Right Bookkeeping Software for Your Business
Bookkeeping software is necessary for running a healthy business. Learn what added features to look for and what you should expect to pay.
- Bookkeeping software helps you track your accounts payable and expenses in one place.
- Bookkeeping software packages vary in size, capabilities, and integrations.
- When selecting Bookkeeping software, you should evaluate all offerings, including compliance, tracking, reporting, and available add-ons.
- This article is for bookkeeping services for small business owners looking to incorporate Bookkeeping software into their operations.
- One of your top priorities as bookkeeping services for small business owners is focusing on the money you bring in and the payout. This is why it is critical to have the right Bookkeeping software. You need a program that helps you fulfill your daily Bookkeeping tasks, including recording payments, tracking expenses, invoicing customers, and reconciling transactions. Your Bookkeeping software should also help you manage your business’s financial health, which allows you to generate reports that can analyze your business’s performance from different angles.
We will examine the factors in choosing Bookkeeping software for your bookkeeping services for small businesses and look at some excellent options.
Primary factors to consider when choosing bookkeeping software for your small business.
Selecting the best Bookkeeping software for your small business is challenging. Every program includes a variable set of features, and most offer multiple pricing plans that differ in their function, number of users, and other aspects.
To simplify your search, consider three m factors when selecting bookkeeping software for your business.
- Cost: Would you prefer inexpensive, basic bookkeeping software or an application that is priced more but includes added features?
- Usability: How many users should access the software? Do you prefer a cloud-based system that you can access anywhere or desktop software? Do you need your bookkeeping software to have a mobile app? What capabilities do you want the app to have?
- Features: What do you want the bookkeeping software to do? Do you need both these accounts receivable and accounts payable tools? Which bookkeeping reports do you need to generate? Do you need it to track inventory? Do you want it to include ancillary services like project management, time tracking, and payroll?
How much does bookkeeping software cost?
Bookkeeping software differs in cost based on its features, the number of users it supports, and various other factors. Many of the best bookkeeping software companies offer cloud-based software as a bookkeeping service rather than software licenses, so they charge an additional monthly subscription fee.
Bookkeeping software as a service is quite reasonable. These packages usually offer multiple monthly plans with paid tiers ranging from $10 to $40. Of course, organizations with unique needs or accounts for different users will have custom pricing plans, but even some are affordable. In addition, discounted rates are often available if you are willing to pay for the bookkeeping software monthly rather than annually.
More expensive plans include advanced features such as expense reports and recurring invoices, billing, project tracking, automatic past-due reminders, sales tracking, advanced reporting capabilities, team functions, inventory tracking, and purchase orders. In addition, many bookkeeping software companies offer integrations to augment the software’s capabilities or connect them to other business programs, sometimes at more cost.
Many companies offer a trial version of their bookkeeping software, though they usually have basic features or limit the number of clients, users, or transactions. In addition, some free bookkeeping software providers generate money from their added services. These programs prove helpful if your business is very small or you have to take the bookkeeping software for a more extended test run than the trial period allows.
What usability factors might you look for in bookkeeping software?
To find the best bookkeeping software for your business, you must decide how and where to use it and if anyone else will use it. Here are some factors to consider.
Easy integration
Even the world’s most feature-packed, reasonably priced bookkeeping applications will only do your business a little good if they integrate with your existing solutions, like sales platforms, shipping systems, and even payroll applications. By choosing bookkeeping software that works with your existing solutions, you would not have any compatibility issues leading to potential time-consuming errors.
Multi-user access
Most bookkeeping software programs allow you to invite other users to this system and control the data they can see and the tasks they access. For instance, you may give your small business partner and accountant complete access while allowing your employees to utilize the system only to track their invoices and time customers.
Some systems allow you to invite many different users at no added cost; others provide free accountant access but need you to subscribe to a bigger pricing plan or pay extra to bring in other users. Finally, some solutions offer “unlimited” payment plans to accommodate expanding businesses while providing robust account options. Again, understanding your company’s access requirements will guide you toward the right decision.
Multi-business support
If you have more than one business to operate, you might need bookkeeping software that supports many small businesses under one account at no additional cost. Otherwise, you will pay extra to set up separate accounts for each entity.
Cloud-based software and mobile access
Most of the best bookkeeping systems are cloud-based so that you can access your account anywhere, anytime, from any computer with internet access. This ease of access helps you operate your small business remotely at home or on vacation.
Many also offer mobile applications to help you monitor basic information and complete your basic tasks on the go, which is helpful for those teams working from home or in this field. In addition, some packages offer separate apps for employees with basic features, such as submitting expense receipts and tracking time.
The capabilities of a mobile app vary for different apps, so if mobile access is an essential feature, ensure the accounting system’s application has the functionality you need. You will also have to ensure it works on your preferred platform, as some of them are compatible with iOS only, while others can be used along with smartwatches in addition to phones and tablets.
Which Bookkeeping features do you need?
Bookkeeping software offers many features and tools to help you manage your finances. It should be able to cater to your small business’s needs, making it easy to accomplish routine bookkeeping tasks. It should also help you see the larger picture of your small business’s performance.
Here are some features bookkeeping software should have to help you save your time and better manage your finances.
Basic bookkeeping features
Most bookkeeping services for small businesses can make do with basic bookkeeping functions like invoicing, income and financial report generation, expense tracking, and customer management.
However, if your small business sells more than just a few products, you will also want the bookkeeping software to track your inventory, manage vendors and assist you with purchase orders. If your business provides bookkeeping services for small business owners, you want a program that makes tracking time and invoice billable hours easy.
Timesaving automation
Some bookkeeping software can automatically send recurring invoices and past-due notifications, saving you time on invoicing and accounts receivable tasks. Other products can also save time reconciling accounts by suggesting transaction matches. And errors are virtually eliminated because the data is automatically entered and managed.
If your bookkeeping services for small business owners provide customers with quotes or estimates, try to look for a program to archive and convert these valuable documents to invoices in just a few clicks. If you carry inventory, look for a suitable system that reorders products by creating purchase orders when items drop below a set threshold.
Tax Preparation
Make your life simple and easier with bookkeeping software that features your tax calculations, multiple taxation rates, and tax reporting for your small business. You should also provide bookkeeping access to relevant data within the system or email them all necessary data and files. With a complete paper trail for corporate finances, you can stay compliant and always up to date with rules and regulations for your industry.
bookkeeping and accounting microservices
Certainly, dedicated bookkeeping and accounting microservices, such as processing your payments and payroll services, make it simple to accept payments online and pay their employees. Although these bookkeeping services for small business owners usually cost extra, they are convenient to use and may be comparable to what you would pay for them elsewhere. The need for this approach is that you can mix and match bookkeeping services to create a bookkeeping solution tailored to your specific needs.
Third-party integrations
Bookkeeping software can make it simple to run your small business by integrating with the programs and bookkeeping services for small business owners you already use.