In this post, we have compiled the list of top 10 accounting software apps. Accounting software is used to download data from your bank and accounts.
A desktop accounting software is a complete system for accounting, payroll and tax preparation. In the early days of personal computing, people used to access these programs through the use of floppy disks. With advancement of computing technology, memory cards and then CD’s were used. Today some top 10 accounting software are even provided over the internet in the form of cloud computing or on demand applications.
Zoho Books Accounting Software: Best for Microbusinesses
Zoho Books Accounting SoftwareZoho Books has apps for popular operating systems and devices – including Apple, Android and Windows – allowing you to send invoices, reconcile accounts, and accept payments on the go.Through Xero, you can track and manage bills and vendor credits.Xero has a limit of 5,000 transactions per month, which isn’t enough for some businesses.VISIT SITE
Microbusinesses need simple accounting software, and that’s where Zoho Books comes in. Zoho Books offers all of the basic features that microbusinesses need, as well as advanced tools such as project billing and time tracking. It also has integrations, so you can continue using the software as your business grows. We selected Zoho Books as the best accounting application for microbusinesses because of its simplicity and value.
Editor’s score: 8.75/10
With its Apple, Android and Windows mobile apps, Zoho Books makes it easy for business owners to send invoices and manage their books on the go. There are even dedicated apps for the Apple Watch and Android smartwatches. The ability to create and send invoices from the app means that, as soon as you finish a job, you can bill a client, instead of waiting to get back to the office.
When you use simple accounting software, you don’t want an outdated user interface or features that are so basic you can’t glean important business insights from the data. That’s what makes Zoho Books stand out: While the platform is easy to use, it doesn’t lack features, and the interface is modern and sleek. It can also speed up many business processes via automation, which is a nice time-saving feature.
You can set recurring invoices and send automatic payment reminders, and if you link your payment processor with Zoho Books, you can accept payments in invoices. You can automate reporting, too; Zoho Books lets you schedule when to run reports and then automatically emails them to you.
Another feature that sets Zoho Books apart from its rivals is the company’s client portal, a website your customers can visit to view invoices, make comments and pay online. This is a particularly helpful feature for businesses that work closely with their clients on projects. If you want feedback from your customers, you can set up the portal to allow them to review your services.
Zoho also has its own suite of integrated business apps, including customer relationship management (CRM) software, email marketing and social media marketing solutions, spreadsheet editors, and other productivity tools. Like its competitors, Zoho Books integrates with third-party productivity apps and business solutions, including Google apps, the Square point-of-sale (POS) system, several credit card processors, and tax services Tax1099 and Avalara. It also has a Zapier integration, which allows you to connect to more than 1,000 third-party apps. With all those features and services, it’s easy to see why Zoho Books is our pick for the best accounting software for microbusinesses.
September 2021: Aiming to help small business owners as they emerge from the pandemic, Zoho made its Zoho Invoice platform free to its customers. In addition to sending bills, the software lets you track time, manage project billing, and access more than 30 features and tools to help you get paid and collect past-due bills.
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.
AccountingSuite
AccountingSuite offers the features that small businesses have come to expect from any software application, including cloud accessibility and solid accounting capability. Bank connectivity is also offered in AccountingSuite, with the application able to connect to over 9,000 financial institutions.
You can manage your invoicing in the Sales module, and process and pay bills in the Purchases module. Both project and time tracking capability are offered in the application as well, so you can track projects and profitability, while the time-tracking feature allows you to record the time spent on each individual project.
But AccountingSuite also has some outstanding features not always available in small business accounting software.
Budgeting
Not all small businesses need a budget tool, but if you can get one with your software application, why not take advantage of it? AccountingSuite offers a surprisingly robust budget tool that lets you create budgets for each account in your general ledger.
The budget tool lets you create budgets for the current fiscal year or for any year in the future, and you can choose the account types you wish to include in the budget.
AccountingSuite offers easy budget creation, with quick access to your chart of accounts. Source: AccountingSuite.
There is also a pre-fill option, which can be used to automatically pre-fill the budget with actual data from the application or from an imported file. If you want to see how close you come to budget, run the Budget Report, which calculates actual income and expenses and compares the actual to budgeted totals.
Be sure to read the full review for a full discussion of all of AccountingSuite’s features.
OneUp
OneUp is the best small business accounting application you’ve probably never heard of. Ideal for sole proprietors and freelancers, with its robust inventory management module, OneUp is a great option for retail businesses.
OneUp is also suitable for growing businesses, with pricing based solely on number of users rather than features, with the Self plan, for a single user, including the same features as the Unlimited plan.
OneUp offers a good selection of features, including the option to connect your bank accounts or enter transactions manually.
Other features include the ability to process vendor and sales quotes, purchase orders, and credit memos, and the Opportunities feature lets you track and manage all potential sales directly to a product.
OneUp offers a terrific invoicing option, with the ability to request payment immediately.
OneUp does not offer the option to process checks for vendor payments, though you can pay your vendors electronically or enter payment information directly in the application. A mobile app is also available for both iOS and Android devices.
OneUp pricing starts at $9/month for the Self plan, and goes all the way up to $169/month for the Unlimited plan, with all plans including the same features, so you’ll only need to scale up if you add additional users, not to gain access to more powerful features. The biggest drawback to OneUp is the lack of a payroll option.
By far, the biggest benefit of using OneUp is having access to all of the application’s features and functions from day one, whichever plan you choose.
Conclusion
This list of accounting software has been arranged in ascending order based on their popularity. Accounting software is utilized to keep track of financial transactions and can offer a wide array of features. Often times accounting software can be used to run an entire business or a simple bookkeeping system for a small home business.