Top 5 Software Applications/ Apps Accountants Need Monday, November 30, -0001

Top 5 Software Applications/ Apps Accountants Need

New accountants always want to know which software applications and apps will serve them best in their day-to-day practice. Luckily, if you’re an accountant, CPA or bookkeeper you’ll want to know which ones are rated best so you can provide accurate accounting. You’ll also want to know which software is best to recommend to your clients to use at home and which is best to use in your firm.

Regardless of whether you’re shopping for software that can manage numerous businesses, you still need software recommendations for your clients and you’ll want software for managing your own firm’s spending and profits and losses. Next, we’ll take a deep dive into the five best accounting software selections for accountants. We will profile software choices that give you the most economical advantage and those that offer you all the accounting bells and whistles you need to do your job efficiently and accurately.

We have researched this topic extensively as we advise accountants, CPAs, and other industry professionals to learn what software works for them and which software they recommend to their clients to stay on top of their budgets at home. Using accounting software at home has increased in popularity since COVID-19 occurred in 2020. Besides software, we will also profile apps that are most beneficial to accountants, CPAs and bookkeepers day-in and day-out.

First, QuickBooks is an accounting software package developed and marketed by Intuit. QuickBooks products are geared primarily toward small and medium-sized businesses and offer on-premises accounting applications as well as cloud-based versions that accept business payments, manage and pay bills, and that complete payroll functions. Here are few QuickBook recommendations:

1. QuickBooks Online: This is a cloud based financial management software. It's designed to markedly decrease the time you spend managing your business finances by helping you with tasks such as: creating estimates and invoices. It also tracks sales and cash flow.

2. QuickBooks Desktop Pro: This software helps you organize your business finances all in one place so you can be more productive. It’s simple to install, setup and use. It allows you to stay on top of invoices, manage expenses, get reliable reports for tax season and import your data from a spreadsheet.

3. QuickBooks Desktop Premier: This is a full-fledged, locally-installed accounting program software that was first marketed in the 1990’s.  It allows you to choose from a variety of professions including: General Contractor, Manufacturing and Wholesale, Nonprofit, Accountant, Professional Services or Retail.

4. Sage 50 Cloud: This software is a set of accountancy and payroll products developed by Sage Group aimed at small and medium businesses. Sage offers different products under the Sage 50 name in different regions.

5. Xero: This software is from a New Zealand domiciled public technology company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Xero is a cloud-based accounting software platform for small and medium-sized enterprises.

While your practice will surely benefit from installing the QuickBooks software options we featured earlier, there’s also quite a bit of cloud-based software you may want also. For instance, QuickBooks Online is a cloud-based software that has over 2.5 million users. Besides the fact that QuickBooks Online is easier to use than other QuickBook software products, it also offers lots of beneficial features for accountants as well as for professionals from other industries.

Multiple integrations, advanced reporting, powerful mobile apps, and built-in lending are some of the beneficial aspects of this must-have accounting software. Unfortunately, customer support is a bit lax with most QuickBook software products. Many have indicated the customer support is better now and more receptive now than it was years ago. Though some accountants might find QuickBooks Online less praise-worthy, it is still among the top software must-haves when it comes to selecting accounting software and recommending software by accountants, CPAs, bookkeepers and other financial specialists and advisors.

Apps To Download at Your Accounting Firm

Having the right accounting software is key to operating your accounting firm smoothly yet there’s more to it than that. Besides accounting software, you will also benefit from downloading a number of apps to keep your daily operations running well.

FloQast: Best Close Management Software For Accountants

FloQast is a Software as a Service (SaaS) application. The financial close management software works with Microsoft Excel and uses process management, reporting, and collaboration to automate the month-end closing of an organization's financial books. Plans can start at $125/mo per user, billed annually, licensed in packs (* Licensed and billed annually, starting at $9,000/yr for up to 5 users; $15,000/yr for up to 10 users.)

Jetpack Workflow: Best Workflow Software For Accountants

Jetpack Workflow is a B2B Saas company serving the accounting and bookkeeping profession. This software helps firms standardize, track and automate their processes allowing them to complete more work and prevent tasks from falling to the wayside. Serving over 16K customers in 18 countries, this software helps firm owners meet deadlines, track team progress, and grow their practice hassle-free. Pricing for this software starts at $23/month per user when paid yearly. A 14-day free trial is available to test the software.

Hubdoc: Best Document Management

Hubdoc is a data capture tool that makes it easy for accountants and bookkeepers to collect bills and receipts from their clients. This software also allows you to access your clients’ financial documents and bank statements quickly and easily. Financial documents can be auto-fetched from numerous banks and suppliers, and clients can upload a variety of other documents securely by their smartphone, email, or desktop. Accountants can easily upload documents via desktop, Hubdoc's mobile app, email or scanner. Hubdoc was established in 2012 and acquired by Xero in 2018. Anyone using Hubdoc can sync their data to Xero or QuickBooks Online by going entirely paperless. Hubdoc costs $20/month per client. A free trial is available to preview the software prior to purchase.

Slack: Best Communication Software

Slack is a cloud-based communication and collaboration app that allows you to have real-time conversations with your firm’s team. Regardless of whether your team is local or around the world, Slack allows you an easy way to communicate quickly and efficiently. You can organize conversations by setting up channels. For instance, you can set a channel for Bookkeeper, CPA, Office Manager, Firm Team, and Firm Owners. This makes it easy to have work focused discussions with each corresponding employee. Slack also integrates with a number of other apps, including Google Drive and Dropbox. Feel free to send Google Docs or documents on Dropbox to teammates via particular channels. While a free plan is available, paid plans offer more useful features.

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