5 Best Bookkeeping & Accounting Software for Remote Workers
- QuickBooks Online
- FreshBooks
- Wave
- Xero
- NetSuite
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online offers accounting tools for small and growing businesses, freelancers, as well as professional accountants and bookkeepers. Suitable for a variety of industries (including restaurants, retail, construction, non-profits, and professional services), QuickBooks also lessens the learning curve for all users via tutorials and free live webinars.
Features for Small Business Owners
Depending on their plan, small business owners can:
- Track sales, expenses, and profits
- Run reports
- Customize and send invoices, quotes, and sales receipts
- Track and manage their sales tax
- Manage and pay bills
Features for Accountants and Bookkeepers:
- Centralized location where clients’ income and expenses can be tracked.
- Easily import your clients’ bank and credit card transactions (QuickBooks Online will then categorize them).
- Real-time receipt capture via smartphone.
- Easily share books with your clients.
- Assess your clients’ financial health with an array of built-in reports.
- Expand your workflow processes with Intuit-approved third-party apps. These integrate with QuickBooks Online.
FreshBooks
Aside from its invoicing and billing features for small business owners, FreshBooks also offers an array of easy-to-use double-entry accounting tools. These make it easy to identify revenue items and their corresponding expenses, giving users an accurate estimate of profits and losses.
Meanwhile, automatic checks and balances ensure that debit and credit card amounts are equal, greatly reducing potential errors when taxes are filed. Freshbooks’ Double-Entry Accounting Tools make it easier to calculate the cost of running your business and forecast your earnings.
Key Features
- Customize access to your FreshBooks account and let your accountant update your Journal Entries and your Chart of Accounts.
- Access to a wide array of double-entry accounting reports—including profit and loss income statements, balance sheets, general ledgers, and cash flow statements.
- Freshbook Bank Reconciliation makes it easy for you to organize your transactions and receipts.
- Auto-import transactions by connecting bank and credit cards, thus avoiding manual entry errors.
- Pay your bills easily with Accounts Payable in FreshBooks.
- Track prepayments, overpayments, and credit notes with the Credits feature.
Wave
Wave’s accounting software is specifically designed for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small businesses. The various built-in features help them better understand their income and expenses, as well as efficiently manage payroll, invoicing, and payments.
Wave can also connect users to their bank accounts, sync all expenses, balance their books, and get their financial records ready for taxes. Financial information is neatly organized in Wave’s dashboard using the double-entry system, making all records easier for accountants to understand. Other useful features include credit card processing and receipt scanning.
Using the software’s bank reconciliation tools, users can manage all of their bank account and credit card information in real-time. This helps them improve the accuracy and efficiency of their bookkeeping processes. Businesses can also readily generate reports that integrate crucial data points, such as cash flow, profit/loss, and sales tax.
Key Features
- Ranked among the best free accounting software, Wave is completely free, with no trials or limitations.
- Data is kept completely safe physically and electronically using 256-bit SSL encryption.
- Different account privileges are customizable for different entities (e.g. accountants, employees, tax preparers).
- Readily import data from other accounting software, such as FreshBooks and QuickBooks Online. Just follow this guide.
Xero
Xero Accounting Software’s array of features allow SMBs, accountants, and bookkeepers to perform various tasks. These include paying bills, claiming expenses, and generating accurate accounting reports.
The Bills Payment feature lets businesses keep track of and settle their bills on time, as well as get a clear overview of accounts payable and cash flow. Businesses can simplify employee expense claims—including capturing, submitting, and approving expenses, as well as reimbursing claims. Invoice payments can be easily processed by connecting to Stripe and other payment solutions.
Key Features
- Easily connect your bank to Xero and set up bank feeds. This helps you keep track of the money going in and out of your account.
- Quote, invoice, and receive payments for various projects. Users can also keep track of time rendered, costs incurred, and project profitability.
- Pay employees and keep secure basic payroll records within Xero.
- Use Xero to log customer or supplier history, including emails, invoices, history of sales, and contact details.
- Create accurate, up-to-date, and customized accounting reports; collaborate with advisors online in real-time.
- Track items in stock using the inventory feature.
NetSuit
NetSuite cloud financials and accounting software seamlessly integrates core financial and accounting functions with strong financial management. This results in stronger business performance and significant reductions in back-office costs.
Organizations are given real-time access to live financial data, helping them generate statements and disclosures that comply with multiple regulatory financial compliance requirements, including GAAP and SOX.
Key Features
- Transform your general ledger into a dynamic asset that aligns with your organization’s changing business needs and unique challenges. Users get richer reporting functionalities, greater flexibility and visibility, and enhanced audit trails.
- Use the Accounts Receivable solution to acquire added liquidity to fund growth, shorten the credit-to-cash cycle, and take advantage of new investment opportunities.
- Use the Accounts Payable solution to mitigate fund gaps, realize higher profits, and ensure compliance, among other objectives.
- Use the configurable tax engine to facilitate end-to-end domestic and global tax management.
- Take advantage of other features, such as cash management, payment management, and fixed assets management.
Keep Your Remote or Hybrid Team Focused on their Core Objectives by Outsourcing Secondary Tasks to a Sigrid.AI Virtual Assistant
Whatever your work set-up, your team’s main goals are to crush their targets and deliver projects on time. To keep everyone focused on their main tasks, consider outsourcing recurring and secondary tasks to a Sigrid.AI personal assistant.
We’re a subscription-based remote managed virtual assistant service that combines the top 1% of virtual assistants and specialists with purpose-built delegation tools. This allows us to deliver a premium service to our clients.
Sign up for a free 14-day trial and you’ll get five free tasks, plus support from a team of shared assistants and specialists. When your trial period is over, you can buy more tasks or upgrade to one of our dedicated VA plans.
Once you’ve picked a plan, just pay for your first month and download our free To-Do-List mobile app (available on iOS, soon to be available on Android). This app is custom-built for delegating tasks to our remote team.
Not sure if a virtual assistant is right for your team? Check out our blog post 'Delegating tasks: The complete guide'.—and how we've addressed each concern.
To learn more about our services and determine if we have what it takes to help your team reach new levels of productivity, book a consultation.
Are you interested in learning more about how to hire a Virtual Assistant? Read our guide 'How to Hire a Virtual Assistant: A Complete Guide'.