Do you need accounting service for your business? And do you need to control every penny and don’t want to lose track of your spending and revenue? Then you should maintain your own bookkeeping and accounts, especially if you earn a living as a freelancer. If this is true, you will probably want to use professional accounting software for self employed or smallest business account for tracking expenses and revenue. There are lots of such software out there, but not all of them are equally good. Some of them might be difficult to use, some others could feature complicated functions that don’t work as user friendly as they should. The worst ones can be hard to understand because of poor design and function.
We will mention Top accounting software for self employed. We consider this the best one due to the convenience, ease of use, price policy, storing conditions and type of information that can be stored. Self employed accounting applications are provided by many companies.
QuickBooks
QuickBooks is industry-leading accounting software for all small businesses. They offer a unique package for self-employed business owners that provides the ability to properly track expenses and potential tax write-offs and to calculate what your tax obligations should be on a quarterly basis. This special package combined with their ease of use and competitive pricing makes QuickBooks our best overall accounting software.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of QuickBooks’ software:
- Pricing: $25 to $180 per month
- Ease of Use: Leads the industry in how easy it is to use, and there are hundreds of courses across the web to learn how to use the software
- Self-Employed Features: Track receipts and miles, estimate quarterly taxes, invoice, and accept payments
- Free Trial: Free for 30 days
- Add-Ons: Can add payroll software for an additional cost
QuickBooks reviews are mixed online. Many small business owners love their software but struggle with their overall customer service. If you know you’re going to need customer help based on your accounting or software experience, then you might consider other options on the list that have a better customer support reputation.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks’ fantastic invoices are easy to customize to your business, and its automated recurring invoices and late payment reminders help you get paid quickly and easily. Its $15 a month starting price is a bit higher than average, but if your business relies largely on invoices to get paid, give FreshBooks a hard look anyway.
FreshBooks started out as an invoicing software company in the early ‘00s. Once it transitioned into fully fledged accounting software, FreshBooks’ invoicing features remained the best of the best. Unlike QuickBooks Self-Employed, FreshBooks’ invoices are customizable with your business’s name, colors, and logo. You can also schedule automated recurring invoices, send late payment reminders, and set automatic late fees to accrue on overdue invoices.
FreshBooks has one key drawback, though. (Doesn’t everything?) With its cheapest plan, you can invoice only up to five clients a month. You can send those five clients an unlimited number of invoices each month, but that’s a perk only if you work on multiple projects with the same recurring customers. If you have a larger client base, you’ll need FreshBooks’ Plus plan, which costs $25 and lets you invoice up to 50 customers a month.
Zoho Books
If you know nothing about accounting, Zoho Books is the right software for you. A great fit for self-employed individuals, Zoho Books offers three plans, all with a ton of features. Particularly well-suited for businesses that sell products and need to manage inventory, Zoho Books also works with several online payment gateways for easy customer payment.
All three Zoho Books plans include the following features:
- Automated workflows
- Bank connectivity and reconciliation
- Custom invoicing, including company branding
- Expense tracking
- Projects and timesheets
- Recurring transactions
- Mobile app for iOS and Android devices
Zoho Books includes a dashboard, where you can view important business metrics such as accounts payable and accounts receivable totals, as well as income and expense totals for the current year. If you choose to use the Professional plan, you’ll also have access to purchase orders, sales orders, inventory, and a client portal, where you can share documents and invoice clients directly.
Zoho Books offers three plans. The Basic plan is $9/month and supports up to 50 clients/contacts and two users; the Standard plan, which is $19/month and supports up to 500 contacts/clients and three users; and the Professional plan, which is $29/month and supports more than 500 contacts and up to 10 users.
Zoho Books includes good reporting options with a variety of standard reports available, and all reports are able to be exported using a CSV format or Microsoft Excel.
One of the major benefits Zoho Books offers new users is its extensive help sections that will take you step by step through each process you need to complete. This is especially useful for those struggling to learn Accounting 101. And, with three plans available, you can also scale up should you find your business is growing.
Xero
Xero offers a similar solution to QuickBooks but is not quite as good for those who have less accounting experience. Xero is our runner-up for best overall because it’s a great overall solution with a strong business accounting offering, smart features to capture receipts, and helpful invoicing options. Xero can be more difficult to use for those who are inexperienced at keeping their own books, but overall it’s a good solution for most small business owners.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of Xero’s accounting software:
- Pricing: $11 to $62 per month (pricing will be changing November 2021)
- Ease of Use: Average but intuitive for experienced bookkeepers
- Self-Employed Features: Send online invoices, organize receipts, keep track of tax obligations
- Free Trial: Free for 30 days
- Add-Ons: Can integrate with Gusto for payroll at an additional fee, and can connect with over 1,000 tools for payroll, CRM, POS, and more
Xero’s customer service is rated higher than QuickBooks’, and experienced bookkeepers find the software easier to use than much of the competition. If you’re looking for the closest thing to QuickBooks with higher-rated customer support, Xero is your best option.
Wave Accounting
Is saving money on software your top priority? Wave’s completely free accounting software includes unlimited invoicing, expense tracking, and receipt scanning.
Some free software plans sacrifice features for price. Not Wave Accounting. With Wave’s free accounting software, you can send invoices, scan receipts, and accept online payments. And you won’t pay anything more than standard transaction fees. And unlike FreshBooks and Xero, Wave doesn’t limit your invoices, bill payments, or customers. It doesn’t limit you to just one user either. If you eventually expand your business to include a bookkeeper or business partner, Wave is just as free for four users as it is for one.
While Wave’s invoicing and receipt scanning apps measure up, it still lacks a mobile accounting app for you to check cash balances on the go. Customer support is available via email only—real-time tech support is basically a no-go.
AccountingSuite
AccountingSuite is not as well-known as its competitors, but it offers many of the same features designed for the small business owner, including self-employed individuals and sole proprietors. A great fit whether you’re selling products or services, AccountingSuite includes excellent sales and inventory management capability, plus a time-tracking feature.
One feature that sets AccountingSuite apart is its budgeting capability, which allows you to create a current or future year budget with the ability to choose the accounts you wish to include. To see how accurate your budget is, run the Budget report, which compares budgeted totals to actuals.
AccountingSuite offers a rare commodity in small business software, which is excellent budgeting capability. Source: AccountingSuite software.
Other features AccountingSuite offers include:
- Advanced accounting features, such as period closing capability and recurring journal entries
- Sales quotes and sales orders
- Custom invoicing
- Cash receipts
- Purchases
- Customizable extensions that fit your business
- Inventory management
- E-commerce integration (Pro with e-Commerce plan only)
AccountingSuite also includes good reporting options, with reports easily customizable to better suit your needs.
AccountingSuite currently offers four pricing levels. The Start Up plan at $19/month is perfect for those just starting out and offers banking, accounting, projects, time tracking, and reports. The Business plan, at $25/month, also including sales, purchases, and sales tax management. A Professional plan at $55/month and a Pro with an e-Commerce plan at $129/month are also available.
Another asset of AccountingSuite is its ability to integrate with e-commerce platforms. While the Pro plan is not cheap, AccountingSuite will completely integrate your accounting platform to your online business, eliminating the need to enter information twice and saving you a lot of time in the process.
Conclusion:
There are a lot of small business owners who have chosen self-employment over a job with a boss. Some even have chosen to go out on their own, after being a longtime employee of a corporation. Even though there are a few financial perks that come along with being your own boss, it’s not very easy at all to stay organized. You must check in on your own finances and make sure all the numbers add up correctly. It’s much harder when you’re working for yourself.
Whether you are looking for accounting software for small business or the best accounting software for self employed, all-in-one or cloud based solutions, businesses must ensure they have the right accounting software to achieve their potential.