Keeping on top of finances is essential for any business, but it’s particularly essential for small businesses. Choosing the right accounting software for your needs will make a significant difference in how your business functions day-to-day, saving you time and effort. With each year that goes by, platforms chop and change their capabilities, so it’s important to keep an eye on who is offering the most forward-thinking, effective and straightforward service.  

What are the factors you might look for as a small business?

Here are a few things you might consider when choosing accounting software for your small business:

• The ability to import existing data.
• Layout, feel and practicality of the navigation and interface.
• Ability to customise.
• Is optimised for mobile?
• Subscription fee.
• The quality of user support services and how on-hand these are – this is particularly important for small business owners who do not have experience in this realm and might be slightly puzzled by accounting at the outset.

Here are five of our favorite business accounting services in 2018. We’ve outlined their best features and provided insights as to why they might suit you.

Zoho Books

Fit-for-purpose for small and micro businesses, Zoho Books is affordable, easy to use and covers invoicing, bookkeeping, purchasing and inventory. Automated features such as automatic payment reminders and recurring invoices help to streamline workflow and the presence of client portals means it’s easy to follow up with clients on payments and quotes.

Why choose Zoho Books?  

• All financial activities can be managed from a single hub.
• Includes handy help tutorials and guides (essential for small business accounting solutions) on email, chat, online documentation and phone.
• Information like expenses, income, balances and unbilled hours are well-presented and easily digestible.
• Comprehensive and diverse accounting reports that can be used in conjunction with your business details – the tutorials help to break down these reports clearly to the first-time user.

QuickBooks

Founded in 1983 in the states, QuickBooks have continuously and successfully evolved with the times and remain popular worldwide. Arguably the most reputable company on our list, QuickBooks’s dashboard makes tasks less intimidating and produces easy-to-read charts and reports.

Why choose QuickBooks?

• Reports are easily generated with the information you need, giving you a transparent answer to whether your business is making money in an instant.
• QuickBooks can help  you put together a business plan if you’re trying to secure a line of credit or small business loan.
• The recent introduction of custom accounting packages for retailers, non-profits and contractors and health care professionals makes it fully adaptable to a diverse range of businesses.
• Offers features that traditional locally installed software do not, including split transactions, location and class categories, automatic sales receipts and split transactions.

Sage 50c Premium Accounting

Used by 6.2 million companies around the world, Sage 50c meets the needs of small and medium sized businesses alike. Despite its global success, Sage has a regionalised focus and provides familiarised products based on the needs of local customers and markets. The cloud-based nature of the software means businesses can share their financial facts and stats with other users like their accountant, by storing such data on the web-based Sage Drive.

Why choose Sage 50c Premium Accounting?

• Sage clocks your habits and working patterns, so you can learn about the way you’re working and make any necessary changes.
• Comprehensive set of features.
• Microsoft 365 integration and as your small business grows, you can access more advanced accounting capabilities along the way.

Go Daddy

Go Daddy was created by a team of young entrepreneurs who wanted to create a simple hassle-free website that would allow self-employed contractors and freelancers calculate what they owed in taxes each quarter. A cloud-based accounting service, it still remains true to its origins but has continued to evolve and improve in flexibility and depth since its inception.

Why choose Go Daddy?

• Built-in integration with Etsy, eBay and Amazon – this makes it simple for small businesses and part-time merchants to link their sales to these on these sites to their bookkeeping hub.
• Uses layman’s terms rather than jargon, and is easy to interpret – your account balances, current estimated and sales tax due, and mileage deductions are all displayed neatly.
• One of the most affordable options out there and even without the discounted price on your first month of usage, Go Daddy offers the same capabilities as some of the best business accounting services on the market.

FreshBooks

FreshBooks is a great choice for those who are unsure about setting up bookkeeping software. This cloud-based online accounting service has a stellar reputation for its first-rate customer service, ease of mobile use and an interface created with human beings in mind – it has received a  Best Accounting Software Award and has the highest customer satisfaction rates of all similar apps in their category.

Why choose FreshBooks?

• FreshBooks made huge changes in 2017 to improve user experience and make the site faster to navigate – the revamp also improves collaboration.
• The mobile app is very easy to use, a significant factor to consider when choosing your software in a world when mobile usage is rapidly growing. Fun fact – FreshBooks was actually designed to be for mobile from the start.
• Their pricing plans are reasonable, with a ‘Lite’ package starting at $15 per month capable of handling up to 5 active clients: ideal for a small business.