10 Accounting Software Programmes for Small Businesses in 2016

How slow and outmoded can you be? Take it as a rhetorical question for the small businesses that still use the pen and paper method of keeping accounting transactions. The world has been changed tremendously by technology and to remain on top of competition as a small business owner means finding ways of meeting the needs of the customer than worrying about how to manage finances and keep the books balanced.

With the increase in complexities in transactions such as bill payments, expense reports, automated entries, invoicing and data syncing, there is the need for small businesses to make use of available software programs that, not only make accounting transactions simple to keep and manage, but additionally ensure the overall profitability of a business.

Below are 10 accounting software that would help small businesses to keep their books.

1. INTUITE QUICKBOOKS ONLINE.

Intuit QuickBooks Online has a strong basic accounting transaction functionality, ease in credit card payment processing, invoicing and a payroll system that integrates with other software to make accounting easy. QuickBooks Online is simple to use, integrates with more than 100 business apps and is gradually becoming the industry standard. It has three plans starting from $9.99 per month. According to Intuit, one does not need to be an accounting guru in order to use the software. http://quickbooks.intuit.com/online/

2. Wave Accounting.

Who told you there is nothing free under the sun? Wave accounting is a free accounting software that offers cloud-based, basic and comprehensive accounting functions to help small businesses keep their books of accounts. It handles transactions such as invoicing, payroll, payments and personal finance. Wave accounting automatically backup your data, so no need to worry about data loss. As they put it on their site, it is made for businesses with 9 employees or less.

If you however expect to get extra services such as customer support, payroll system and advertisement from wave accounting, you need to pay appropriately. Having access to live customer service requires one to have a premium account at $9 per month. To use wave accounting’s payroll system to pay employees, the cost is about $15 per month. https://www.waveapps.com/

3. Fresh Books.

For a comprehensive set of tools that offer small businesses the opportunity to deal with their transactions on-the go, Fresh books is the way to go. It is one of the best accounting app for iOS and Android devices and equally has an intuitive and a simple interface to ensure users are not bored-off. It comes with $9.99 plan limited to only five clients and a single user. There is also the $19.95 per month plan which is limited to 25 clients. For an unlimited number of clients, you can get fresh books for $29.95. This software is ideal for freelancers, contractors and other small business owners who are on the move. https://www.freshbooks.com/

4. Zoho Books.

Zoho books is good for its simplicity of use, a clatter-free dashboard and has the ability of connecting with online payment systems making payment faster. It is priced at $24 per month. It also has secure data storage, easy navigation and customizable features.

The downside to Zoho books is that it lacks an integrated payroll system with user permission not deep enough. www.zoho.com/

5. Xero

Xero is an accounting platform that can be compared to QuickBooks online. It is highly-powered and lets users set sophisticated rules that categorizes imported transactions from a client’s bank account. One good feature is that, it supports multicurrency, something QuickBooks online doesn’t seem to be good at. It is cloud-based software and integrates with third-party businesses. It is integrated with over 26 e-commerce apps which makes it useful for online stores. Just to let you know, Forbes identified Xero as the world’s most innovative growth company both in 2014 and 2015. https://www.xero.com/

6. Less accounting

This software helps small businesses to spend less time managing their accounting transactions and get more time to manage their business, just as the name suggests. This software automates almost everything right from data entry to billing. On their site, they say Less Accounting is meant for businesses with less than 20 workers or 10 million in revenue. https://lessaccounting.com/

7. Sage One

This is a good accounting software that comes in two plans. One for full-service accounting and another for invoicing. The latter one could integrate with e-commerce and point-of-sale transactions, customer relationship management, document management and tracking of inventory. It also helps create invoices and quotes and prepare VAT returns. It also has a good payroll system with the current revenue legislation for easy management of pay runs of small businesses. It is cloud-based and can be accessed anywhere. http://www.sageone.ie/

8. YENDO

Yendo is ideal for small businesses with a lot of customers or multiple businesses in managing their transactions. It is not just an accounting software, but also a good customer relationship management (CRM) software allowing for easy management and tracking of customers. It also allows you to send bulk email communications to customers and helps in managing the sales-cycle. All these are cloud-based and therefore can be accessed anywhere.  www.yendo.com/

9. AccountEdge Pro

A very good, simple and efficient accounting software that goes beyond just doing accounting work. Businesses can use it to link accounting to payroll, pay their employees, tract time, manage business bank account and prepare taxes. It also comes with an inventory management suite with good integration with e-commerce sites. AccountEdge Pro is available for Desktop, Windows, Mac, Mobile and in the cloud. There is a new feature called Serialized Inventory that allows businesses to track serial numbers from purchases made through sale and more.

 www.accountedge.com/pro/

10.            FreeAgent

FreeAgent has a lot of pages ranging from client invoicing and expenses processing to project management features giving users the ability to tract their billing details. It also helps VAT calculation, tracking and invoicing. It has a good cash flow view that allows businesses to know how moneys are coming in and how they are going out. www.freeagent.com

Saibu Baba

(suaibme@gmail.com)