Simple free banking reconciliation software for a small partnership?
March 5, 2013 8:44 AM Subscribe
Can anyone recommend simple-to-use, free, web-based software that can easily reconcile accounts for a small partnership?
The short version: Should we use Wave Accounting?
The long version:
Company structure and accounting process
I work in a partnership of 4 sole-traders. We're based in the UK, and use Santander business banking.
Currently our "accounts" are all in Google Spreadsheets. Invoices tend to get attached to emails and listed in disparate docs/emails. Expenses are again noted in emails and Google Docs. Assets are listed in a Google Doc. Bills are retained in our collective memories and reconciled manually.
Every month one of us tallies up the income and outgoings, and manually reconciles debts, loans, outstanding income, etc etc. The rest of us then individually check it to make sure we're all happy. This is a ridiculous waste of everyone's time. So I'm looking for a halfway-decent alternative.
Software requirements
Ideally it should be web-based. I'm not a fan of actual software that would need to be installed on a physical machine.
Ideally it will be free. If it costs more than £30-50, we're highly unlikely to purchase. Also monthly subscription pricing probably wouldn't work for us either.
It has to be simple to use. My partners are unlikely to be impressed by anything that requires a significant learning curve :)
Reconciliation
By "reconciliation", I mean that our records of our transactions match the bank's idea of what money we have. This can become complicated, since we have to keep track of invoices; partner drawings and cash loans into the company; withdrawals and deposits made online or in meat-space by debit card or cheque (all 4 partners have their own unique debit cards and cheque books); bills due to pay; late payments from clients; etc etc.
Reconciliation is our one major headache right now. We're getting by with everything else. But keeping track of delayed payments, assets, loans, etc is proving a pain.
Nice-to-have functionality
Bonus points for software that can create invoices; manage bills-payable; manage assets; manage loans to/from the partners/partnership; allow multiple users; generate standard financial reports.
An API would be preferable but not absolutely necessary. I'm reasonably happy to extract data from our spreadsheets and upload via an API. If that's not possible, manual uploading of bank statements would be required.
If anyone in the UK has used Wave, I'd love to hear what you think of it. I'm poking around with it right now. If anyone thinks we should get something else, let me know what.
I've had a search for related threads on here, but none I found focus on the reconciliation aspect. Plenty of recommendations for Quicken, GnuCash, etc. but these are either not free, or require software to be installed.
Thanks MF :)
The short version: Should we use Wave Accounting?
The long version:
Company structure and accounting process
I work in a partnership of 4 sole-traders. We're based in the UK, and use Santander business banking.
Currently our "accounts" are all in Google Spreadsheets. Invoices tend to get attached to emails and listed in disparate docs/emails. Expenses are again noted in emails and Google Docs. Assets are listed in a Google Doc. Bills are retained in our collective memories and reconciled manually.
Every month one of us tallies up the income and outgoings, and manually reconciles debts, loans, outstanding income, etc etc. The rest of us then individually check it to make sure we're all happy. This is a ridiculous waste of everyone's time. So I'm looking for a halfway-decent alternative.
Software requirements
Ideally it should be web-based. I'm not a fan of actual software that would need to be installed on a physical machine.
Ideally it will be free. If it costs more than £30-50, we're highly unlikely to purchase. Also monthly subscription pricing probably wouldn't work for us either.
It has to be simple to use. My partners are unlikely to be impressed by anything that requires a significant learning curve :)
Reconciliation
By "reconciliation", I mean that our records of our transactions match the bank's idea of what money we have. This can become complicated, since we have to keep track of invoices; partner drawings and cash loans into the company; withdrawals and deposits made online or in meat-space by debit card or cheque (all 4 partners have their own unique debit cards and cheque books); bills due to pay; late payments from clients; etc etc.
Reconciliation is our one major headache right now. We're getting by with everything else. But keeping track of delayed payments, assets, loans, etc is proving a pain.
Nice-to-have functionality
Bonus points for software that can create invoices; manage bills-payable; manage assets; manage loans to/from the partners/partnership; allow multiple users; generate standard financial reports.
An API would be preferable but not absolutely necessary. I'm reasonably happy to extract data from our spreadsheets and upload via an API. If that's not possible, manual uploading of bank statements would be required.
If anyone in the UK has used Wave, I'd love to hear what you think of it. I'm poking around with it right now. If anyone thinks we should get something else, let me know what.
I've had a search for related threads on here, but none I found focus on the reconciliation aspect. Plenty of recommendations for Quicken, GnuCash, etc. but these are either not free, or require software to be installed.
Thanks MF :)
I work for an online accounting company called FreeAgent and I think our software would fit your needs well. FreeAgent is a monthly subscription product (priced at £20/mo for UK partnerships) so it is above your ideal price, but reading through your functionality wish list (reconciliation, support for drawings, bills, expenses, invoices, standard reports, multiple users, API, etc.), it should tick all of your essential boxes, as well as the nice-to-haves.
To reconcile your bank statements you would just upload your bank statement export file into FreeAgent. You can then "explain" each transaction by categorising it, and it will also auto-explain any repeated transactions that it recognises. If you've sent an invoice with FreeAgent, it will auto-reconcile the invoice with the incoming payment.
I'm happy to answer any questions you have - just MeMail me.
posted by ukdanae at 11:33 AM on March 5, 2013
To reconcile your bank statements you would just upload your bank statement export file into FreeAgent. You can then "explain" each transaction by categorising it, and it will also auto-explain any repeated transactions that it recognises. If you've sent an invoice with FreeAgent, it will auto-reconcile the invoice with the incoming payment.
I'm happy to answer any questions you have - just MeMail me.
posted by ukdanae at 11:33 AM on March 5, 2013
Cheap, easy, full-featured: pick two. You have a serious list of requirements and restrictions, you might want to think about other ways of solving this problem, such as raising your prices/business-activites to the level where you can hire a bookkeeper once a week, or restructuring the partnership to have more shared resources (cutting down the complexity of reconciliation). I'm sorry to say that as you've described your needs here, you aren't going to get what you want for free, but on the other hand I can't see a reason why you are a partnership at all when you are conducting your business activities so separately.
posted by rhizome at 11:58 AM on March 5, 2013
posted by rhizome at 11:58 AM on March 5, 2013
This is a ridiculous waste of everyone's time.
If it costs more than £30-50, we're highly unlikely to purchase.
You're really saying that saving that time is not worth more than a few tens of pounds to you over the next few years? I think you need to reconsider your requirements, particularly the "free" part.
posted by kiltedtaco at 1:36 PM on March 5, 2013
If it costs more than £30-50, we're highly unlikely to purchase.
You're really saying that saving that time is not worth more than a few tens of pounds to you over the next few years? I think you need to reconsider your requirements, particularly the "free" part.
posted by kiltedtaco at 1:36 PM on March 5, 2013
Use Xero, it's excellent, and cheap. It does everything you need it to do.
I've heard good things about Wave the company, but I don't know anyone that uses it.
Accounting software is a critical line of business application. I personally wouldn't trust a free product.
posted by kaefer at 3:12 PM on March 5, 2013
I've heard good things about Wave the company, but I don't know anyone that uses it.
Accounting software is a critical line of business application. I personally wouldn't trust a free product.
posted by kaefer at 3:12 PM on March 5, 2013
Response by poster: Hi all. Thanks for all the thoughts. Some comments:
Zoho Invoice seems a little pricey for limited functionality, especially compared to Free Agent and Xero.
A friend has recommended Free Agent, and the API is a bonus feature that appeals to me.
@rhizome The partnership is an "ordinary partnership", it's a perfectly standard way for sole traders to work together. The business structure isn't going to change, at least not as a result of this issue. Altering prices and business activities are also not realistic options.
@kiltedtaco Free remains our strong preference. Paid software is a possibility, but within the price range stipulated. These are consensus requirements, not "mine".
Thanks again :)
posted by ajp at 4:03 PM on March 5, 2013
Zoho Invoice seems a little pricey for limited functionality, especially compared to Free Agent and Xero.
A friend has recommended Free Agent, and the API is a bonus feature that appeals to me.
@rhizome The partnership is an "ordinary partnership", it's a perfectly standard way for sole traders to work together. The business structure isn't going to change, at least not as a result of this issue. Altering prices and business activities are also not realistic options.
@kiltedtaco Free remains our strong preference. Paid software is a possibility, but within the price range stipulated. These are consensus requirements, not "mine".
Thanks again :)
posted by ajp at 4:03 PM on March 5, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by THAT William Mize at 9:33 AM on March 5, 2013