Small business owners have enough problems to handle. The last thing they need is to stress out over day-to-day accounting.
Bookkeeping is critical to small business success, but most can't afford to hire the services of an accountant. These days you don't have to—there's a wide variety of sophisticated accounting software programmes, including QuickBooks, Financio, Xero, and many more.
But what's the best accounting software for your business? To help out, we've put together a list of the best accounting software.
QuickBooks Online is among the top small business accounting software on the market.
QuickBooks has a huge customer base and a time-tested software ecosystem, which includes training resources and support forums. And what makes QuickBooks an excellent accounting software for small businesses is its streamlined convenience. All features are easily accessed on a single, intuitive dashboard.
QuickBooks Online has a number of pros. It's scalable, cloud-based, and can be integrated with ease into various third-party applications. It comes with a mobile app for convenience, and its large customer base means it has numerous support services.
The pricing tiers for QuickBooks Online are fairly simple.
Once the 30-day free trial has expired, you are prompted to choose between four subscription options. Simple Start is priced at S$23 a month, Essentials is S$35 a month, while QuickBooks Plus is S$47 a month.
If you're a small or "micro" business, it can be difficult figuring out how to choose accounting software.
Xero makes this process much easier. It is one of the best accounting software programmes for small businesses looking for streamlined, simplified accounting services. Its interface is intuitive and easy to understand, and it works seamlessly with third-party apps and payroll services.
Among the many pros for Xero is that it is cloud-based and features a mobile app for on-the-go accounting. Plus, its third-party interfacing is very popular and includes an app marketplace for greater convenience.
Xero comes with three different monthly pricing tiers. The Starter tier charges S$33 per month, the Standard tier charges $50 per month, and the Premium tier charges S$65 per month.
Financio was designed with several specifics in mind. It's geared towards simplifying accounting operations for small businesses and startups, so they can target their energies and resources to what they do best.
Financio is very easy to understand and use. Beginners can get things started in a simple, 5-step setup. Like Xero, Financio is perfect for business owners without specialised accounting knowledge.
Financio also has a number of features that are directed at the Singapore market, including Multilingual Interface, WhatsApp Notification, and IRAS-Compliant GST and IAF reporting. Plus, the software is compatible with multiple currencies and is unlimited as far as the number of users is concerned.
Financio comes with a Essential tier at S$15/mth which covers basic financial reports, as well as a limited number of sales and purchases tracking per month. Upgrading to the premier package, at $25 per month, allows you to access extra features such as multi-currencies support and multi-location inventory tracking.
FreshBooks features many more customisations related to invoicing than the other software programmes on this list.
This is especially important for businesses in the service sector, where invoicing is the main accounting need. FreshBooks is optimised to dispatch, receive, print out and pay invoices, in addition to handling regular accounting services.
For a business in the service industry, FreshBooks is an ideal accounting software package.
FreshBooks is very intuitive and user friendly. Its interface is easy to understand, and it is cloud-based, meaning all its data are backed up and easily accessible. Its invoicing features are exceptional, and best of all it's very affordable.
FreshBooks comes in four separate pricing plans. The Lite plan is S$8 per month, the Plus plan is S$13.60 per month, the Premium plan is S$18.90 per month, and Select, which is a customised plan. FreshBooks also offers a 10% discount for businesses that pay per year rather than per month, and there's a general 60% monthly discount for the first six months.
Our final software platform is Zoho Books, which is a powerful small business accounting platform with a world-class mobile app. It also has a wide array of tools to handle almost any accounting service, from sending invoices and reports, to entering online payments.
The versatility of Zoho Books is probably its greatest strength. From self-employed freelancers to larger enterprises, this accounting software can handle almost every bookkeeping task.
Zoho Books has plenty to recommend it. Its mobile app is second to none, and it has numerous support features. It also has a free plan that is surprisingly comprehensive.
Besides the free plan, there are three paid tiers. The Standard plan is $12 per month, the Professional plan is $24 per month, and the Premium plan is $36 per month.
While some accounting software such as Xero may provide optional add-ons such as claim expenses, it may still be a time-consuming and stressful task to calculate payroll especially if your company hires different types of employees (e.g. full-time, part-time, contract, shifts, etc).
You can therefore consider subscribing to a payroll and HR software like Payboy, which is fully integrated with some of these accounting softwares (Quickbooks Online, Xero, and Financio), which helps to sync the payroll calculation seamlessly with a simple button click!
Here are some useful guides on integrating Payboy with your preferred accounting software:
Yes Payboy is eligible under the PSG Grant! You can find our answers to your questions regarding PSG grant here.
