One of the best accounting apps on the market for small businesses is QuickBooks, and it is a game-changer for small accounting firms. The pros of using QuickBooks is that the app can use GPS to automatically track the miles a work vehicle uses. This ensures that the employee can be compensated for the right amount for their work, and tracks the employee’s location in real-time. For example, a real estate business would find this feature particularly beneficial, because most of the time they are on traveling for leads. Another great benefit of using QuickBooks is that employers can accept, set up, and sign estimates for customers even when they are out of the office.
One drawback of using QuickBooks is the lack of some business and industry-specific features. For example, there is no way to do set up lot tracking. This means that companies do not have the ability to efficiently track product lots as they go along the supply chain from the manufacturer to the supplier, and to the customer. Another drawback of QuickBooks is that it does not provide the ability to do barcode scanning and eCommerce. Furthermore, QuickBooks has issues with restrictions on file size. Large files can take a long time to upload, or if the file is too big the app cannot physically upload the file.
Another key app that small businesses can utilize is an app called Xero, which is a cost-effective option because they offer a thirty-day free trial before you can sign up. Xero is particularly ideal for bootstrapping businesses that do not have a lot of capital to spend but are determined to expand their business. Entrepreneurs then have the option to try and see if the app works for them before they subscribe. Xero is a cloud-based application; thus, no installations or downloads are required to begin.
A disadvantage when using Xero is that unpaid invoices cannot be set up to remind the employer about debt that people owe the company. There is no preprogrammed debtor chasing function, therefore businesses would need to follow up on paid invoices manually and keep track of their accounts receivable with another program.
Wave is the next potential business application that can be used and their introductory package is free. In the package, the app includes spending invoices, reports, accounting, emails, and receipt scanning. The app is also marketed to diversifying business accounting globally. Wave utilized in over 180 countries; they are capable of handling regional sales tax and have multi-currency capabilities.
A downside to using Wave as a small business owner is that they do not have a credit notes feature, even though you can still keep account of debts against invoices in order to stay on top of negative income situations. However, this would be a good way for the app to expand if they want more customers to get the app, because it would tend to customer satisfaction of, they were able to set up a credit notes feature.
Zoho Books may be an ideal app for small businesses whereby one can draw up invoices in seconds. There are payable reminders, whereby companies can digitally keep track of accounts payable and accounts receivable. Reconciling transactions in the Zoho Books can be done easily and efficiently.
A negative feature about Zoho Book is that the response times from customer service can be slow and inefficient. There have been multiple complaints from customers about the response time from customer service to solve issues.
Finally, Square is a beneficial app for any small business because it is specifically designed to make payments on the go through the use of a small portable card reader which attaches to a phone to make fast and convenient payments. Payments can also be made over the phone by manually entering the card details. An electronic receipt is sent to the customer who made the payment and the transaction is stored on your account to make sure the business has a record that the payment has been made. A drawback of using square is that is application is only limited to making payments. It is similar to PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, or Cash App. Sadly, no reminders can be set up on the app to make payments to track accounts payable or receivable is simply limited to making payments and requesting payments.