Top 5 Business Accounting Software Programs

Even if you hire a bookkeeper to track cash flow and expenses for your small business, it’s still important to stay informed when it comes to your business’s Profit and Loss statement and accounts payable. Of course, some accounting software can make keeping track of your business’s money easier than others.

Here are 5 accounting programs for small businesses that will take the pain out of money management.

1 – ZarMoney

ZarMoney is a flexible accounting and inventory software perfect for web professionals and freelancers. The best part is, it accepts payments through PayPal and Stripe. So, no matter which corner of the world your client lives in, you can get paid quickly and securely. 

Prepare professional quotes and send them to potential clients. As soon as the client accepts, convert it to an invoice and email the bill promptly. Allow your clients to pay online by clicking the ‘Pay Now’ button on the invoice. 

Pros

• Automate invoicing workflows
• Populate fields from the customer database
• Accept payments directly from invoices
• Seamless payment tracking
• Send reminders and notifications
• Effortless invoice searching
• Convert approved quotes to invoices with a single click
• Detailed analytics and reporting

Cons

• No free plan
• Currently supports bank connections in the U.S. and Canada only

Key Features

• Quotes and estimates
• Custom invoices
• Sales and purchase orders
• Sales receipts
• Online payments
• Pay Now button
• Payment and expense tracking
• Automated tax calculation and filing

Pricing 

ZarMoney offers 3 package plans: Entrepreneur Plan for $15 per month, Small Business Plan for $20 per month, and Enterprise Plan starting from $350 per month.

2 . FreshBooks

FreshBooks was designed with the small client-service business in mind. If you need to send invoices to bill clients for your time, expertise, or items sold, this software is for you. If you’re in the market for full-service accounting software, then another software may better suit your needs.

Pros

• Great for sole proprietors or freelancers that need a flexible and functional invoicing solution based on items or time
• Thorough invoice status tracking so you know whether an invoice has been sent yet and whether the customer has viewed it, plus if an invoice is overdue, or has been partially paid or fully paid
• Simple and easy cloud-based software solution to track income and expenses
• Create client projects and track time spent; parlay the information into invoices
• Ability to add multiple staff members who need to invoice their services
• Set up gateways to accept credit cards and other payments
• Customer service available 8AM to 8PM Eastern, Monday through Friday

Cons

• The most prevalent complaint among users is that FreshBooks shouldn’t bill itself as accounting software when it can’t accurately produce profit & loss and balance sheet reports without entering most of the data manually
• Does not track payroll, assets (a savings account, for example), liabilities like loans, or equity-like owner contributions, so a complete financial snapshot of the business using FreshBooks isn’t feasible
• Difficult to accurately reconcile your bank account with your FreshBooks data without manual adjustments
• There’s no accounts payable, which means you can’t track your own unpaid bills using FreshBooks

Pricing

After a free, 30-day trial, FreshBooks offers several subscription tiers that range in price from $15 per month to $50 per month.

3 – Intuit QuickBooks Online

Intuit QuickBooks Online software offers comprehensive accounting features designed for both new and established businesses.

Pros

• Performs most accounting tasks, like expense tracking, bill pay, recurring invoices, and data synch across financial accounts
• Easy setup, intuitive user interface and navigation; its many features and functions are arranged to avoid overwhelming new users
• Provides comprehensive accounting reports, including balance sheet, cash flow, profit & loss, accounts receivable and payable; allows you to compare your business performance to similar businesses
• Can track inventory, plus offers basic inventory accounting reports
• Import customers from Outlook, Excel, and Gmail, and/or manually create customer accounts
• Set up gateways to accept credit cards and other payments
• For a fee, you can add payroll services to your Intuit QuickBooks Online account; payroll service includes tools to create paychecks; calculates payroll taxes, reminds you when they’re due, and allows you to you print, sign, and send payroll taxes

Cons

• Unlike the desktop version of the software, the cloud-based QuickBooks Online does not integrate with QuickBooks Point of Sale features and doesn’t support QuickBooks Bill Pay
• Difficult to customize invoices and less flexibility to customize forms or reports as compared to QuickBooks desktop version
• A visible “pay now” button your customers can see on electronic invoices, regardless of whether you accept online payments
• User permissions aren’t adjustable; an employee granted access to the account can access confidential information such as the billing rate of other employees

Pricing

After a free 30-day trial, QuickBooks Online offers three subscription tiers that range in price from $16 per month to $34 per month.

4- Sage One

Sage One is designed with the mom-and-pop shop, freelancer, or very small startup in mind. Sage One offers an automated invoicing service plus an accounting service. You can sign up for invoicing only, or if you choose the standard accounting software, then invoicing comes bundled with it. Pros and cons listed below are for the standard accounting version.

Pros

• Allows tracking of income, bills and expenses, projects and tasks, billable hours, and inventory
• Easily customize invoices and track payment statuses of invoices
• Offers online payment processing using PayPal or Sage’s payment solution (services vary by location)
• Automate standard accounting reports such profit & loss and balance sheets
• Synchs with your bank account for easy transaction tracking
• Simple interpretation of accounting software made for small businesses that don’t need the same complicated features as larger companies

Cons

• Add-ons, such as payroll services, are location-dependent
• Pared-down functionality limits customization
• Contacts can only be added manually or by importing them from a CSV file
• Not for companies with complex inventory tracking needs or large numbers of employees.

Pricing 

It’s starts from $15 to $25 per month.

5 – Wave Accounting

Wave Accounting is for entrepreneurs, freelancers, consultants, and small businesses with 9 employees or less. Wave handles accounting, reports, and creating and sending invoices. It’s best known for offering its software for free.

Pros

• Free, AND has responsive customer support by email
• User-friendly dashboard provides simple financial reports
• Supports more advanced accounting features like double entry accounting, modification to the Chart of Accounts, and the creation of Journal entries
• Wave Accounting integrates with Payroll by Wave
• Supports multiple sales tax levels and multiple currencies
• Allows downloads of recent bank transactions to reduce manual entries; categorization of bulk transactions
• Billing integration with Stripe merchant

Cons

• Some complain that Wave provides only basic reports
• Ads that support Wave’s free pricing distract may from the data
• Wave works strictly on the accrual basis of accounting. If you need cash basis financials for tax reasons, your tax accountant can convert accrual basis to cash basis financials
• No cost accounting modules or income statements by revenue stream

Pricing 

Accounting and reports and creating and sending invoices are free but the capabilities are very limited.