Accounting tools offer you a holistic overview of how money moves in and out of your business, providing a better picture of its finances by making it simple to keep detailed records and quickly detect any problems early.
NerdWallet’s list of accounting software for small businesses features both free and paid solutions with various features, as well as consideration of scalability – how well the application grows with your business.
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is our top choice for comprehensive accounting software solutions. This cloud-based product doesn’t require software installation and allows access to your data from any computer with internet connectivity. Plus, its four scalable subscription levels offer plans tailored specifically to freelancers and independent contractors.
All plans allow you to track income and expenses, manage inventory, create invoices, manage bank accounts and forecast cash flow – plus prepare you for tax season by including in your Chart of Accounts all necessary items to file taxes.
QuickBooks goes beyond its core features by supporting add-on apps like QuickBooks Payroll and Time, which help automate payments and track billable hours. Furthermore, the program integrates seamlessly with TurboTax for effortless filing needs, offering free 30-day trials.
Wave
Wave accounting software is an affordable choice for freelancers and small businesses with limited needs, offering all of the essential accounting features including income and expense tracking, financial reports and invoicing that can be accessed online or via mobile device.
Xero stands out in the accounting software landscape as an appealing and feature-packed cloud solution that makes collaboration across teams easy by sharing bookkeeping data in real-time. With an array of third-party integrations and seamless team collaboration features, it enables companies of any size to work on one bookkeeping record in real time.
OneUp, with its user-friendly and straightforward approach to accounting, is another popular choice for small businesses. It synchronises seamlessly with bank accounts, automating many tasks and eliminating manual entries; additionally it features basic invoicing, customer relationship management tools as well as inventory and project tracking features.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is an accounting software solution used by small businesses for invoicing, expense tracking and time management. Its intuitive user interface makes the program user friendly without requiring prior accounting knowledge or experience to operate.
FreshBooks allows users to quickly create invoices in less than one minute and track expenses using Digital Bills, as well as scan receipts to upload for later analysis.
This platform can assist businesses in receiving payment more quickly with automated invoicing and auto payment reminders, boost team productivity with precise time tracking tools and collaborative project collaboration features, monitor cash flow with charts that show spending trends and unbilled time, as well as manage risk through charted reports that track cash flows.
Zoho Books
Zoho Books is an accounting software with an array of features and automation abilities for small businesses, as well as an impressive support infrastructure with multiple avenues for customer assistance.
Zoho Books provides both a free trial and several cost-effective subscription plans, featuring features such as project tracking tools and transaction-tracking tags, client portal communication with customers and feedback gathering, project scheduling tools and transaction-tracking tags as well as client engagement services to increase revenue and customer retention.
Zoho Books supports multiple payment gateways to make online payments simpler for your clients, while simultaneously making life easier for yourself and enabling you to manage invoices, payment reminders and expenses on its user-friendly dashboard. Furthermore, you can connect bank accounts to automatically import transactions and categorize them under “Uncategorized Transactions View”, with an easy search bar for quickly finding accounts.
Sage 50cloud
Sage 50cloud (formerly Peachtree accounting software) is a robust digital solution with numerous facilities for processing business information. It streamlines basic accounting and financial tasks to enable small businesses to make informed decisions and grow.
Additionally, this system features an advanced invoicing system with customizable templates and provides a visual representation of aged receivables on its main page. Furthermore, its robust inventory management feature can monitor product levels both stocked on hand as well as committed to proposals or purchase orders.
Other features include automated bank feeds to reduce data entry errors and speed reconciliation, role-based security, project management capabilities and budgeting features. Sage 50cloud Accounting Quantum plan supports up to 40 users and comes equipped with over 150 reports – mobile app users also benefit from screen-level user access and Microsoft Office integration for quicker editing.
