Top 6 Accounting Software Tools for Small Businesses in 2019

If you run a small business, a tight grip on finances is required for success. Your small business accounting software should be easy to use, affordable and allow you to track expenses and income. The software should provide an easy, deep financial statement for analysis into the health of your business.

Small business accounting software helps you track the money you owe, are owed and received. We reviewed multiple tools that were affordable, cloud-based and had access to data anytime.  We also searched for software that saved time and automated tedious accounting tasks such as bank reconciliation.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online offers five service tiers to ensure businesses find plans that fit their needs. You have a choice of a 50% discount on a 3-month subscription or a 30-day free trial before making a decision. A quick test-drive is available on the QuickBooks website for those who don’t want to forfeit the discount.

The Self-Employed plan costs $10 a month while the Simple Start plan cost $20 a month. Both support single users. The Essential plan costs $35 and supports three users. Top features of QuickBooks Online include: create invoices, track mileage, accept payment, income and expenses, run basic reports, send estimates, time tracking and bill management.

The Advanced plans that cost $150 and supports up to 25 users. There is no free trial but it includes all the features of the previous plans plus Smart Reporting and five online classes to train your team.

FreshBooks

FitSmallBusiness describes FreshBooks as the best accounting software for freelancers and solopreneurs looking to get paid faster and streamline billing. FreshBooks has three pricing plans. The Lite plan starts at $15 a month, Plus plan at $25 and the Premium plan at $50 a month.

The major difference across all plans is the number of clients ranging from 5-500. All FreshBooks plan include project tracking, time tracking, manage accounts payable, manage accounts receivable, connect credit card, accept online payments and over 100 custom invoice templates.

Xero

If you want the features of QuickBooks without the price tag, choose Xero. Xero excels at small business accounting and supports every major financial element in a double-entry accounting solution.

You create records for employees, suppliers and customers. You can customise transactions such as purchase orders, invoices and quotes. Recently, they added more features such as expense management and additional payment processors.

Xero’s pricing plan includes Early, Growing and Established. Early cost $9 a month, growing cost $30 and Established cost $60. The noticeable difference is the limitation of Manage Accounts Payable and Connect Bank Credit Card Accounts in the Early plan.

Wave

Wave Financial is as free as advertised. If you’re just starting out, Wave includes a good mix of features suited towards entrepreneurs and freelancers who have limited or no inventory. Overall, it is rated as the best free small business accounting software.

Wave allows you to create custom invoices for your customers, manager open invoice balances and follow up with customers before or after invoices are due. You also have the functionality to connect your credit/bank card accounts to Wave.

To use Wave Payroll, there are monthly fees attached. It allows you to calculate and file payroll taxes and forms as well as process paychecks. Self-Service States month base fee of $20 plus and Tax Service States monthly base fee of $35.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting

From cash flow, sales, purchases VAT and reporting, Sage supports small businesses every step of the way. You gain access to easy invoicing to connect your bank, track what you’re owed, take care of VAT, sell products and services and get reporting and insights that help you improve your business.

If you have employees, it’s important that you’re using a reputable cloud hosting plan alongside Sage to get the most out of your accounting software. In New Zealand, options include Open Host, Umbrellar and Domains4Less Website Hosting

Sage pricing is similar to QuickBooks Online, which starts at $20 for the Simple Start Plan. The Essentials plan cost $35 per month and includes time tracking capabilities, billing and multiuser features.

Zoho

Zoho is an economical paid accounting software that is popular with small businesses. Features such as time tracking, invoicing, expense tracking, estimating and bill payment makes it ideal for freelancers and solopreneurs.

The Basic plan cost $9 a month (2 users), Standard plan costs $19 a month (3 users) and the Professional plan cost $29 a month (10 users). The major difference across plans is the number of customers, vendors and employees you can add. For Basic its 50, standard 500 and unlimited for the professional plan.

Top features of Zoho includes the ability to connect credit cards and bank accounts, multi-user access, key financial reports and accept online payments. Zoho also integrates with Zoho CRM and third-party apps such as PayPal.

Conclusion

When shopping for an accounting software determine the functions you need. Pay attention to software that automates more processes and integrates with other programs. Look for the best program that integrates most of the core applications in one package while remaining affordable.