While thorough, accurate, attentive accounting has always been important for business success, the technology that makes this easier for accountants has come a long way in recent years. In fact, the accounting systems software that enables organizations to elevate their financial processes and associated communication has been a way forward for most busy small businesses. Technology makes it possible to do more with less and keeps businesses more agile and more able to compete in their industry.
Best accounting system software solutions for SMBs
What are some of the best accounting system software solutions for your small business?
1. Intuit QuickBooks Online
Intuit QuickBooks Online makes the list of best accounting apps for SMBs because it has a lot of features that make it easy to use and truly supportive of accounting practices. It has everything your business needs to manage finances, including. the ability to track income and expenses, send invoices and receive payments, run reports, send estimates, track sales and taxes, and capture and organize receipts. More advanced plans allow you to track inventory, manage 1099 contractors, track time, and even run full payroll for small businesses. Plus, they offer simple integration with PayPal, Shopify, and Square so that it makes accounting even easier. With 24/7 chat support, your business is in good hands should an issue arise.
2. FreshBooks
FreshBooks can have a big impact on your small business. It gives you the ability to send out recurring invoices, which is great for businesses to run on a subscription mode, and it digitally notes when invoices were opened. It includes built-in time tracking capabilities and gives you a single dashboard to track all finances and accounting, with the ability to integrate with many existing business applications. FreshBooks also offers regular data backups and an easy to use the mobile app, all for the greater security and flexibility that your small business needs.
3. Wave
If you’re more on the small side of the small to medium size business label – or maybe even running a solo freelance operation – Wave might be a good option. It includes free services like invoice and transaction management and your information is regularly synced so your bookkeeping is always up to date. While it doesn’t have time tracking, projecting management, or inventory tracking capabilities, it’s a solid accounting system software that can help you better manage the financial side of your business.
4. Sage 50cloud
Sage 50cloud means you’ll spend less time on the administrative side of accounting. You can send invoices, track payments and expenses, and calculate taxes. Sage does offer a separate payroll product you can integrate with their bookkeeping product, but time tracking and collaboration tools would need to be acquired separately.
5. GoDaddy Bookkeeping
GoDaddy is known for their hosting business, but they have a bookkeeping product that integrates with and imports data from Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and your bank accounts. If you sell with one of those vendors, you can use the GoDaddy solution to pull data and create invoices and calculate taxes. It doesn’t work for international billing or offer extensive reporting, but it is a good option for companies who sell with 3rd-party vendors.
6. Kashoo
Kashoo is a simple, streamlined accounting system app that tracks expenses, helps you create custom invoices, helps you create insightful and meaningful reporting, integrates with Stripe and BluePay to allow payment of invoices by credit card, and can even provide real-time bank feeds for your most accurate financial information.
7. Online Invoices
Finances Online boasts about this feature-filled accounting system software saying, “Online Invoices really is a Swiss-Army knife application with tools not just for the look and feel of modern online invoicing but also for fulfilling your accounting and tax computations, monitoring and facilitating payments, and business analytics when you want to see how your small business is progressing along. It also bundles a sales tool to help you reach those revenue targets for your business growth.” It’s a great option to help you track all financial pieces, including sales, invoices, and client payments easily.
When thinking through your accounting software options, it’s best to make sure you ask the following question:
- Is this a solution that works for your needs now and can scale as your business grows?
- Does it integrate well enough with your existing solutions?
- Does it offer you both the security and flexibility your business needs?
- Do you feel comfortable with their tech support? This might be especially important for smaller businesses with less robust IT departments. Making sure you have fast access to answers and solutions is particularly important when dealing with accounting issues.
Solid accounting practices and processes are necessary to help you grow your business. Working with the right accounting system software can help ensure the success of your accounting practices and the future of your small business.
