Accounting News
February 28, 2011
There are some exciting new alternatives to the traditional small business accounting & bookkeeping software we've used for so long. Freshbooks & Wave Accounting are new Canadian web-based solutions for the more basic types of businesses, especially service based businesses with mostly cash/credit/debit card sales, and minimal or zero inventory. You set up your bank log-in information in the program (scary to do - I know, but loads of security is built in and banks have had to make sure everything is internet safe before agreeing to be a part of this), and your expenses pop up to be approved, then categorized into their proper expense accounts. The same with revenue (if you have multiple categories for example, rental revenue vs regular revenue), then set up your assets and trial balance. The program will figure out where expenses from certain vendors usually go, and offer to automatically categorize them. The result is a basic, but fundamentally sound little accounting package, that will produce basic month-end financial statements, and more. You can also "drag" personal expenses into the personal section, and even break them down there if you're keeping tabs on home expenses for a home office or for your own home budget. Finally, and this is a great feature: your accountant or bookkeeper, can be set up as a collaborator to look at things or actually work on things with the log-in permission. Finally, it tracks HST/GST - just plug in the current rate and away you go, and with Wave, it's completely FREE. This Ottawa based internet company developed it as a free service, and plan to always keep it that way. There will be some banner ads, but that's a minor inconvenience for this wonderful idea. Checkbooks has a free version, but offers mroe features for $20 to $40/month. So, check them out from our links page, and, if they're a good fit for your business, prepare yourself for what may finally be "simple" and "quick" accounting...
Posted by Arthur P Coleman.
