Neat offers several key features, including extensive document management features, its patented optical character recognition (OCR) software and its mobile application. I didn’t have to spend time trying to figure out where features were because they were in intuitive places within my navigation process. In addition, call-to-action buttons helped me know what I needed to do to customize the platform to my needs, such as adding a bank account or filtering reports. NetSuite’s accounting software is all about automation, which can be a huge time-saver (and stress-reducer) for businesses.
What Can Accounting Software Do for a Small Business?
By clicking “edit dashboard,” you can only remove a couple of reports but cannot add any new ones. Next, I clicked on the “Projects” menu item from the left-hand menu. On the “projects” page, I clicked on “create new” and was given the option to create a flat-rate or hourly project. After clicking the “hourly project” option, I was taken to a new project template and prompted to enter a client, total hours worked, a project name, a project end date and the service rendered.
This is helpful for freelancers who don’t have a separate bank account for their business activity. Online bookkeeping services can save business owners both time and money. However, with hundreds of options, it can be daunting to sort through them all and find the best service for your business. Forbes Advisor analyzed the best bookkeeping services to help you find the right solution quickly and easily.
While you can do bookkeeping without accounting, you can’t do accounting without bookkeeping. QuickBooks Online has some of the best reporting and bookkeeping features money can buy. Xero, Sage Business Accounting, and Zoho Books have stellar reports at a lower starting price than QuickBooks. And if you want straightforward finance tracking without in-depth analytics, Wave Accounting can help you with the basics. If you’re nervous about setting up accounting software for the first time, Kashoo’s experts can talk you through it.
Summary: Best Cloud Accounting Software
Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Kelly Main is a Marketing Editor and Writer specializing in digital marketing, online advertising and web design and development. Before joining the team, she was a Content Producer at Fit Small Business where she served as an editor and strategist covering small business marketing content. She is a former Google Tech Entrepreneur and she holds an MSc in International Marketing from Edinburgh Napier University.
Tabs along the top of the accounting page also gave me access to my banking activity. I was prompted to connect my bank account, and at that point, instructions said the system would automatically import my bank transactions into the OneUp accounting solution. Each report offered a description and useful information to help me interpret the report when I hovered over the question mark in the top corner of each report. I could also access filters on reports by pushing the down arrow at the top right-hand corner of each report.
- Completing tasks within the platform was as simple as filling out simple forms and following instructions that walked me through how to complete tasks (like connecting my bank account).
- Each plan also includes time tracking for easier, more accurate client billing.
- Designated fields allowed me to choose due dates, list terms and conditions and input notes to the client.
- We considered cost, scalability, ease of use, reputation, and accounting features.
How We Picked the Best Accounting Software for Small Business
For features and functionality, we primarily looked for software that offered fully functional accounting software providing users with a long list of useful features. Neat just has one pricing plan making it easy for business owners who have a hard time deciding on which plan to choose. For $200 per year, users can have access to features like unlimited real-time reports such as profit and loss (P&L) statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets and transaction reports.
The Select plan also does not limit the number of clients that can be billed per month but adds unique features. Multiple team members must pay an additional $10 monthly to use the accounting software. The plan includes the advanced payment feature for free ($20 extra each month with other plans), which allows users to charge a credit card in real-time or set up a recurring credit card charge for a client. However, you can share most accounting solutions with an accountant or bookkeeper, including accounting software that otherwise limits its users by plan. Our top free bookkeeping software recommendation is Wave Accounting. It offers fully featured reports and full accountant and bookkeeper access.
Best for Overall Accounting Software
The only cash short and over definition and meaning experience I could have done without is the upselling of partner products. Instead of leading me to certain partner products, I would have preferred a menu item of available integration products so I could see what was available and choose the right one for my business needs. All this to say, each step provided clear links or buttons to walk me through each subsequent step.