Most bookkeepers and accountants use the same popular software small-business owners do, especially QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Sage. Oracle NetSuite and FreshBooks are two other popular bookkeeper software options. Bookkeeping and accounting are sometimes used as synonyms, but bookkeeping is a lot more basic than typical accounting. Generally speaking, bookkeeping means tracking finances to create solid records while accounting means analyzing those records to draw conclusions about your business’s financial health. QuickBooks Online has some of the best reporting and bookkeeping features money can buy.

The 8 Best Bookkeeping Software Options For Small Businesses

However, NetSuite earns a 4.1 rating on Capterra with 1,458 user reviews and a four out of five-star rating on G2 with 3,080 user reviews. The interface uses shades of blue to color-code graphs and charts. By clicking “edit dashboard,” you can only remove a couple of reports but cannot add any new ones. I clicked “edit dashboard” and was given the means to deselect reports I didn’t want to appear on the dashboard. Unfortunately, I was not able to add reports that I wanted to see there.

Accounting software is like a database for all of your business’s financial transactions. It helps marginal revenue definition example and formula you follow basic accounting principles so that you can keep your books up to date and in order, which is especially important come tax season. Most software uses double-entry accounting, meaning it factors in assets, liabilities and equity, in addition to revenue and expenses.

Accounting for beginners

However, it was listed under the “business” top option instead. Having to click around to find key features added to the product’s learning curve. In spite of its excellent reports and recurring invoices, though, FreshBooks falls short in a few bookkeeping areas.

Plans for every kind of business

Marguerita Cheng helps educate the public, policy makers and media about the benefits of competent, ethical financial planning. The chief executive officer of financial advisory firm, Blue Ocean Global Wealth, Rita helps people meet their life goals through the proper management of financial resources. She is passionate about helping them navigate some of life’s most difficult issues—divorce, death, career changes, caring for aging relatives—so they can feel confident and in control of their finances.

1. While you can do bookkeeping without accounting, you can’t do accounting without bookkeeping.
2. It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made when it comes to making sure my accounting is on point.
3. All in all, once I got past the learning curve surrounding account navigation in Zoho Books, I found the software to be feature-rich and with plenty of convenient tools to make completing tasks intuitive.
4. Having to click around to find key features added to the product’s learning curve.
5. They like that it has all the features they need to handle small business accounting and invoicing and that it integrates with other Zoho tools.

Stay in touch with clients through the FreshBooks mobile app and get notified when invoices have been viewed or become overdue. Easy to share information with your accountant and to find QuickBooks experts and online resources if needed. 250+ small-business products reviewed and rated by our team of experts. Whether they work in-house or externally, accountants can use QuickBooks to automate and simplify tedious tasks and gain deep insights to drive growth for your business. If you run your own accounting practice, check out QuickBooks Online Accountant. In the cloud, you have access to your business data any where with an internet connection, on any device.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting: Best user-experience runner-up

If you don’t use accounting software, you’ll probably catalogue your financial transactions by hand using a spreadsheet. This method can be cheaper, but it means you’re doing every financial task on your own. Not only will you spend hours of your time painstakingly entering and categorizing data, but you’ll have a harder time catching mistakes. Sure, QuickBooks could be the best software for your small business, or you might find its prices too high and its features too limited.

More specifically, I want to ensure I’m organizing the chart of accounts efficiently and categorizing transactions correctly. My husband plans to open a brewery in 2025, and I’m going to help him choose the right accounting software and maintain his books. I’m QuickBooks certified and write about small-business software for a living, but taking on a business’s bookkeeping tasks is still daunting. NerdWallet independently reviews accounting software products before determining our top picks. We collect the data for our software ratings from products’ public-facing websites and from company representatives. Information is gathered on a regular basis and reviewed by our editorial team for consistency and accuracy.

OneUp offers several standout features, including extensive automations that extend across business functions, customized and automated invoicing, a comprehensive mobile app and extensive reporting. NetSuite’s accounting software is all about automation, which can be a huge time-saver (and stress-reducer) for businesses. Automation features include creating journal entries and statement reconciliation. Small businesses seeking a detailed desktop-based system with optional cloud flexibility should consider AccountEdge. In addition, companies looking for advanced data management, security and reporting features would find useful features in AccountEdge. Xero is a good choice for small businesses that are looking for an accounting software with payroll capabilities.