Comments on: Looking for recommendations for small business accounting software - your thoughts?

Question: Looking for recommendations for small business accounting software - your thoughts?

torietorie — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 11:31:39 -0800

Looking for recommendations for small business accounting software - your thoughts?

I have a small creative consulting business. It's a one-woman operation at this point, but might expand in the near future. I do some hourly billing, some standard per-job billing, and some online sales of products - so money comes in in a variety of ways (PayPal, checks, Square, etc). I also do some purchasing for client projects that I'm reimbursed for on invoice.

Currently I'm just logging all my purchases and business expenses on Mint.com, but I feel like there has to be a better way, more tailored to the needs of small business owners. I'm happy to pay for it, as long as it's not extortionately expensive.

I'm on a Mac. I'm not crazy about Quickbooks on Macs, but feel free to try and persuade me otherwise if you think that's the best solution. Ideas please!

By: DarlingBri

DarlingBri — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 11:43:17 -0800

We just started using Wave Accounting, and are happy with it. As a bonus, it's free, but that was not our primary reason for choosing it. Our accountant suggested it.

By: steinsaltz

steinsaltz — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 11:50:53 -0800

I recommend FreshBooks, it's really good.

By: Dansaman

Dansaman — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:37:56 -0800

What is it that you don't like about Quickbooks?

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:40:07 -0800

If you happen to have access to Excel then don't overlook that.

By: PaulBGoode

PaulBGoode — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 22:00:08 -0800

My main business has custom software that was written for it, but I ran a side venture for number of years using Quickbooks and was quite pleased with it. Like yours, this business had inventory, A/R from various sources, A/P, and handled everything quite nicely. The check writting is a breeze and the reporting features are really well done. Literally press a button and you've got an income statement or balance sheet. The learning curve is also not steep.

The one thing I didn't like was that you had pay extra to use the payroll function and they wanted you to use their service. I'm a little vague on the details as it was a few years back, so not sure how it works now. I only had a few employees so I did the payroll numbers myself and incorporated the accounting into the system. But all in all I liked the software and it was pretty cheap.