Have you ever considered using an online accounting solution? Or are you already using one? Then you probably already know that this software is your virtual assistant, designed to get your accountings done quickly and smoothly while you manage your business in the process. But did you know that you can make your online accounting even better? All you have to do is use the mobile app developed by the accounting company or integrate third-party applications into your software.
Xero is an online accounting software that helps business owners and accountants manage banking, accounts, bookkeeping, and reporting in one place.
Some of its features include smart invoicing and quotes, bank reconciliation, inventory and purchase management, and time tracking.
In addition to its web app, Xero offers mobile apps for Android and iOS, allowing you to access accounting data, reconcile transactions, and submit expenses.
You can choose from three pricing tiers and save up to 90% with introductory discounts.
FreshBooks was founded in 2003 in Canada as an invoicing, billing and time tracking software, but over the past years it became a full-fledged online accounting solution ideal for sole proprietors and smaller businesses. With this neat cloud-based software, which underwent a thorough overhaul in 2016, you can easily and quickly create and customize invoices (whether using the desktop account or the Android/iPhone apps), record expenses, plan and realize projects, and track your time. You can integrate a decent amount of third party applications and services, and check reports FreshBooks automatically creates for you. You also have the option to enable fast online payments, set up recurring invoices, and even customize your account. Regardless of your chosen plan, almost all features remain available during and after the 30-day trial period. Furthermore, you also get unlimited customer support with your subscription, which can be as low as $15 per month. So if you need an accounting solution that includes all major functions and you work with a small number of clients and employees/contractors, then FreshBooks is your choice.
It is quite unbelievable that U.S.-based online accounting company Intuit Inc. has already been on the market since 1983. But the success of its main product, QuickBooks Online shows that they aren't just simply lucky. The software exists as downloadable software for desktops, and a cloud-based accounting solution dubbed QuickBooks Online, which the company quite aggressively promotes. This latter version, of which we will be talking about, is ideal for everybody from simple sole-proprietors to bigger companies. Regardless of the chosen subscription, you can create invoices, expenses, and estimates with a few clicks, quickly manage sales receipts, create and print checks, payrolls, have multiple tax rates, real-time banking and reports. You can integrate the software with over 300 third-party solutions, and be entitled to full customer support. You also have the option to try out the software completely free of charge for 30 days. Skipping this trial period you get a discount from the monthly subscription fee for six months or a whole year. But if you don't like the software, you still have a 60-day money back guarantee.
At first glance, Canada-based online accounting solution Wave is nothing special: you can do invoicing, create estimates, bills, add your clients, vendors, products, upload receipts, and check some reports. Upon further examination you will see that the user interface is rather blank; you have to pay for certain additional features, even for live chat and phone support, no profit & loss reports are created, and you are mostly unable to access your account from a mobile device. These all should be warning signs to avoid the software. But Wave has a huge advantage over its competitors: it provides all the major features for every single user free of charge. Furthermore, you can cancel your account any time you want. Therefore, if you are not satisfied with Wave's services, you lose nothing. If you are a sole proprietor or an owner of a small business and you want to get accounting software that knows the basics without spending a fortune, then Wave may be worth a try.
Using the above solutions, your virtual assistant will become even more effective and available anytime, from anywhere. With the mobile apps you can take your business with you and get the most urgent things done, while integration with third-party applications could substitute the missing features of your accounting solution. So do not hesitate, just integrate, and watch your business efficiency skyrocket in front of your eyes!
Using an online accounting solution is already a huge advantage, as you don’t have to download software and store your data on a hard drive. Furthermore, these solutions can be accessed anytime, from anywhere. Does that mean you can access them using a mobile device? Absolutely!
Even though mobile apps are unable to completely substitute the regular desktop version of accounting software, they are perfect extensions of your solution. Aside from being able to check your cashflow, you can create and send new invoices, manage the list of your clients by adding or removing names, track your time, and, the most convenient on-the-go feature of all, record your expenses by immediately attaching snapshots of receipts with the camera of your mobile device.
Even though online accounting solutions have many different features, you quickly realize that some of them will never be included in the software, no matter which subscription you choose. This can be especially annoying if you decided to move to the clouds and you have to leave behind software you loved and still love to use. Accounting companies realized that business owners hate constant data migration, so this is the reason that most companies offer and support an API. This means that you don’t have to completely abandon your old software; you just have to integrate it into the online accounting solution.
Most of the premium accounting products can integrate with hundreds of third-party applications and solutions – from CRMs, time tracking add-ons, document management tools, expense reporting software to inventory management tools, POS, invoicing software and the list just goes on. So, before you purchase your new online accounting solution, be sure to check out the list of available add-ons: if you find your old software there, just instruct the accounting solution to sync with the software, and you can manage two software from one at the same time from then on.
Even though being able to file, prepare and at least print your tax papers, this is one feature you will definitely not find in most online accounting solutions. But that doesn’t mean you cannot integrate a tax app to your software and manage your tax related tasks therefrom. These solutions can prepare, print and even e-file your tax papers and can even automatically import your W-2s. Furthermore, if you have chosen the top product of a tax app, you will be capable of preparing, printing and e-filing your 1099s as well, and make the software search for all possible tax deductions and maximize them. The apps have a step-by-step guide of how to easily file your taxes and they can import your last year’s return either from their own database, or even from another software. Furthermore, if you need more professional help, the companies developing this software provide unlimited access to tax and technical support, usually via email.
Tax apps come in different pricing plans, but you can be sure that one of them is a completely free of charge version; the only problem is that the free versions like TurboTax Online Federal Free Edition from Intuit are quite limited, as they are usually capable of auto-importing W-2s and preparing, printing and e-filing your returns with 100% accuracy. However, the two competitors TaxAct and H&R Block both provide help from a tax expert as part of their free pricing plan.
To be honest, integrating invoicing apps should be obsolete by now, because almost all of the decent online accounting solutions are capable of creating nice looking invoices on a recurring basis and even with different currencies. However, if your accounting solution is super basic and/or you just don’t want to get rid of your old invoicing software, then integration is a good choice for you. This is especially true if the old software doesn’t limit the amount of clients you can invoice; it allows your clients to pay faster online, you can customize your invoices, and send automated reminders to forgetful customers. And this is just the beginning, as modern invoicing software like Invoicera and BillGrid are capable of doing more accounting tasks: you can create quotes to your clients which, once accepted, can be immediately turned into invoices. Furthermore, you can create projects and invoice your clients either based on a fixed price, or on the total work time, which can be calculated by a clever built-in time tracking add-on. Surprisingly, Invoicera even knows how to record expenses and it is also available on iOS and Android devices.
And how does integration with an accounting solution work? Like we said before, you have to give permission to the software to import data from the other solution, and everything will appear the way they are in the invoicing software. However, invoices sent with free invoice creators will not be imported into the accounting solution.
If you own a business which invoices clients based on the exact work time, time tracking is a crucial feature. Too bad that most of the accounting solutions don’t have this feature despite being able to create and manage projects. However, there are third-party apps like Harvest, MinuteDock and Toggl with which you will be able to track your time and analyze your productivity – whether you are sitting in front of a computer or accessing the software from a mobile device.
Integration is a little more complicated though: time tracking solutions usually have similar features as invoicing software, thus you can create and send invoices, track your expenses and create projects. If you still want to manage these, you have no choice but to use your old software as the accounting solution only makes a copy of these invoices, expenses and projects for accounting purposes. Furthermore, the clients and projects in the accounting software are the ones that will be imported into the time tracking app and not the other way around. However, the most important thing, the main reason you started the integration process, time entries will be added to those projects and tasks that are sent to the online accounting solution from then on. Thus you will finally be able to invoice your clients based on the time you have spent on the project.
But what’s the use of a great time tracking app if you are unable to create and manage projects with your online accounting software. In this case, use a project management tool like Wrike, Basecamp or Clarizen. With these you can still create new projects, set their respective deadlines and milestones, upload and share necessary files, and in some cases, start a discussion with your co-workers assigned to projects.
Integration is a two-way process: the online accounting solution provides data like client information, which is then imported into the project management software. Then you just have to work on the project like you would normally do. Once you are finished, you just have to export the necessary project and time entry data to the online accounting solution, which processes it in the form of an invoice. Then you just have to send the invoice to your client, and the job is done.
When the online accounting solution has a project creating feature and even a time tracking add-on, integration is even smoother: in this case you just have to export all the necessary project data to the accounting solution and continue working on the project where you left off. And do not worry: due to continuous data syncing the projects will appear in both software.
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