Best accounting software for home based business or what is the best accountant software? You must need to do the research as you are dealing with your business financial matters. Or as a small business owner, you must be thinking about investing money on accounting software.
Do you own a business? Are you an entrepreneur who’s looking at tax management software best solution for small businesses for your company, but are having trouble making a decision? You’re not alone. This is a common issue most entrepreneurs face when they’re starting out, especially when you’re working with a limited budget. But don’t worry, this is why you have this article.
FreshBooks Accounting
Our pick for: Best Apple Pay-friendly option
Price:
- Lite: $15 per month.
- Plus: $25 per month.
- Premium: $50 per month.
- Select: Quote only.
FreshBooks’ mobile app is intuitive and feature-rich, making it a great choice for entrepreneurs who spend more time on the phone than at a desk. Aside from general accounting functions, the mobile app also allows you to respond to clients’ questions and get notified when they view or pay invoices or when invoices are overdue. With FreshBooks’ relatively recent addition of double-entry accounting, it’s also now a candidate for a larger spectrum of companies, getting generally strong industry reviews for its intuitive, easy-to-use interface. Entirely cloud-based, it covers the basics and includes some attractive automated features and reports. If you need to have more than one person access the system, be sure you factor that into the price.
Zoho Books
Our pick for: Low cost, high value
Price (when paid annually):
- Free for businesses with less than $50,000 in annual revenue.
- Three users: $15 per month.
- Five users: $40 per month.
- 10 users: $60 per month.
Zoho Books packs an impressive collection of features and reporting capabilities for an affordable price. The free version is only for businesses that have less than $50,000 in annual revenue; it allows one user and one accountant. Its interface is easy to learn and use, and the option to automate workflows — for example, to send an email alert if an invoice exceeds a certain amount, or to apply a discount or late fee in certain cases — makes it stand out as an attractive choice. (You can create five automated workflows under the basic plan and up to 10 under the higher tiers.) Zoho is perhaps best-known for its customer relationship management, or CRM, and productivity apps, which integrate well with its accounting software. It’s possible to create contacts on Zoho Books based on new leads in Zoho CRM, for instance.
FreeAgent
FreeAgent is a particularly handy software that enables SME’s to set up recurring invoices and automated reminders to keep on track of accounts ‘hands-free’. The expense tracking feature helps users to track their spending by taking pictures of their receipts and uploading them to FreeAgent so they can be automatically processed. This means that you don’t have to put in the legwork of processing receipts yourself. Likewise, near tax time, sole traders and limited company directors can submit tax returns in a single click. In addition, SMEs will benefit from the overhead view of their accounts and automatic bank feeds, enabling users to import bank transactions directly.
Pros:
- Simple and effective dashboard system
- Automated Receipt Processing
- Fast one click tax returns
- Real time view of cash flow
Cons:
- Core functionality is limited
- Inventory tracking is confusing
- Doesn’t have the capacity to support larger businesses
Xero
Xero does one thing that you won’t find with most accounting software: It includes multiple users with no additional fees. For businesses with multiple users, not having to purchase additional licenses for every single user can save hundreds — or thousands! — each year.
Unlimited users aren’t all that Xero has going for it, though. This cloud-based software is compatible with Mac and comes loaded with accounting features, such as invoices, quotes, purchase orders, inventory management, and reports. Depending on the plan you select, you may also have access to project management, expense claims, and bill management.
Integrations are another area where Xero stands out, as it connects to over 800 apps and programs. Xero has a very positive public reputation, although some users have complained about the lack of phone support and mobile apps that could use some improvement.
Xero’s plans start at $11/month, although this lowest-tier plan limits your number of invoices and bills. Two additional plans are available. All three plans support unlimited users at no cost. Gusto payroll can also be added to any plan for an additional monthly fee.
Pros
- Supports unlimited users at no additional cost
- Easy to use
- 800+ integrations
Cons
- No phone support
- Limited mobile apps
Sage Business Cloud Accounting
Sage Business Cloud Accounting offers a smart, user-friendly platform where you can easily manage invoicing, monitor your cash flow, connect to your bank accounts, and more. It has features to support you in each phase of your business processes, be it in sales, expenses, reporting, or quotes, and estimations. Plus, it has a stock tracking feature that keeps track of your inventory and stock levels.
You can use all the features for free for a period of time to see if the software matches your needs.
One of the best things about Sage Business Cloud Accounting is its tax management tool, which allows you to compute your taxes on the same platform. The system easily calculates your taxes according to available transaction data. Moreover, it helps you stay compliant with legislation in place.
AccountEdge Pro
Starting Price: $399 (perpetual license)
Deployment: Cloud Hosted or On-Premises
User rating: 3.3/5.0 stars
AccountEdge is a complete small business desktop accounting and management solution for your Mac office. AccountEdge is available for a 30 day free trial.
Features:
- creating and tracking sales and purchases
- Budgeting, Planning & Forecasting
- Customer Relationship Management
- Job Cost
- Order Entry
- Project Management
- Time & Billing
Wave Accounting
If saving money is your top concern, Wave should be among your top accounting software picks. Wave is completely free for life, doesn’t require a credit card, and offers enough features to compare with most paid accounting software options. Unlike FreshBooks and Xero, it doesn’t limit the number of invoices you can send or clients you can bill. It also includes at least as many reports as QuickBooks’ cheapest plan, and you can manage multiple businesses from just one Wave account.
While Wave’s receipt-scanning and invoicing app have good iOS reviews, Wave still doesn’t have a mobile accounting app. And Wave has just one accounting plan, so it isn’t particularly scalable. Since Wave offers the same accounting features for small businesses as for large enterprises, it’s best for freelancers and business owners with one location and few employees.
Conclusion:
Taking care of your finances as a small business or as a freelancer can be a major headache. If you’re just starting out as a small business, you probably don’t have a financial background. The resources and accounting software which come with your regular job might not be sufficient for your needs as a self-employed worker, and it’s smart to start thinking about alternative software and solutions early on.