What is the best online accounting software for small businesses?

When you’re running a small business, you’ll need to find ways to save time and make sure you can get the most out of each working day. Online accounting software for small businesses goes a long way towards freeing up your time by helping you automate financial admin.

Manual, paper-based processes can be time-consuming and prone to errors so that you could pay the wrong amount of tax. Making Tax Digital creates an additional need for accounting software, as all businesses above the VAT-threshold (£85,000) will need to use accounting software by April 2022.

Keeping reading to learn more about:

• What is accounting software?
• Benefits of accounting software for small businesses
• Must-have accounting software features for small businesses

Accounting software helps businesses record and report their financial transactions. Online bookkeeping and accounting software helps you securely balance your company’s books, manage cash flow, send invoices, settle payments and expenses and run reports so you can see your financial performance. Data is normally stored in the Cloud so you can access your documents on the go.

• 25% of small businesses still use paper-based accounting processes
• Only 53% of small businesses use accounting software
• Accounting software can save up to one hour per day and can save you more than £12 per invoice

Running a small business can be challenging, especially when you’re keeping a close eye on cash flow and can’t outsource your accounting. You need to make sure money is spent wisely, you’re not spending hours on the bookkeeping, and that your operations run efficiently so you can achieve more in less time. After all, time is money.

Small business accounting software should make your life easier by helping you automate accounting processes such as sending invoices, receiving payments, and controlling your finances. We’ll explain more about how good accounting software helps with this in the next sections.

Some of the benefits of accounting software for small businesses include:

Most accounting software uses Cloud technologies, which allows you to access your financial information from a range of devices and locations. Having financial information at your fingertips means you have access to real-time data so you can make intelligent financial decisions and grow your company on the go.

Send invoices, reconcile payments and create reports while you’re on the train between meeting or doing school pickups.

Cash is the lifeblood of any business. So, it’s essential to keep a close eye on your cash flow and monitor outgoings as well as incomes. Once you have a good understanding of your cash flow, you can use these insights to create and manage your budget, plan ahead with cash flow forecasts and make sure your business continues to thrive. 

The best accounting software will let you update your system as soon as money enters or leaves your business. Countingup includes automated invoices, receipt capturing, and real-time updates with cash flow insights all help you stay on top of your cash flow management.

Small businesses who use accounting software save, on average, an hour of the day as they don’t have to do as much admin and can automate more tasks. This can significantly benefit your business and make the initial investment in accounting software worthwhile.

Did you know that 60% of small business owners report not feeling very knowledgeable about their finances?

The right accounting software for your business will give you running tax estimates, cash flow insights and improve your confidence when it comes to meeting tax deadlines. Recent Making Tax Digital legislation means that small business owners with a turnover of over £85,000 will need to keep digital records – and that means using accounting software by April 1st 2022.

With so many options available for accounting software, it’s essential to find the accounting software that will best fit your business. 

Some accounting software is targeted at larger enterprises with multiple employees working on their accounts, global customers and high-volume accounts. As a small business, you want to choose accounting software that is simple to use. Small businesses accounting software is easy to get set up, simple and straightforward to use, and takes your needs into account.

As a small business owner, you’re probably always busy rushing between meetings, juggling clients and trying to achieve a work-life balance. Choosing accounting software that comes with an app makes it easier to manage on the go from your smartphone.

You’ll want accounting software that will automate the time-consuming aspects of bookkeeping and taxes, so you can get back to focusing on what matters most and don’t have to spend hours crunching numbers. The best online accounting software for small businesses will automatically categorise transactions, reconcile payments and send you instant notifications.

Countingup is the unique business current account with free built-in accounting software that is helping thousands of small businesses keep on top of their accounting. 

Designed for one person businesses, the two in one app automates the time-consuming aspects of bookkeeping so that you can focus on running your business. You’ll receive a running profit and loss report, cash flow insights, tax estimates, automatic expense categorisation and the ability to create invoices instantly. 

Keep your business finances running like clockwork. Download the Countingup app today.