If you are a startup or an established small business in Australia, you don’t really need any expensive software systems to manage all your basic accounting tasks. There are a number of software that provide perfect solutions for your needs. These can take the tedium out of all the complex reports you have to make. Here are our list of the top Small Business Accounting Platforms to help you.
Best Small Business Accounting Platforms
#1 MYOB
This helps take care of all the invoices, GST, reporting, payroll and expenses.
The MYOB Essentials software provides very easy online accounting functionality. It has everything that you need to take care of your small business. It is a very easy and fast way of managing your cash-flow as well as ATO compliance requirements. There are a number of time-saving features which can be used to take care of all your day-to-day bookwork and it’s extremely easy and quick to set up:
- There is a function that allows you to link-up your bank account and you don’t have to manually enter the data; the bank transactions get reconciled automatically
- You can store bills as well as supplier invoices very securely in your accounts
- It provides you the convenience to work with your bookkeeper, without actually having to be in the same office
- Any time there is a tax change, it gets updated automatically and helps in keeping you up-to-date with the tax office
#2 FreshBooks
Guided help-boxes make accounting for small businesses easy
FreshBooks is a very simple cloud application. It has been specifically designed to allow small business owners with their accounting. It is a hosted accounting service and you have the flexibility to access business data from anywhere, via a mobile device/PC. Your data stays secure and it also gets backed up for you. FreshBooks has a number of features including:
- Online payments
- Time-tracking
- Expense tracking
- Accounting reports & taxes
- Customizing invoices
- Automatic & recurring-expense tracking
- Sending late payment reminders
- Managing rates for different projects
- Profit/loss reports
#3 QuickBooks Online
Makes creating invoices & downloading bank transactions very simple
QuickBooks is very popular with the small business community as it provides business owners with high value. The software makes it very easy to:
- Track sales
- Create invoices
- Track expenses
- Access business data
- Download banking transactions
- Check printing
- Export data to Microsoft Excel
#4 Kashoo
Professional Invoices and Simple Dashboards
This small business accounting platform is definitely worth a look. It’s a very simple software for small businesses- it offers anytime access from a Web browser or iPad and has features such as:
- Connecting to your online bank accounts & credit cards
- Simple dashboards
- Professional invoices
- Options to categorize income & expenses
- Share your business data online with your accountant
- Double-entry accounting for financial statements & bank reconciliation
#5 Xero
Share Business Numbers Online
With this software you can customize templates and reports to fit the needs of your small business. It has a number of features such as:
- Share access to latest numbers
- Check your cash flow in real-time
- View your bank balances and invoices, expense claims and bills
- Interactive graph that shows money going in & out
- Monitor individual data accounts from dashboard
- Flexibility for team members to collaboratively work online
- Share data & collaborate with business accountant
- Customize invoices
- Connect with customers via online invoicing
- Create repeat invoices
- Schedule bill payments
- Returns & credits get automatically tracked
Cost-Effective Accounting Software
As you can see, these 5 small business accounting platforms have a lot to offer you. Since they all have some specific features that could be different from the other, you should check the individual sites and view these in detail. Most of these software provide 30-day free trails after which there are low monthly charges to use them.
Once you zero-in on the platform that suits your requirement, you can then get to know all its workings and functions. Regardless of the one you use, you will find that it gives you the flexibility to handle all your accounting functions in a very convenient and hassle-free manner.
About the Author
Ben Fewtrell is a sought-after Business Coach, Keynote Speaker and trainer who has featured in Virgin’s Inflight Magazine and Entertainment Portal, SKY Business and “Secrets of Top Business Builders Exposed”. He is also the host of the popular Business Brain Food Podcast where he interviews leading experts on anything and everything business.
