Everybody knows the way business works is constantly changing. It’s now easier than ever before and if you know which Business Software For Accounting to use and how to increase your productivity you will be miles ahead of the pack. Here we’ll look at some of the business software that is available and look at what makes each one helpful.”
Although business software accounting is something that every business owner will deal with, this topic never gets boring. Accounting is the heart of business and impacts most things you do or plan to do involving money. You can’t run a successful small business without effective software accounting. As with most things in life, choosing the right accounting package can be tricky. Do you need accounting programs that are simple or do you need more complicated ones? What do different accounting programs offer? There are many alternatives to choose from when it comes to business software accounting, so let’s take a look at your options.
QuickBooks Online (50% Off – Best On & Offline)
QuickBooks is one of the most widely used accounting solutions by accountants worldwide with over 5 million users according to the developer Intuit.
It’s also the only serious Mac accounting package which gives you the choice of either using it on your Mac desktop or in a browser which makes it the best offline accounting software for Mac users in 2021.
QuickBooks is from Intuit the makers of the Quicken For Mac personal finance software and if you already use Quicken, you’ll love the seamlessly integration between the two products.
What makes QuickBooks Online one of the best accounting software out there is that it’s advanced enough for professionals but still easy enough to use for beginners.
Some of the highlights of QuickBooks Online include a Mac desktop app, automatic downloading of bank transactions, automatic scheduling of invoices, one click sales and tax reports and multi-user access.
For UK users, QuickBooks is also MTD and HMRC ready for filing tax and VAT returns online.
There are no problems if you want to view or edit QuickBooks on iOS either – QuickBooks for iPad and QuickBooks for iPhone are available for free (although the functionality and features are of the iOS apps are quite limited).
QuickBooks integrates with your bank so that you can make payments online and download transactions automatically.
If your business accepts payments via third-party services such as PayPal or Shopify, QuickBooks also integrates with popular payment platforms so that all your payments and invoices are automatically logged.
It can also save you some serious money in optimizing your tax liabilities. QuickBooks claims it saves users an average of $3,534 per year in tax savings.
Most recently QuickBooks now offers add-ons in the form of QuickBooks Payroll which allows you to pay employees with free direct debit transfers directly from the application.
There are two versions of QuickBooks available to Mac users: QuickBook Desktop For Mac and QuickBooks Online.
The desktop version of QuickBooks For Mac 2021 costs $399.99 which at that price, we don’t think is worth it. It’s also likely that the desktop version of QuickBooks for Mac will be discontinued in the not too distant future.
Our advice is to go with QuickBooks Online version which starts at just $12.50 per month and offers far more features.
You can also get 50% Off QuickBooks Online for a limited period (although if you’re based in Canada you need to go the QuickBooks Canada store).
You can also try QuickBooks now for free to see what you think for yourself.
You can also check our full review of QuickBooks For Mac which also looks at the differences between the QuickBook online vs QuickBooks For Mac offline desktop version in more detail.
Pros:
- Widely used by accountants on both Mac & Windows
- Works both online and offline in a Mac desktop app
- Excellent integration with Quicken
- Tools for both personal and business expense tracking
- Uploads photos of receipts and extracts data
- Generally easy to use and navigate
- Works on any platform
- Now offers integrated Payroll
- Online banking integration
- MTD and HMRC Ready in UK
Cons:
- Online bank syncing can be temperamental
- Payroll features costs extra
- QuickBooks For Mac 2021 desktop version is expensive
Sage (Best For Accountants)
Sage is one of the biggest accounting solutions in the world and Sage For Mac is one of the most widely used by accountants on both Mac and PC.
Although Sage is highly scalable, the basic version is user friendly with tools to manage cash flow, easy to understand reporting tools, automated invoicing and ability to manage multiple users at once.
Thee Sage iOS app is also easy to use, well thought out and allows you to manage payments anywhere.
Nowadays, Sage is integrated with Stripe to take payments with a Pay Now button in invoices to make it easier for customers to pay.
Sage is easily one of the best scalable accounting solutions for for Mac users and if you’re expecting your business to grow rapidly, it a great option.
You can try a free trial of Sage to test it for yourself and pricing starts at $7.50/month with 70% off for 6 months.
Pros:
- Scalable from small business to enterprise
- Clean, easy to use interface
- 1 on 1 sessions available with Sage experts
- Free bank feed
- Reasonably priced for such a powerful solution
- 24/7 phone based support
Cons:
- No Mac desktop app
Wave is an ideal accounting software platform for a service-based small business that sends simple invoices and doesn’t need to track inventory or run payroll. For many freelancers or service-based businesses, Wave’s free features will cover all of their accounting needs and is the best free software in our review. At year-end, accountants can pull the necessary reports from Wave to prepare a business’ tax return.Pros
- Free accounting, invoicing, and receipt scanning
- No transaction or billing limits
- Run multiple businesses in one account
- Unlimited number of users
- Mobile app
Cons
- Limited third-party app integrations
- Higher fees for credit cards and ACH payments
- Full-service payroll is limited to only 14 states
- No inventory management
Wave was founded in 2010 and is based in Toronto. The company has over 250 employees and was recently purchased by H&R Block. The foundational accounting features that most small businesses need, such as income and expense tracking, financial reporting, invoicing, and scanning receipts, are all included with this free software. These features can be accessed online or on the mobile app. Customer payment processing and payroll are considered premium services that cost extra, but all of the bookkeeping, invoicing, and reporting features are completely free.
Wave makes its money on its payment gateway. To process payment from a customer, Wave charges 2.9% plus 30¢ per transaction for Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, and 3.4% plus 30¢ per transaction for American Express. These fees are slightly higher than other accounting software. Additionally, to process an ACH payment, rather than a credit card, Wave charges 1% per transaction with a $1 minimum fee. This is unique to Wave, as the majority of accounting software does not charge a fee for ACH payment processing.
Wave offers two payroll plans as an add-on service. The first plan is $20 per month plus $6 per employee or contractor. In this plan, Wave will process payroll and prepare payroll tax calculations, but the user is responsible for manually completing payroll tax forms and submitting tax payments. The second plan is $35 per month plus $6 per employee or contractor. In this plan, payroll is full-service, which means that all tax filings and payments are completely managed by Wave. This full-service payroll option is only available in 14 states.
There are some free accounting software available for Mac but we don’t recommend them for serious small businesses.
One of the main reasons is that they’re very limited and it’s difficult and stressful to switch accounting solutions later on as your business grows.
Free accounting platforms can also suddenly stop supporting certain features and regions leaving users stuck.
This happened recently with the free Wave accounting platform when it suddenly announced it would no longer support users outside of the USA and Canada.
Our advice is to try one of the free trials of the accounting solutions featured here and take advantage of the generous discounts on apps such as FreshBooks (60% off) and QuickBooks (50% off) and stick with it.
We have however looked at the best free accounting software for Mac here if your budget simply won’t stretch to paid solutions.
Zoho Books (Best For Beginners)
Zoho Books is made by software giants Zoho that makes everything from remote desktop software to CRM software.
Zoho Books is easy to use for beginners and is ideal for freelancers and small businesses in all industries.
It’s also a good choice for Wave users in the UK who were left out in the cold when Wave stopped supporting the UK as it can import accounts from Wave.
Some of the highlights include automatic invoicing, expense reconciling, estimates, detailed reports and project workflow management.
It also helps prepare your accounts for tax filing and even includes time tracking to track employees, contractors or even yourself for invoicing.
For those working in small to medium sized businesses that need a cross department accounting solution, Zoho Books is a very slick accounting solution.
Pricing for Zoho Books starts at $9 per month and you can try a free trial of Zoho Books to test it for yourself.
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Lots of features
- Integrated with other Zoho products
- Good value
- Imports Wave accounts
- Excellent support system
Cons:
- Limited online banking integration
Xero (Best Interface)
Xero has been designed specifically to work on Apple devices and claims it’s arguably the closest thing you’ll find to an official Apple accounting application.
Xero promotes itself as “Beautiful Accounting Software” and there’s no denying it looks like an accounting app that’s been tailor-made for the aesthetics of macOS.
The main dashboard of Xero is one of the most useful features as it conveniently summarizes the most important accounting data of your business in a snapshot.
You can easily switch between tabs such as Accounts, Payroll, Reports, Contacts etc and within each tab, you can easily move around the different widgets so that you can customize it how you want.
Invoicing is very straightforward in Xero with slick customizable templates, convenient automated payment reminders and “PayNow” integration with PayPal so that you can get paid on receipt.
This makes it easier to get paid faster, track payments and generally automate invoicing as much as possible.
Mobile integration is one of Xero’s strongest features and we like the way users can easily issue invoices the moment a job has been completed via the Xero Touch iOS app for iPhone and iPad.
Xero plans start at $16 per month and you can try a 30 day free trial of Xero first to judge for yourself.
Pros:
- Clear, well designed interface
- Allows an unlimited number of additional users for free
- Excellent mobile integration
- Can be used on any platform
- Easy to use integrated payroll software
Cons:
- No native Mac client
- Not as widely used by accountants as QuickBooks, FreshBooks or Sage
- Sometimes duplicates transactions
Conclusions
A business is only as good as its books. If you’re looking for software that can take you to the next level, then I’ve got you covered. We’re going to cover the best accounting software options available.