Keeping track of your finances is important, no matter what you do for a living. From independent contractors to salaried employees to business owners, it all gets in the books. When tax season comes around, you don’t want to be caught unprepared.
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If you own a business, keeping accurate and easily accessible records, from bank deposits to payroll to sales, is even more important. There is a lot of software out there to help you keep things organized, and QuickBooks is the name that always comes up, for better or worse. Read on to check out some of the options.
1. Wave Accounting
Wave Accounting offers free accounting software that includes income and expense tracking, sales tax tracking, in-depth reports on factors such as overdue invoices and bills, the ability to run multiple businesses with one account and more.
Your data is backed up and always up to date. Credit card and bank data are read-only and use 256-bit encryption. Wave’s dashboard organizes your income, expenses, payments and invoices so that you are ready when the taxman arrives.
You can create and send as many invoices as you want and include payment options such as credit cards in the invoices. If you choose to receive payment this way, Wave charges 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for Visa, MasterCard and Discover, and 3.4% plus 30 cents per transaction for American Express. Wave charges 1% for bank payments.
Wave’s payroll service charges a $35 monthly base fee for states that allow Wave to conduct tax services. If you are in a self-service state, the base fee is $20.
Tap here for more information on Wave Accounting.
2. Xero Accounting
Xero has a free 30-day trial followed by plans starting at $11 per month. The Base Early plan allows you to quote and send up to 20 invoices, enter up to five bills, and accept payments instantly. You can match your bank statements and Xero transaction data to keep them in sync, and use Hubdock to pull up bills and receipts in Xero. Analytics lets you plan up to 30 days in the future.
Access the Growing plan for $32/month. You get unlimited invoices and you can bill in batches. You can also code and match bank transactions in bulk.
The top tier installed plan costs $62 and, in addition to the previous plans, lets you use multiple currencies (over 160 in all), which Xero converts automatically for you. Employee expense claims are made paperless and easy to track. A more advanced analytics tool gives you deeper insights and more customization options. You can plan up to 90 days in the future.
3. FreshBooks
FreshBooks has a 30-day free trial, after which you’ll pay according to the plan you choose. Lite plans start at $7.50/month for the first three months and $15 after that. You can manage up to five customers, send unlimited invoices, track expenses, receive payments by credit card and bank transfer, receive business health reports, tax sales tax tracking and more can.
The Plus plan is $12.50/month for the first three months and $25 onwards. The plan adds management for up to 50 customers, automated expense tracking, bank reconciliation and reporting, cash flow reports, recurring billing, and the ability to invite your accountant.
The premium plan goes for $25/month for the first three months and $50 after that. It adds unlimited customer support, accounts payable features, the ability to add vendors, project profitability tracking, custom email templates and signatures, and the ability to run financial and accounting reports.
The flagship Select account features custom pricing. It adds two team member accounts, the ability to remove the FreshBooks branding from client email, subscription-based payments, credit card transactions over the phone, secure card storage, customer support team, custom onboarding services and more if you need to migrate your account. So help elsewhere.
4. NetSuite
Our sponsor NetSuite is the world’s #1 cloud business system. You can access all your data in one place anytime, anywhere. NetSuite lets you view and control your finances, human resources, inventory, e-commerce and more.
Another great thing about NetSuite is that it gives you real-time data and customizable fields to save you time and money. Tap or click here to see how NetSuite compares with QuickBooks.
