Disclaimer: Please note this article is not financial advice. The purpose of our blog is purely educational, so please consult a professional accountant or financial advisor before making any financial decision.
As a small business owner, efficiency and effectiveness are two of your goals for your business operations. A reliable way to achieve this is by using accounting software. But with so many different options available, it can be challenging to know which one is right for your business.
This post will outline what to look for when choosing accounting software and provide a checklist of features to help you decide which option is best for you. We’ll also name some of the most reliable accounting, bookkeeping, and tax tracking software you can use whether you have a physical or online store. Let’s begin.
Software Features Checklist
There are certain functions essential in monitoring your business finances that you should look for among all the available software. Aside from tracking your finances accurately, they also make your life easier by keeping everything automated. All you need to do is set up the account, and it will work with minimal supervision. The best financial accounting software for small businesses should at least have a few if not all of these:
- Invoice generation
Skip the hassle of generating printed invoices that should be given to suppliers and buyers in person and shift to automated ones through an accounting solution software. The invoices are sent online and done paperless; you can even issue a recurring invoice!
All the details in the invoice, like the customer or supplier details, are part of the information stored in the software accounting system. Computation of sales taxes, VAT, and other charges will also be calculated automatically and included in the invoice.
- Payment receipt and sending
The best thing is that some software includes a “Pay now” button on the invoice to make payments as convenient as possible. If you have consistent suppliers or buyers, sending invoices can be scheduled to ensure no payments receipt and sending are missed. After accomplishing all these transactions, everything is tracked and categorized in your books so that you can check your income and expenses right away.
- Bank reconciliation
Tracking the bank transactions of your business is the main reason you would want to get bookkeeping and accounting software. You can do this better if your bank account and other sources of income and expenses are integrated into the software. All the payments you make and receive will be accounted for and categorized accordingly.
- Inventory management
You’ll find inventory tracking extremely helpful when selling online as inventory information from the eCommerce site you are selling to can be integrated into the accounting software. For instance, in bookkeeping for Amazon sellers, you can view your Amazon inventory in the accounting software to see which products are sold and on the shelf. The software will also include details like Fulfillment By Amazon fees and sales taxes in the details you can have visibility on.
- Project management
If, aside from managing your small business, you have other projects running or departments to monitor, having accounting software with project management features would be great. This feature will give you visibility on the project’s progress and costs. When you have finished projects, the expense tracking data is saved and can be your basis on the prices and the following project plans you want to launch.
- Time tracking
Skip the manual computation of hourly work on rate and let the software do it for you. You can integrate time tracking software into the best accounting software for a small business to get the hours data and computation. Approval should be made to ensure that the payment is accurate and legitimate; then, the money and invoice will be processed. There is so much manual work and time saved from the process.
- Different integrations
The best accounting software for small businesses with payroll and more integrations like below is what you’d want to have:
Pick an accounting tool that allows the adding of several essential software.
- Tax preparation
You need to think about two basic taxes as a small business—sales tax and income tax. You can view your sales taxes with accounting software in real-time. With this, you’ll know the amount you remitted or the cost an eCommerce site has remitted if they pay on your behalf. Your corporate income tax and the personal income tax of your employees are also easier to compute and pay through accounting software.
- Reliability on reporting
Aside from keeping all data categorized and organized, the best financial accounting software for small businesses should have the automatic reports generation feature. Here are the essential reports you’d want to check regularly:
It would also be great to have software to customize what kind of report you want to get.
- Data security and mobile access
Finally, reliable accounting software should offer data security and convenience in accessing information. Have software that stores data in the cloud and allows the only authorized individuals or unlimited users to see financial information about a business. Meanwhile, the data should be accessible despite the security—whether the user is on a desktop computer or a mobile phone.
Best Accounting Software for Small Business
Despite the seemingly numerous requirements for the best accounting software, many tools available today have all these accounting features or almost all of them. Here are the top choices for bookkeeping software and small business accounting software you can consider:
- Quickbooks Online
- Xero
- Freshbooks
- Wave Accounting
- Zoho Books
- Sage Business Cloud Accounting
- GoDaddy Online Bookkeeping
- ZarMoney
- Kashoo
- Sunrise By Lendio
Each software has its features. To pick the best among the best, consider your business needs and choose the one that serves you best.
Get Assistance From Unloop!
The best accounting software for small businesses to consider offers a range of features and functions, including invoice generation, payment receipt and sending, bank reconciliation, inventory management, project management time tracking. In addition to these critical factors, you may want to look for different integrations such as tax preparation, data security, and mobile access. Make sure you take the time to research each potential solution in detail before deciding. Doing so will allow you to find the perfect fit with what’s available on the market today.
We understand that picking software is just the first step, and management is the real challenge. You can always count on Unloop to assist you with this! We use Quickbooks and Xero as our main accounting software, and we’d love to apply our expertise to your business. Give us a call at 877-421-7270. We’d love to discuss our offers with you!