The 5 Best Bookkeeping Services for Small Business

Choose the accountant that can offer you the best working relationship. Should the need arise when you must pay a business expense with your personal funds, be sure to reimburse yourself by check. Depositing your salary into your personal account may help alleviate bookkeeping errors.

QuickBooks Live: Best for QuickBooks users

Getting your books together and producing financial statements is the only way to gauge the financial health of your small business. However, it’s important to note that your bookkeeper won’t be the only person working on your business finances. So you’ll want to understand which tasks your bookkeeper is and isn’t responsible for handling. After some of your finished items have sold, you can track the cost of goods sold by including all direct costs.

• If two sides of the equations don’t match, you’ll need to go back through the ledger and journal entries to find errors.
• As you move along in your business plan, you get to decide how much time, energy, and motivation you have to give to your endeavor.
• It lets you know if your business is making money at a healthy pace, or if you might be struggling to stay afloat soon.
• From the cash you have on hand to the debts you owe, understanding the state of your business’s finances means you can make better decisions and plan for the future.

Managing transactions

This can help protect you from costly liability in case you make a mistake on your customers’ books — which can be a huge hit to your business and, in some cases, your personal finances — if you aren’t insured. Common business insurance policies for bookkeepers include things such as professional liability and general liability. Of the accounting software providers listed here, only QuickBooks and Wave offer payroll plans in all small business bookkeeping 50 states. Of the two, we recommend Wave Payroll over QuickBooks Payroll, which is on the pricier end and doesn’t offer a tax-filing guarantee—a key industry standard you should expect from any payroll provider. QuickBooks is easily one of the most popular financial, tax, and accounting software options in the world. You can use the pricing tool on the Bookkeeper360 website to test out all the pricing combinations for each plan.

Keep personal and business expenses separate.

The best accounting software can help you crunch the numbers, track the transactions, and balance the books. Many bookkeepers and accountants use QuickBooks to track their clients’ finances, including both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop. As part of each of these plans, however, Bench offers professional bookkeepers to get you set up and work on your books. Bench also includes visual reports, a mobile app, automated statement imports, customer support, a dedicated login for your CPA, and tax-ready financial statements. What’s more, Fundera readers can get the first three months for 30% off.

And along with foundational reports like income and cash flow statements, Wave  includes sales tax tracking reports. Most notably, its comparative documents help you understand your business’s finances to make wise financial decisions. QuickBooks Online sets the standard for bookkeeping software with thorough, easy-to-understand financial reporting.

• Zoho also lets you tag reports in ways that are easy for you to sort through, read, and understand.
• If your business is still small, you may opt for ‌cash-basis accounting.
• Because it’s so customizable and user-friendly, it appeals to a wide variety of business types.
• To understand the difference between these two methods, take this example.
• However, if your business is incorporated, or if it’s your sole source of income, the single-entry method just won’t cut it.
• If you have a solo business like me, it might feel “good enough” (for now) to manually track your own numbers and make your own spreadsheets to share with your accountant at tax time.

Therefore, you’ll also have to consider the cost of your QuickBooks plan, in addition to the cost of QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping. The Weekly plan, as you might imagine, includes all of the features of the Monthly plan as well as a dedicated accounting team, weekly updates, advanced reporting, and premium support. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. While you’re thinking about your money, you might also like to consider our reviews of online payroll services and personal finance apps. Use Xero to work with your employees, bookkeeper, or accountant online, even if you’re on opposite sides of the world.

Bookkeeping Options for Small Business Owners

For instance, Sage 100 Contractor is a preferred accounting option for professionals in the construction business. And Sage Intacct is one of the best accounting services for nonprofits. Additionally, FreshBooks doesn’t include bank reconciliation with its cheapest plan.

Finding a bookkeeper

If bookkeeping keeps getting pushed aside as your business starts growing and you simply can’t find the time to get your books in order every month, you should consider hiring a professional to help you. But even if an expense is ordinary and necessary, you may still not be able to deduct all of it on your taxes. Just because you do most of your work from your dining room table doesn’t mean that you can deduct your entire monthly rent.

• If you’re considering Sage, we highly recommend taking advantage of the discount to save more than $100.
• In this metaphor, each account is like a chapter of a book, and individual journal entries are kind of like the pages of each chapter.
• You want to be at your best when you’re looking at figures that explain your business’s profitability and help you chart a course for progress.
• It now costs $8 per month if you want the ability to scan and upload expense receipts, a feature many other small business accounting apps offer for free.
• Enter the payment amount to calculate Stripe’s transaction fees and what you should charge to receive the full amount.