a ton of busywork, which you likely have little time to complete.
If you’d rather spend more time working on your business and less time on bookkeeping basics, a good accounting tool is the way to go.
Unless you’re a mathlete, accounting can be the most boring part of running your own small business. From meticulously tracking expenses to figuring out personal and business taxes, and everything in between, plenty of entrepreneurs find the financial side of things to be dull or frustrating, compared to the exciting bootstrapping of owning a small business.
In fact, around half of small business owners report that accounting is their least favorite task.[1] Assuming you’re not an accountant yourself, you probably understand why.
And if you mess up your records or bookkeeping? You could easily be looking at lost money, missed opportunities, or even a knock on your door from the IRS. No, thank you.
Although you might find it tedious at first, managing your small business’s financials properly is key to your success as an entrepreneur. But nobody said you have to do it all on your own.
Take a look at these 12 tools to improve your small business’s financial management processes, from simplifying how you track invoices to handling payroll taxes across multiple departments and locations. Every small business is different—but every small business can benefit from these grade-A accounting tools we’ve collected, just for you.
What to consider when choosing an accounting tool
Each small business is different, with different needs and different employee skill levels. Remember, if you’re a service business, you likely don’t care whether an accounting product offers inventory management, while the gift shop down the street probably does.
Likewise, if you or your employee is still struggling to grasp the basics of accounting, the last thing you need is a complicated accounting application.
Here are a few things you may want to look for when deciding whether an application is right for you:
1. Features specific to your needs
Do you sell products? If so, you’ll want to look for an application with a good inventory module. Need to pay employees? Look for an application that includes payroll. By figuring out what features are most important to you and your business, you can more easily locate the application that is right for you.
2. Ease of use
If you’re just starting your business, or handling the bookkeeping and accounting yourself, the last thing you want is a complicated, cumbersome application that is painful to navigate through.
All of the applications in our list here offer a free trial, so spend a week or so giving an application a test run prior to purchasing in order to find the application you’re comfortable with.
3. Accessibility
If you’re always on the go, the last thing you want is an accounting application that ties you to the office. Instead, look for a cloud-based application that includes a good mobile app.
Make sure the mobile app contains the same features that are found on the full version. If it doesn’t, it may make sense to look elsewhere.
4. Price
While pricing isn’t the most important factor, it can be the deciding factor when it comes to purchasing accounting software. This is particularly important for startups and businesses with limited cash flow.
The most expensive software doesn’t necessarily equate to the best product for your business, so find one that fits your needs and your budget.
5. Scalability
If you’re a one-man or one-woman show, scalability isn’t really important, but if growth is in your business plan, then make sure you find an application that can grow along with your business
Here are our top picks for the best accounting tools for your small business:
Best Accounting Tools: The All-in-One Package
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
At times, when you are in need of accounting tools and equipment; it can be challenging to choose what they really want or completely understand what is required for your business.