5 Invoicing and Accounting Tools for New Entrepreneurs From Due to ZenPayroll: You have alternatives to the guy in the thick glasses and bowtie.
By Andrew Cravenho Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Startups fail for so many reasons. According to business sources, fully 90 percent fail -- a hard and bleak truth of entrepreneurship. As an entrepreneur, you are probably well aware of a number of reasons why failure occurs And you're probably aware that poor accounting is one of them.
Related: Payroll, Meet Accounting: ZenPayroll and FreshBooks Join Forces
In fact, poor accounting leads to several serious problems, including legal concerns like tax fraud and tax evasion, and damage to your business's reputation. These things, in turn, may adversely affect your startup funding attempts.
Unfortunately, not every small business owner has the knowledge or time to properly handle the business's accounting requirements, despite knowing their importance. But attention to accounting is important, especially for new entrepreneurs. And, on the brighter side, various tools and resources are readily available to help with your accounting and invoicing needs.
Here are five accounting tools to consider using for your startup.
1. Due
Due is a versatile online invoicing platform that provides a range of tools that help an entrepreneur, including freelancers, startup founders, and small business owners, with numerous non-revenue producing, time-consuming tasks. There are tools for tracking time, creating customized and branded invoices with numerous templates, developing quotes and estimates, and billing global customers. YOu can also automatically send reminders and payment acknowledgements and view various reports that help with making informed business decisions. It integrates with Basecamp and other tools to bring more parts of your business together.
The platform also features payment capabilities so that you can offer additional payment methods, including low-cost domestic and global credit card processing, digital wallet functionality, and e-cash and e-check.
2. QuickBooks
QuickBooks offers everything you expect in accounting software. From invoicing to bill management and payroll, it covers them all. Better yet, with this tool you can access reports like profit & loss and balance sheets. You can prepare tax/file forms, accept online payments and print out checks.
QuickBooks also can be integrated with various apps, including PayPal, LivePlan, Constant Contact and Square. Its Small Business Center is a great place to seek advice as well as to connect with your local Quickbooks expert.
This accounting software too offers a 30-day free trial and its monthly plan starts from $9.99. QuickBooks allows you to choose and pay for the features you need.
Related: The Top 4 Cash Flow Forecasting Mistakes
3. Wave
This cloud-based, integrated accounting software is specially designed for freelancers, entrepreneurs and small business owners. In fact, more than 1 million entrepreneurs and small business owners trust Wave to track their income and spending.
Wave provides easy-to-understand invoicing and accounting software, approved by certified accountants. Apart from invoicing, it offers payroll, payment and personal finance software to help you manage your money properly. Using Wave, you can create business reports such as sales tax reports and balance sheets. In addition, it allows you to keep your records by uploading money receipts into your account.
There is an online forum for Wave where you can find insightful articles, helpful tips and important data for small business owners. It can even help you find a certified accountant in your particular area.
The best part of this accounting tool is that it is 100 percent free.
4. Zoho Books
Small business owners especially will find this intuitive accounting software helpful. Zoho Books allows you to send out professional invoices, track your business expenses, accept online payments and automate banking processes such as scheduling for bills, and reminders.
Zoho also helps you calculate taxes and offers a time-tracking tool, which you can use to manage timesheets as well as track reimbursable hours. You can even send quotes and/or access customer data from anywhere, at any time. It can be integrated with payment gateways like PayPal, Square, Stripe, Authorize.Net and more.
Zoho Books offers a flat $24 plan per month and a 14-day free trial.
5. Invoicera.
Invoicera offers different features for small business owners, enterprises and freelancers. You can create customized invoices using this tool, as well as manage cash flow, control expenses and receive online payments.
We found Invoicera's task management tool to be its most striking feature: Using it, you can track time spent on a particular project. Though the idea of a time-tracking tool is nothing new, what Invoicera does differently is allow you to assign and evaluate tasks in order to enhance productivity.
Freelancers or new entrepreneurs working with three or fewer clients may use this accounting tool for free. Premium monthly plans start from $19.95.
In sum, a host of affordable tools are available, enabling new entrepreneurs and small business owners to successfully handle their invoicing and accounting tasks. And while selecting the right tool may involve trial and error, the effort is worthwhile. After all, good accounting is imperative to business success .
