Accounting tools are definitely one of the topics that business owners need to know about. When you’re managing your finances, budgets, and invoices, it’s imperative that you have the right resources. I mean you wouldn’t want to give an unprofessional service, would you?
What Are the Tools of Accounting? Today I will be discussing the tools of accounting related to financial statements, account balancing and financial analysis which will help you to prepare your own small business financial statements. So read on to get a firm grasp of accounting software tools.
Brightpearl
Price: Customizable plans starting from around $375 per month for 3 users
Best for: Small to medium omnichannel and eCommerce businesses and retailers
Platform: Cloud-based
Integrates with: Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, eBay, Amazon, Shipstation, UPS and more
Brightpearl’s eCommerce management system is a full-service platform that integrates accounting with back-office inventory and warehouse management. It integrates with your shipping systems, and like other platforms such as FreshBooks, it is mobile-optimized and offers APIL developers options for easy integration.
Key features include:
- CRM
- Order management
- Batch processing and supplier ordering
- Payment management
Sage Accounting
If you own a one-person business, then Sage Accounting Start should definitely be at the top of your accounting tools list. For starters, you can record income and expenses and perform bank reconciliation for only $10 per month. And if you need more functionality, then you can upgrade to Sage Accounting—at the still quite low price of $25 a month—to get an overview of your business’s financials, cash flow forecasting, and bill vendors.
Sage Accounting is especially helpful if you’re working with freelancers or contractors for your small business, since their project management capabilities are an added bonus.
AccountEdge Pro
AccountEdge Pro offers both on-premise and cloud access and is a great fit for small and growing businesses. AccountEdge Pro is probably one of the best applications on this list if you’re selling products since it offers a comprehensive inventory management module.
AccountEdge Pro offers solid inventory management capability. Source: AccountEdge Pro software.
The inventory module lets you track detailed information about each product, offers multiple pricing levels, and will alert you when stock drops below a certain level. It also includes builds and kitting capability for those that build their own inventory items from scratch.
AccountEdge Pro also offers a Shopify connector, syncing your inventory with online sales.
Along with inventory accounting, AccountEdge Pro offers solid accounting capability, sales and invoicing, time tracking, and a payroll module. A customer portal was recently added, making it easy for your customers to pay you online.
Reporting options are good in AccountEdge Pro, with reports available in a variety of categories and all reports fully customizable. AccountEdge Pro offers free email support, with telephone support available at an additional cost.
One of the best benefits of using AccountEdge Pro is its scalability, with four plans available to choose from, and if you need to pay employees, the application includes a payroll module.
Another benefit is the option to choose between the desktop application or online access, with a third option providing on-premise installation with cloud accessibility.
AccountEdge’s Basic plan has a one-time fee of $149, while AccountEdge Pro has a one-time fee of $399. For those interested in online access, Priority Zoom starts at $50/month, with ERP pricing available upon request.
QuickBooks Online
Quickbooks is all-inclusive automated accounting software for small businesses that lets you handle bookkeeping, sales tax, expense tracking, invoicing, and other accounting tasks.
You’ll be able to:
- automate the process of entering transactions
- perform tax calculations
- track bills and expenses, as well as set automatic payments
- create invoices and have your business clients pay you directly via PayPal, debit card or credit card
As a standout feature, QuickBooks will help you easily define estimates and quotes for your clients – then, once the estimate is accepted, this software will convert the estimate to an invoice and you can then track its progress.
Available for: Web, Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Google Chrome
Market: United States, Canadian, UK (with support for South African and Irish VAT), Australia
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is one of the big names around town when it comes to accounting tools for small business owners….
And for good reason. Although it started out just as an invoice and expense tracking software solution, FreshBooks today can integrate with your bank accounts, generate financial reports, process your payroll and business payments, and keep track of timesheets. Not to mention, FreshBooks also offers integrations with a pretty long list of popular CRM and customer service apps, so you can expand its functionality whenever you need.
If you’re interested in simple, intuitive accounting tools, then FreshBooks could be for you. And if you ever get confused, FreshBooks emphasizes its person-to-person customer service—for free—in case you ever need a helping hand.
Sample its free 30-day trial, and if it fits your needs, you can purchase FreshBooks for as low as $15 per month, and even less if you opt for yearly pricing. What’s more, for a limited time, FreshBooks is offering 60% off for six months on Lite, Plus, and Premium plans when new users skip the 30-day free trial period and opt to buy now.
QuickBooks Desktop
For years, QuickBooks Desktop was the go-to application for small businesses. Still popular, QuickBooks Desktop is a great option for traditionalists who prefer an on-premise software application.
QuickBooks Desktop is also the application of choice for niche industries, such as nonprofits, manufacturing, or general contractors.
QuickBooks Premier offers a nonprofit edition that includes donation tracking. Source: Intuit QuickBooks.
Packed with features, QuickBooks Desktop can also be hosted on a cloud server if you absolutely need to have access to the application 24/7.
QuickBooks Desktop includes solid accounting capability, with the option to connect your bank accounts, and good invoicing and inventory management capability included in the application.
This makes it a great choice for specialty businesses, such as manufacturing, nonprofits, and contractors who desire a more industry-specific version of the application.
For instance, the manufacturing edition offers more advanced inventory management, while the nonprofit edition includes donation tracking and campaign management.
Reporting options in QuickBooks Desktop is exceptional, with QuickBooks Premier offering more than 150 industry-specific reports, which can be customized as needed.
One of the biggest benefits of using QuickBooks Desktop is access to the community forums, where you can share problems and solutions to common issues. QuickBooks support options include both telephone and email support, though wait times can be challenging.
QuickBooks Desktop currently offers three plans: Pro, which is $299.95/year for up to three users; Premier, which includes the industry-specific editions and supports up to five users, for $499.95/year; and Enterprise, which supports up to 30 users and is $849.10/year.
Wave Accounting
If you’re looking for a free alternative to the more expensive accounting tools such as QuickBooks and FreshBooks, you can try Wave Accounting – you’ll get a cost-effective invoicing and accounting app that allows card processing and handling payroll.
With Wave Accounting, you’ll get a great solution to help you:
- handle invoices
- track investments, expenses, and transactions
- handle basic financial reporting
- track your personal finances, cash balance, and invoicing status for clients
- scan receipts
Overall, the app is an effective solution for small businesses.
Perhaps as its best feature, Wave Accounting handles all client payments automatically – the system allows you to connect bank accounts with credit cards, as well as accept and process payments from all credit cards.
Available for: Web, Windows, iOS, Android, Google Chrome
Market: Global
Conclusion:
What are the tools of accounting? This is a common question among students of accounting. In fact, there’s a common joke in the industry that the business computer is known as a “double entry bookkeeping machine.” There are hundreds of different ways you can calculate profits and losses, but three of the most important steps in this process include inventory, purchase and sales transfers.