The purchasing software is a task that should never be entered into lightly. Self-employed accounting software, in particular, is not a field where you should try to make do with free or open-source programs. Instead, you must have clear and reliable financial information to work with so that you can properly run your business.
In this article, we’ll give a brief overview of the self-employed accounting software market and provide some advice for those looking to buy this type of product. We’ll also review some of the more popular self-employed accounting software products available on the market today, showcasing their key features.
Our Top 5 Best Self Employed Accounting Software
Best Self Employed Accounting Software Reviews
1. Best Overall: QuickBooks Self-Employed
If you’ve just started to run your own business, it can be hard to stay on top of all the accounting. So what should you spend your money on? How much profit do you need for a living wage? And where do I find that pesky receipt? Well, the folks over at QuickBooks have an answer: QuickBooks Self-Employed.
The latest version of the QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE) brings many improvements for self-employed individuals that focus on simplifying accounting.
- Recurring Invoice Payments – Most small businesses with irregular income from month to month will find recurring invoice payments helpful in managing cash flow and keeping balances under control.
- Automated Invoices – Once you set up an automated invoice in QuickBooks Self-Employed, it will automatically generate invoices with the correct due date for each customer based on your past invoicing history.
2. Best for Professional-Looking Invoices: FreshBooks
This is self-employed accounting software that helps you keep track of your income and expenses and organize your finances and bank accounts. This product is excellent for any small business or freelancer who wants tax time to be less stressful. The software is intuitive, has very clear graphs and charts, and can be used on a desktop or mobile device.
FreshBooks Features
This accounting software offers all the great features you would expect from an accounting program. It includes tools for invoicing, time tracking, and expense reporting. There is also a mobile app that allows you to manage your finances from anywhere. The software can also be used with multiple currencies and supports a wide range of payment methods. Here are the features that make this software so great:
- Tracks all your income and expenses automatically.
- Keeps up with multiple accounting methods, including cash basis.
- Apple Pay integration for checking out from anywhere.
- iPhone and iPad apps to make it easier to track your transactions.
- Innovative budgeting tools so you can see how much money you have left for each expense during the week.
- Keeps track of your bank accounts and credit card details automatically.
- Document management so you can keep all your receipts, invoices, to-do lists, and everything in one place.
3. Best Complete Accounting Solution: Wave
Wave is self-employed accounting software for small and medium-sized businesses. It is a cloud-based solution that allows you to organize your accounting data and project financial goals. It also provides reports on your company finances for easy comparison, not just against last year but also against the industry.
Wave is a complete solution for self-employed accounting that packs a whole lot of power. In addition, it has tons of features, such as:
- A Simple Bank Feed with one-click transactions.
- Detailed Availability Data.
- A Powerful Expense Tracker.
- Different integrations for easy data transfer and automatic category mapping.
Besides Wave’s powerful features, it also has an intuitive interface.
4. Best for Easy-to-Use Features: Xero
When you’re a self-employed individual looking to do your accounting, the best option is usually full-service accounting software. And there are plenty of options out there to choose from. But we wanted to highlight one in particular, Xero because it offers you everything that you need for your accounting needs.
What Makes Xero the Best for Self-Employed Entrepreneurs?
It all starts with their intuitive user interface, which makes navigating and entering information super easy. Plus, they have an advanced bank feeder, so no more tracking down banking and credit card statements from different platforms—Xero syncs them automatically. And when it’s time to update the bank feeds, Xero can do that for you too.
But there is much more than just easy-to-use accounting software, and Xero has many other features to help you manage your business. For example, Xero allows you to set up recurring invoices and payments to automatically capture all your expenses with no extra work on your part.
You can also track inventory and use different inventory reports, including one for each location. View your employee salaries, and set up tax settings and record all of this information on one platform running off the cloud.
5. Best for Very Small Businesses: Zoho Books
Zoho Books is affordable, easy-to-use cloud accounting software that enables self-employed professionals and small businesses to be more productive, efficient and grow their business.
Zoho Books offers the right mix of power and simplicity for start-ups, freelancers, and self-employed professionals. Zoho products address all aspects of businesses from marketing to project management, accounting & billing to inventory & warehouse management. All these features in one place help business owners stay focused on running their company instead of managing different systems.
Zoho Books Features
- Easy Setup – Zoho Books integrates with an array of 2nd party applications like PayPal, Stripe, or Square, so you don’t need separate merchant accounts.
- Multifactor Authentication – Zoho Books provides multifactor authentication to secure your business’s accounts using popular authenticator apps such as Google Authenticator or Authy. For advanced users, you can also set up two-factor authentication with Google Authenticator.
- Powerful analytics – Business owners send orders to customers and track their inventory from anywhere in the world using PayPal’s mobile app. You can even place orders on your mobile device.
Buyer’s Guide
To give you a better idea of the options available, we’ve put together a buying guide to help you figure out which self-employed accounting software is right for you.
What Is Self-Employed Accounting Software?
Self-employed accounting software is a tool that can help you track your income and expenses in an easy manner. It will provide you with all the tools you need to manage your business, such as invoicing, tracking payments and finances, as well as keeping track of inventory. In addition, you’ll be able to run reports that will help you make informed decisions regarding business development and marketing.
This accounting software is directly related to several different types of companies. In general, it’s targeted towards those who run their businesses or home-based businesses from their private homes or offices, but even those who are employed full-time may benefit from this type of program.
When choosing the proper self-employed accounting software, one of the first things you’ll want to do is take a look at your budget. The availability of free programs on the market has made people wrongly believe that they can get away with using a program like these, but in most cases, this is not a good plan. These programs are generally not reliable when it comes to tracking expenses and income and generally try to be appealing by providing unnecessary features.
Why Using Self-Employed Accounting Software Is So Important?
Self-employed accounting software is a tool that will allow the user to manage all the aspects of their business from a single location. In addition to keeping track of income and expenses, it will also be used for invoicing and tracking inventory. You’ll also be able to generate reports that can help you with business development and marketing choices.
Another great thing about self-employed accounting software is that you’ll be able to save time when it comes to bookkeeping. For example, suppose you need to make a business decision and check the numbers instead of collecting all the documents in different locations throughout the day. In that case, this software will allow you to look at your information at any time from a computer or mobile device.
Main Self Employed Accounting Software Features
Below you can find standard self-employed accounting software features to consider while choosing the best tools for your deals.
Online Business Scheduler
A feature that will save you a lot of time when it comes to managing your business is the online business scheduler. If you’re trying to manage more than one business, then this will allow you to set up different appointments throughout the week and also schedule meetings for other times.
This will allow managers to book appointments with their clients and then use the software for tracking income and expenses. For the sake of simplicity, let’s call this aspect of software “online scheduling” or “online booking.”
Invoicing Software
An invoice administration tool is a great way to keep track of what your clients owe you. This tool will allow you to keep track of all sorts of invoices, such as sales, expenses, and taxes. These invoices will be automatically sent out to clients.
In addition to the billing aspect of the invoice software, you’ll also be able to work with contracts and agreements that deal with specific types of services or products. This could include agreements for advertising services or contracts for services paid in advance, such as a certain amount of hours worked.
Cash Receipts
A cash receipts tool is another way to make sure that your clients pay you on time or as agreed upon. This will allow you to record all the different transactions that occur with your clients and what is paid.
Payroll Administration
A self-employed accounting software package for payrolls is a way to keep track of the number of hours you work and pay taxes on them. This is another aspect that can be automated if you want, but if you prefer to do it manually, this will allow you to input hours worked by the end of each month.
FAQ
Is Quickbooks Self-Employed Worth It?
A lot of entrepreneurs shy away from the idea of using QuickBooks because they have a preconceived notion that it’s only for businesses. Of course, with specific accounts like your business and household expenses, this is true. But QuickBooks also has some features explicitly geared towards self-employed individuals or think they might become self-employed in the future.
What Is The Best Accounting Software For Independent Contractors?
The best accounting software for independent contractors is a tricky question because there are so many variables. Depending on the individual’s needs, the type of tax returns they want to file if they need to use payroll or not, the size of their company, and more. We recommend starting with Quickbooks Self-Employed because it is one of the most commonly used accounting software for small businesses and freelancers alike.
What Is The Easiest Bookkeeping Software For Sole Traders?
The reality is that there isn’t a “best” bookkeeping package for individual traders. Instead, there are two key variables you need to take into account before deciding on the right program, which is: your accounting expertise and the type of trading you do.
For example, if your bookkeeping knowledge is minimal, then accounting software packages such as Sage 50 are probably best avoided. Similarly, if you trade stocks or shares, then one box might be better than another, even though both programs do an excellent job with general book-keeping tasks like invoicing and managing VAT returns.
