Are you thinking about starting a small business and looking for accounting software? These types of accounting software can help your business get organized and none of them require setting up an office. Accounting is the heart of any business and these tools will help you stay on top of your finances.
There are a lot of free accounting software options out there. If you have a small business and you’re just starting, then I’m sure you’re wondering about the best accounting software to use. In this post, I will describe what accounting software is and go over some of the options available.
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is the best overall accounting software for small businesses of those reviewed. Not only do the majority of small business accounting professionals use QuickBooks Online, but there are also endless online training resources and forums to get support when needed. All accounting features can be conveniently accessed on one main dashboard, making bookkeeping more fluid and efficient.Pros
- Scalable
- Commonly used by accounting professionals
- Integration with third-party applications
- Cloud-based
- Mobile app
Cons
- Upgrade required for more users
- Occasional syncing problems with banks and credit cards
Intuit’s QuickBooks Online has been the most common accounting software used by small businesses and their bookkeeping and tax professionals. The software is cloud-based and can be accessed through a web browser or through the mobile app.
After the 30-day free trial, the four options for subscription plans include: Simple Start at $25 per month, Essentials at $40 per month, Plus at $70 per month, and Advanced at $150 per month. Typically there is a significant discount offered for the first few months, and some accountants are able to offer wholesale pricing to small businesses, as well.
The monthly subscription for this software can be upgraded as a business grows, and there are many customization options with the mobile app that can be used to receive payments, review reports, capture an image of a receipt, and track business mileage. For businesses looking for a payroll solution, QuickBooks Payroll fully integrates with QuickBooks Online.
Each plan offers more advanced features like inventory management, time tracking, additional users, and budgeting. Most service-based small businesses will find that Simple Start meets all of their needs. For product-based small businesses, Essentials or Plus will have more options for inventory and customizations. The Advanced subscription is a new offering and provides robust financial reporting that is powered by Fathom. Fathom is an elite online financial report analysis tool used by many large companies all over the world.
All plans allow integration with third-party apps such as Stripe or PayPal. QuickBooks Online’s app store breaks down all of their apps by function and provides helpful examples of the benefits of each app.
Xero
Xero is a beautiful, intelligent small business platform designed to make life better for small businesses and their advisors, and to help them grow and thrive. Xero’s online accounting software platform provides the foundation on which businesses can build a complete business solution. It connects businesses with their bank, accounting tools, their accountant, payment services and third-party apps, so everything is securely available at any time, on any device. Additionally, with Xero, accounting and bookkeeping practices gain access to efficient compliance tools, smart practice management software, and a cloud-based single accounting ledger for every client, in one place. Product features for small business: – Automatic data entry – Xero can eliminate data entry by pulling records of sales and expenses directly from banks, invoicing apps, point-of-sale systems, ecommerce sites and receipt scanners. – Bank connections – business transactions are copied directly out of the business bank account over a secure online connection so no one has to key in data. – Smart bank reconciliation – the software learns how users classify certain expenditures and makes suggestions. This can make bank reconciliation a simple click-to-confirm process. – Online billing – the software can be used to send invoices and offer customers multiple payment methods (such as credit/debit card and direct debit). It can also send automatic payment reminders for unpaid invoices. – Automated financial reporting – balance sheets and financial statements can be produced with the push of a button. Tax returns can also be pre-populated in some regions. – Business dashboards – vital stats in real-time such as money in, money out, money due, and money owed are constantly available on a visual dashboard. – Integration with other apps – Xero integrates with hundreds of other third-party business apps to help run a business with their unique industry and business administration challenges. Business apps include options to build a customised experience from inventory and logistics to cash flow, project management, customer relationship management, e-commerce and more.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks’s combination of stellar features, customizable invoices, and well-reviewed mobile apps make it pretty much perfect—especially for freelancers. Unlike Xero, FreshBooks lets you send an unlimited number of invoices and estimates with every plan. Each plan also includes time tracking for easier, more accurate client billing. FreshBooks’s built-in small-business expense tracking helps you maintain a balanced budget. And, like QuickBooks Online, FreshBooks includes built-in mileage tracking—a must for freelancers who plan to claim mileage expenses on their year-end tax forms.
Price check: FreshBooks’ discounts
FreshBooks starts at $15 a month, but the company’s frequent discounts make its financial software even more affordable. As of May 2021, FreshBooks is offering new customers 60% off for six months—which knocks your starting price to $4.50 a month. Plus, paying annually takes 10% off your monthly price. (If you sign up for a new annual subscription during this current promo, you’ll lock in 70% off for the first six months.)
But while FreshBooks doesn’t limit your invoices, it does limit the number of customers you can bill each month. You can send your customers an unlimited amount of invoices, but the cheapest plan limits that client number to just five. Additionally, FreshBooks doesn’t include bank reconciliation with its cheapest plan. Since bank reconciliation is a foundational accounting task, we can only recommend FreshBooks’s cheapest plan to freelancers or brand-new startups with just a few transactions a month.
Wave
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.
Conclusion:
One of the better software tools for small business owners is accounting software, but there are a lot of options out there. Which one do you choose? And don’t just take a salesperson’s word for it. Find the answer by doing a little research and asking around.
If you are running a small business, then you need to know about accounts software . Several accounting software products allow small businesses to go online to organize their financial information.