Accounting is a business process used in commercial, industrial, and other enterprises to record the financial transactions occurring within them. As a result, these records are used by individuals to plan, analyze and manage the activities of their respective organizations. In most cases, businesses make use of software applications in order to account for various financial information in an efficient way, with the objective of achieving optimal profits. Generally, most small business owners have a certain number of options when it comes to accounting software for pc. Since most small business accounting software platforms usually have similar capabilities they can go for a platform that provides a vast range of features or benefits that they value most. For this purpose, this post will review free accounting software used on PCs focusing on features and benefits associated with each platform
If you’re an entrepreneur running a business, you understand how important it is to stay on top of finances. Cash flow, taxes, and managing finances are some of the biggest challenges businesses face. Knowing who owes you and if you owe a supplier or creditor is crucial to success.
Starting a business solo can be challenging, and 73% of small business owners in the U.S. are sole proprietors. Whether you’re a sole proprietor or running a small to medium-sized business (SMB), accounting software can help you manage your finances easily and accurately.
With a million and one things to do each day, accounting doesn’t always take priority on small business owners to-do lists. Taking advantage of accounting software can help small businesses manage invoices and payrolls with greater ease and efficiency. And without any costs to fork out, accounting software is even better when it’s free!
Accounting software can be your secret weapon when it comes to managing your small business finances. Think of the software as your assistant, helping you track cash flow, revenue, and expenses.
While Excel and Google Sheets can be a great place to start with accounting, they lack advanced features. And inputting financial information can be a time-consuming, manual process. Some SMB owners are turning to outsource or hiring virtual assistants to help with accounting, but there are other options that allow you to keep things in-house. The good news is that several decent accounting programs out there are free for the taking. It’s just a matter of choosing the most suitable one for your small business’s financial needs.
ZipBooks
Best for: Small businesses looking to upgrade from spreadsheets
ZipBooks is a web-based software offering a free plan called ZipBooks Starter. ZipBooks provides powerful and simple-to-use accounting software designed to help small businesses move to the next level. ZipBooks’ free starter option includes unlimited invoicing, unlimited vendors and customers, unlimited bookkeeping, the ability to connect and manage one bank account, and a business health and invoice quality score – and you can accept payment via credit card or PayPal. There’s a limit of one user and one connected bank account with the starter plan.
SlickPie
Best for: Small businesses with little experience in bookkeeping
SlickPie is an easy-to-use software for those who lack bookkeeping experience. This easy-to-use expense management software provides everything a small business will need for slick and timely accounting, including straightforward invoicing and detailed reports to help keep their business finances healthy. A huge perk of SlickPie is its automation features, which include auto-recurring invoices and a built-in app called MagicBot that allows you to automatically add bills and receipts. You can also manage accounts payable by manually entering bills and marking them paid.
GnuCash
Best for: Sole proprietors and small businesses
GnuCash provides a simple approach to bookkeeping and accounting for small businesses. This free accounting software is available for Android, Linux, Windows, OS X, FreeBSDm GNU and OpenBSD. The software manages invoices, accounts payable and receivable, as well as employee expenses and some payroll features.
CloudBooks
Best for: Freelancers and small businesses
The free version of CloudBooks offers cloud storage, unlimited users, and email support. It has invoicing features but limits you to one client and five invoices. In order to get the unlimited invoicing features, a paid account will be necessary. CloudBooks provides businesses with an effective invoicing tool designed to create efficient and timely billing. Businesses can take advantage of CloudBooks’ dedicated team, which can provide integrated assistance and priority support to meet the needs of their business.
Brightbook
Brightbook is a free online accounting system, designed to help time-strapped and cash-strapped small businesses with no accounting experience run their business easier. Businesses can send professional-looking invoices in any currency, track bills, and find out who owes them money in an instant with the easy-to-use Brightbook system.
Akaunting
Best for: Small and medium-sized businesses
Akaunting has a full suite of online accounting services in one convenient tool. This application can be used on any device and has an easy-to-use interface. Notable features include professional invoicing that can be sent across currencies, expense tracking, client portals, and multi-company functionality so you can manage the financials of multiple businesses on one platform.
TurboCash
TurboCash 4 provides free accounting software that is recommended for people earning less than $10 an hour. TurboCash 5 is recommended for small businesses, with cash book, general ledger, stock, debtors, creditors and invoicing features. TurboCash 5 is now available as a Cloud Service. Unlike TurboCash which is free, TurboCash 5 costs $60 a year.
Sunrise
Best for: Small and medium-sized businesses
Sunrise provides bookkeeping software for small businesses. Users can easily search and categorize their business expenses, send customized invoices, and receive online and recurring payments. Their self-service plan is free and allows users to send unlimited invoices, process unlimited transactions, and run cash flow reports. Sunrise also offers bookkeeping services for additional support.
xTuple PostBoks
xTuple PostBooks is enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, which means that in addition to accounting, small businesses can track sales, integrate inventory and take advantage of a customer management system. The free license program does not provide any specialized support.
Wave
Best for: Sole proprietors and small businesses
Wave offers an extensive list of features for free – and they’re free forever. It’s a web-based software, and information is automatically backed up in the cloud. Wave allows you to manage accounts receivable, generate financial statements, and connect an unlimited amount of credit cards and bank accounts.
One downside of Wave? It doesn’t allow you to track accounts payable – the money a business owes to its suppliers or creditors. But that’s offset by great software design, simple setup, and included email support.
Inveezy
Inveezy is a free invoicing tool for small businesses. Users can customize their invoices with their own logos and use the service to send repeated invoices. Businesses can get paid with PayPal or credit cards with the Inveezy system. Businesses also have the option to send an invoice as a quote as opposed to an actual bill.
Xero
Xero might grab your attention with its low-cost Early plan account but look closely and limitations soon become apparent – like being restricted to sending a maximum of five invoices, entering five bills, or reconciling only 20 bank transactions.
Still, if you can live with those restrictions there are some pluses here. The service offers smart expense tracking and management, optionally on your mobile with Xero’s excellent app for Android and iOS. There are dozens of configurable reports, simple budgeting, and no limits at all on additional users or the accountants you might want to access the data.
If the invoice, bank, or billing issues are a problem then the Xero Growing plan looks like a better deal. It’s a lot more money, but you can issue as many invoices and enter as many bills as you like.
Kashoo
Choosing an accounting package often involves browsing a complicated comparison table, looking for hidden catches, and trying to figure out which is the best product for you. Kashoo avoids all that and delivers just about everything you’re likely to need.
Kashoo shines when it comes to multi-currency support, an important feature for today’s global economy. It also supports credit card transactions for all the major carriers such as Amex, Visa and Mastercard – at a competitive fee.
You also benefit from unlimited invoices and connections to over 5,000 financial institutions to reconcile accounts online. We liked the uncluttered interface of this product and the dashboard that provides a good summary of your current financial situation at a glance.
Kashoo also offers customer support across the gamut of email, phone, live chat and social media – this company will even respond to an old-fashioned letter!
Zoho Books is just one small part of a much greater business concern based in India that offers all manner of solutions for anyone and everyone. With its clean and simple cloud-based interface Zoho Books makes a great cost-effective option if you’re a freelancer, sole trader or someone running a small business.
While the desktop route is a solid one Zoho Books also has an impressive app presence, making it a good mobile bet too. The basic plan offers a limited number of contacts (as in the maximum amount of customers or vendors you can create transactions for), 2 users (as in yourself and your accountant) and 5 automated workflows.
The most popular package is Standard, which comes with up to 500 contacts, 3 users and 10 automated workflows. Professional, meanwhile, is a full bells-and-whistles experience that offers 500 contacts, 10 users and 10 automated workflows.
Conclusion
The best accounting software should be suitable for your pc and your business or you can get free online accounting softwares. When you are looking to start your own small business, you will want to know the best software for accounting. While it may be possible to settle for other paid accounting software packages, this can be costly. Instead of wasting money on expensive software, consider these options for free accounting software for your pc.