Many freelancers would rather do what they love doing in their specific niches than spend time crunching numbers as they work on their accounts. Accounting takes a lot of time and that is why big businesses outsource or have a whole department to handle this necessary task. Many freelancers and small businesses cannot afford this. Well-kept books are important when it comes to your tax obligations and also in helping you know the health status of your business. Fortunately there are many accounting tools that can help you simplify things although you will still need to put some effort into the process.
Top accounting tools will offer you the following.
- Expenses record
- Credit and debit record
- Bank transaction records
- A payroll
- Time tracking and scanning applications
Below are the top 7 accounting tools in the market
- Wave accounting system
This tool offers all the basic accounting services a small business requires. It’s a cloud-based tool. This means that your accounting data is not confined in your hard disk or some external storage device. You can access your data from anywhere in the world where there is a computer and an internet connection. A free version is available but you need to sign up with the product provider.
- Free Agent
Like Wave, this tool also meets the minimum accounting needs of any small business. It will also help you manage your tax flow and organize your tax matters. A trial version is available to help you make an informed decision on whether Free Agent is for you or not.
- QuickBooks
This is one of the oldest accounting tools in the market. You can start with the basic service offered through QuickBooks and move on to the advanced types as your business grows. This tool is paid for monthly at almost $20 a month. It has a number of paid for added options which ultimately make the tool expensive for many freelancers and small business startups.
- FreshBooks
At $30 a month, FreshBooks accounting tool is considered an easy to use tool for freelancers with few clients. Mobile phone app for the tool exists which enables you to transact business on the go. According to FreshBook’s website, the tool helps you to get organized and to get paid fast.
- Less Accounting
As the name suggests, this tool has very few features but enough to meet your basic accounting needs. It has all that an accountant would need where a human is needed to look into your money affairs.
- Expensify
This is a clever tool that works by photographing your expense receipts with your smart phone and uploading them. This way, you don’t waste time looking for old receipts when it’s time to make those entries. You just do it at the point of receiving the receipt.
- Momenteo
This is a tool reportedly made for freelancers by freelancers. It makes things easy for the freelancer and their accountant. Apart from the main accounting needs it meets a number of functions that include invoices, travel expense records, client’s information records and other relevant reports.