If you are looking to get a professional business management solution, there are many software programs available. Choosing the right system for your company is one of the most important things you can do to ensure continued growth and profitability. Following is a list of ten accounting software systems that are top-notch in their categories.
Scams and overpricing abound when it comes to choosing accounting software. As an accountant myself, I had my fill of get rich quick schemes and grossly overpriced systems that didn’t function. Accountants and businesses of all sizes need accurate accounting software — it’s a vital part of your business — but you don’t need to buy a piece of garbage. Do yourself a favor and make smart decisions about which accounting software you use and trust by reading this post and the reviews of the top 10 accounting software systems on the market.
Rossum
Rossum is a powerful cloud-based platform designed to streamlines account payable processes from importing documents, collecting and capturing data, purchase order matching, to invoice processing. This software’s system is powered by a self-learning AI engine that automates various critical processes, thus reducing manual efforts and human error.
As an intelligent cloud-based platform, Rossum addresses the downsides of traditional OCR systems. By connecting Rossum to your document sources (i.e., document scanners, DMS systems, API, RPA, and email inboxes), it automatically imports all documents into the Rossum system. Its AI-powered engine also recognizes different document formats and layouts, thus there is no need to set up or create templates for documents and invoices. Furthermore, Rossum identifies duplicates, merged files, and auxiliary data and handles them accordingly to remove all unnecessary information and maintain a clean and organized curated feed of transactional data.
Try out Rossum with their free trialVISIT WEBSITEFREE TRIAL
Another advantage Rossum has over other similar systems is its ability to incorporate the changes, customizations, and corrections set by the user. This is helpful when more data that the system was not set to detect before suddenly get added to the information that needs to be extracted from an invoice. All the user needs to do is check the imported invoice and customize the fields that need to be validated and the system will then apply the changes moving forward. Moreover, you can extend Rossum’s functionality by integrating it with your existing systems, such as ERPs and RPAs.
FreshBooks
Websitewww.freshbooks.comPrice from$4.50/moFree Trial30 days
Best cloud accounting software for small businesses.
Best for:
FreshBooks is designed for the self-employed, freelancers, small- to medium-sized businesses with employees, and businesses with 1099 contractors. FreshBooks claims that the software is “Ridiculously Easy to Use” and backs that up. It is not intended for use by accountants since its feature set is limited compared to what dedicated accountants need, but the vast majority of small- to medium-sized businesses will find FreshBooks’ features and ease of use attractive.
Key features:
Designed for the web and never available as a desktop product, FreshBooks was created with the small business owner or freelancer in mind. Mobile apps are available for both iOS and Android, and users give the apps high ratings in both the App Store and Google Play. Plus, Apple ecosystem users will appreciate the ability to use the app on iPad and iPod Touch, rather than just iPhone.
FreshBooks was originally engineered to facilitate getting paid faster, so it began as an invoice tracking and creation product. Since it launched, FreshBooks has expanded to include expense tracking (including billable expenses), multi-language and multi-currency capabilities, a comprehensive invoicing workflow and customizable invoices, and a retainer function.
FreshBooks notes that payments occur up to 11 days faster when customers pay with a credit card. FreshBooks’ integrations with Stripe, Plaid, PayPal, Apple Pay, and other processors, along with the ability for clients to pay by credit card or ACH directly from the invoice, simplifies the accounts receivable process. FreshBooks also offers an automatic deposit feature and automatically categorizes the income according to rules you set.
Each subscription tier comes with more available functions. For freelancers or brand new small businesses with five or fewer billable clients, the Lite plan is perfect and allows unlimited invoicing and account statements, stored credit card information, a self-service client portal, client credits, and automated recurring invoices and late payment reminders, along with time tracking, an automatic bank feed, and a payroll add-on through Gusto.
FreshBooks also offers a robust reporting system that is easy for business owners to understand while still providing accountant-ready information for quarterly or end-of-year tax prep. While there isn’t a budgeting feature built-in, reports can be exported to Excel, allowing users to create and manage budgets manually.
The Plus plan allows users to invoice up to 50 clients and adds the ability to charge client credit cards automatically, accept e-signatures, collect retainers from clients, produce double-entry accounting reports, and allow accountant access. The Premium plan includes the same feature set as the Plus plan but allows the business to invoice up to 500 clients. Both Plus and Premium also include Advanced Payments, which is available for an additional monthly fee and allows subscription-based billing and virtual terminal processing, which is helpful in a retail environment. Users with more than 500 clients should consider the Select plan, which adds a number of additional features, including a dedicated account manager.
Lite, Plus, and Premium subscribers will have one user per subscription by default, but additional users can be added for an additional monthly fee. Select subscribers start with two users and can add more as needed. User-level permissions are not available, however, meaning that each user will have access to all data in FreshBooks.
Comprehensive time-tracking is also available, ensuring that every hour is accounted for. For team focused businesses, users can seamlessly collaborate on projects through FreshBooks. FreshBooks also integrates directly with a number of CRM platforms, including Salesforce, HubSpot, HoneyBook, Insightly, and Capsule CRM, and provides project management support through integrations with Asana, Trello, Basecamp, and G Suite, along with many additional platforms.
Ease of use:
FreshBooks is simple and intuitive—it definitely embodies its “Ridiculously Easy to Use” slogan. The company is also well-known for its excellent customer service, and there are weekly webinars to help users get the most out of the product. Plus, there are tons of training materials on the Freshbooks website.
Cost:
Overall, FreshBooks is affordable for the vast majority of freelancers and micro-businesses; however, prospective users will want to consider the costs associated with required and nice-to-have integrations and adding additional users. In addition, FreshBooks offers a 30-day free trial that includes access to the entire feature set, and as with other products on this list, FreshBooks frequently offers discounts for new customers.
Things we liked:
- Friendly, effective customer service
- Simple and easy to use
- Automated bank feed
- Affordable
- Built-in time tracking
Things we didn’t like:
- Must pay for additional users
- Integration required for payroll
- Not robust enough for accountants
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.
Conclusion
There are hundreds of accounting software systems available to you. But which one is the right fit for your business? When it comes to choosing accounting software, you really need to do your research. Making the wrong choice could cost you time, money, and even put your company’s reputation at risk. So instead of doing this difficult work for you, we’ve decided to create a guide that helps you find the best accounting software system for your business.