Running a business is not easy, especially when it comes to accounting. Mountains of Excel spreadsheets, shoeboxes full of receipts, different software for different tasks, frantic rushing during tax time; who wants this? You just want to get accounting done quickly, right? Actually, you can do that: just choose an online accounting solution and see your business life becoming easier with each passing day.
Modern accounting software are entirely cloud-based and unite several features in one solution: invoicing, creating estimates, projects, tracking your work time and that of your employees, managing payroll, keeping an up-to-date inventory, see your bank transactions in real time, and get auto-generated business reports. But there is more: integration with third-party apps, availability anytime, from anywhere, and cost-friendly pricing. And no matter which accounting solution you will choose in the end, you can say goodbye to endless frustration and start boosting your incomes.
There are plenty of features in decent online accounting software; here are some of them:
To create a customized invoice you just have to pick your client, provide some necessary data and you can send your invoices to your customer. Furthermore, you can turn estimates accepted by your clients into invoices, create recurring and/or multi-currency ones, and even allow instant online payments for your clients.
Once you manually enter your expenses, or even attach receipts thereto captured with the camera of your mobile device, the software can be taught to automatically categorize expenses from then on. Moreover, your expenses are displayed in the dashboard so you will always know how much money you have spent so far. Want some expenses to be reimbursed by a client? Attach them to an invoice and your money will arrive soon.
Create projects from scratch or by using previously created documents such as invoices, estimates and expenses. Your projects can be fixed price or time-based ones; in the latter case you often get a clever time tracker with which you can calculate and invoice your billable and unbillable time.
Do not worry about those pesky business reports anymore: they are automatically generated from your incomes and expenses. Furthermore, if you give (limited) access to your accountant you two can work simultaneously: you managing your business and him/her managing your books.
If you want to know the current status of your business, such as your incomes and expenses, your banking etc., just take a quick glance at the continuously updated dashboard and you will see all necessary data displayed there.
This feature serves various purposes: it lets your co-workers record their own work time, create timesheets therefrom, allows you to easily pay your employees and even prepares and prints your 1099s.
An online accounting solution is like a virtual assistant; always ready to be at your service. But what if we say you can make it even better? Due to the fact that most accounting companies support and offer an API, your new software can integrate with hundreds of different third-party applications. You don’t want to leave behind software you like but still want to use an accounting solution? Well, you can hit two birds with one stone: just allow the accounting software to import data from your existing one and you don’t have to ever switch between solutions anymore.
There is plenty of software ready to be integrated into your accounting solution: for instance PayPal, which not only could act as a bank account, meaning that all transactions are displayed in the dashboard, but if the fast payment option is turned on, your customers can pay you with this e-wallet as well. Other software includes Capsule CRM which manages your customers, Gusto which is ideal for you if your accounting solution lacks the payroll feature, Fundbox which helps you get advance on outstanding invoices, Receipt Bank, an expense reporting tools and even eBay, Amazon and Google Apps.
There are only two things to keep in mind when picking your new accounting solution: the choice must be yours and trust your instincts. Regardless of your choice, allow us to recommend you two long-time competitors for consideration: QuickBooks Online and Sage One.
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 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.
When it comes to online accounting solutions there is one company that is considered to be the alpha and omega of all things accounting: Sage, a company founded in 1981 in the UK. Despite its origins, the company’s best-known solution, Sage Business Cloud Accounting, is ideal for businesses based in the U.S. thanks to the fact that it is a powerhouse when it comes to accounting features. With this software on board, accounting becomes a much simpler experience – and not just because it covers all the needs of a striving business, like the easy creation of invoices, quotes and estimates, well-detailed summaries of the business’s performance and automatically created reports. Sage Business Cloud Accounting also boasts an extremely intelligent inventory with real-time tracking, plus it saves newly created items to Google Drive without the need for any third party add-ons – which can still be applied if you want to further automate tasks. And if that’s not enough, Sage Business Cloud Accounting can be purchased for affordable prices or trialed for free for the first 30 days of use.
The Best Reviews team researches and tests all products first-hand. We've been reviewing products and services since 2012 and are proud to only publish human-created content.
Share your thoughts, ask questions, and connect with other users. Your feedback helps our community make better decisions.
©2012-2025 Best Reviews, a clovio brand –
All rights
reserved
