There’s a great story over at Forbes about DIY accounting tools. I came across the article last month when it was published by Tomas Laurinavicius, a frequent Forbes contributor who covers design, tech and entrepreneurship. Laurinavicius is a terrific writer, and he’s definitely one to follow if you’re interested in all the ever-evolving technology advancements that you’ll be hearing all about a month or a year from now. He hunts down cutting edge stuff that’s actually useful.
As a fan of Laurinavicius’ reporting, I was curious and excited when I saw that he had written a roundup accounting software. When I read through the article, I was almost embarrassed because there were at least one or two platforms that I had never heard of!
But don’t let it be said that Kewho Min is unwilling to learn something new. It just proves that even in a more traditional industry like accounting there’s always someone making needed advancements to keep up with the times.
You can read the full roundup of on the Forbes site, but here’s my overview of five of the ten time-saving tools that were mentioned:
Momenteo The call-to-action on the Momenteo homepage asks, “Looking for a financially healthy freelance career?” The service boasts its ability to “unleash your potential” through a record-keeping service that was created by freelancers, for freelancers. The primary focus is for independent workers to handle the so-called boring part of their jobs (which are typically creative). What that boils down to: Managing a calendar that gives you a financial outlook based on your invoices and expenses. Price: Free 30-day trial, then $20/month
FreshBooks Used by millions of service-based small business owners, FreshBooks helps you get organized–and get paid. Using this cloud-based accounting solution you can track your time, log your expenses and invoice your clients. Plus, if you run into stumbling blocks along the way, you can reach a live person, Monday to Friday between 8am-8pm EDT. The service also says that it’s useful for helping businesses grow, touting that “on average, FreshBooks customers double their revenue in the first 24 months.” Price: Free 30-day trial, then from $12.95/month
Xero This online accounting software can also be useful to help grow your business. And this is yet another provider that has interactive customer support (with Xero the support is available 24/7). Xero calls itself the “alternative to QuickBooks” because you can prepare and send W2s and 1099s, enter and pay bills, create payroll and direct deposit checks–as as a host of other features. Price: Free 30-day trial, then from $20/month
Wave Accounting The tagline here: “Real accounting, for non-accountants.” There’s no manual entry with this software. You connect Wave securely to your bank account, PayPal or other sources of data, and then transactions appear right in your accounting.You also have the ability to generate balance sheets, sales tax reports and other reports that you can share with your actual accountant or your current and potential investors. Price: Free.
ZipBooks For ZipBooks users, features include accounting software, billing software, Expense tracking, time tracking Invoice financing, online invoicing, project management, team management, and credit card processing. There are also customization options that let you Upload a logo and add a title to make your invoices your own, set default terms or send out a personalized email to individual clients or create one standard email that can work for everyone. Price: Free.
