Best accounting software for families

To determine the best accounting software, we researched more than 20 programs and applications before deciding on the top eight. We chose these based on the features and functions specifically designed for small business owners, ease of use, cost, and more. Here are our top picks. FreshBooks is a Canadian-based company that was founded in Toronto in It uses cloud-based accounting and invoice software that can be accessed via iPhone, Android, and iPad apps.

FreshBooks' features include:. FreshBooks' pricing is tiered as follows:. FreshBooks may also offer discounts or bundled pricing if you pre-pay, so make sure you check the website for any offers before you sign up. QuickBooks is an accounting software developed and marketed by Intuit. It offers cloud-based software as well as separate desktop options you can purchase and download. Its products are typically geared toward small and medium-sized businesses, and over seven million businesses use this software.

We chose it as our runner-up for best accounting software because it is easy to use for business owners with no accounting experience. It keeps everything organized in one place and keeps your business tax-ready all year long.

Features of QuickBooks include:. QuickBooks offers tiered pricing so you can pick the best plan for your needs:. Contact QuickBooks directly to see which specific features are included in each tier. Sage Business Cloud Accounting, formerly known as Sage One, is a global brand that offers online accounting and business services.

It was founded in in Newcastle, England, as a way to develop estimating and accounting software specifically for small businesses. It will match you with specific accounting solutions and is used by over six million businesses. Your accountant can use the software and access your books for no additional fees. Sage Business Cloud Accounting's features include:. Pricing is tiered for Sage Business Cloud Accounting as follows:.

Contact the company directly for specific features your business may need. AccountEdge Pro is desktop accounting software for small businesses founded in and has developed new features and enhancements over the years. If you need to access your finances on the go or from your smartphone, you can use their cloud-based app or their hosting platform. We chose AccountEdge Pro as our best accounting software for experienced accountants because of its robust features and reporting capability.

AccountEdge Pro's features include:. Pricing for AccountEdge Pro is as follows:. Wave Accounting was founded in Toronto in and provides software and financial services. All of your data is backed up for extra security, and you can connect your bank accounts to sync your expenses at any time from anywhere.

We chose Wave Accounting as our best value accounting software because its accounting and invoicing services are free. Wave Accounting's features include:.

Pricing for Wave Accounting is as follows:. Xero is a web-based accounting system designed for small and growing businesses. It was founded in New Zealand in and is used by small business owners, accountants, and bookkeepers.

We chose Xero as our accounting software with the best extra features because it offers several useful features, including a Hubdoc where you can capture bills and receipts and project tracking and costs. It has a two-step authentication to keep your data secure, as well as different subscription plans for different business needs. Xero's features include:. Pricing for Xero is as follows:. Finding just the right accounting software requires that you first figure out the financial tracking needs you have for your business and then seek the software that has strengths in those areas.

Our buying guide has the information you need to find the right accounting software for your business. Small business accounting software can give you a variety of benefits, making it easier to operate your business smoothly. The basic components include basic accounting, data entry, invoicing, and payroll.

To give you a better level of performance versus tracking your finances in a spreadsheet, accounting software must give you several basic accounting features.

With all of this information, and the various reports the software generates, you should be able to see the performance of your business in real time. Some of these features include the following:. If you struggle to enter your financial data accurately into your spreadsheets, accounting software can help. It can pull data from places like your bank accounts and point-of-sale software, automatically transferring it to the accounting software and eliminating most data entry errors.

It also saves time versus entering data by hand at the end of each business day. Many accounting software packages generate invoices automatically at certain intervals, such as every week, every month, or on a customized schedule. At tax time , all of your income information is at your fingertips.

Some accounting software includes payroll generation, making it easier to track your payroll expenses when creating reports to see how your business is doing. Like invoicing, the data is all in one place. Tracking taxes should also be easier with all of the payroll information in the accounting software.

You may be able to customize the software to follow tax laws and regulations in your location. If you choose an accounting software package that does not include payroll capabilities, you will save some money.

If you use a payroll company to handle this aspect of your business, it might be able to connect with your accounting software to pull the data it needs to generate the payroll. With the basics in hand, you can focus on the features that will enable the accounting software to precisely meet your needs.

If multiple people in your organization need access to the accounting software, you might want the ability to restrict the type of data certain people can see or restrict the changes they can make in the software. You also may want to be able to give some third-party software packages the ability to send and receive data to and from your accounting software.

If your business has pieces of equipment that it considers assets for tax purposes, your accounting software should be able to track your ownership and use of this equipment. It may be able to track depreciation costs, too, which simplifies the process of calculating your taxes.

If your employees must fill out a timesheet or punch a time clock every day, you can simplify this process with accounting software. Employees can sign in to the software when they arrive in the morning.

The software serves as a digital time clock that it uses to generate payroll. Some software packages allow employees to sign in on their smartphones through an app. Many types of accounting software have tools that help you create a budget for your business. You can set goals for revenue and limitations on how much you want to spend on various aspects of the business.

The Archway Platform allows family offices to measure investment, portfolio and manager performance for individuals, households and other user-defined groups using time-weighted or money-weighted returns, performance benchmarks and user-defined allocation models. The Archway Platform's mobile client portal provides family members with on-demand access to their net worth information through interactive dashboards, configurable data views and a secure document sharing tool.

The Archway Platform's award-winning accounting tools are used by hundreds of accounting professionals to manage complex family offices across the globe. Move cash, manage intercompany transactions and transfer securities and equity through a suite of easy-to-use accounting tools designed for complex capital movements. Streamline your family office's bill payment and expense management functions using built-in check writing, ACH and wire payment methods, comprehensive expense reporting and sophisticated bill payment approval structures.

The Archway Platform features intuitive budgeting and cash flow forecasting tools to create multiple budgets and cash flow estimates at the entity, account, sub-account or individual level. Highly awarded and trusted by hundreds of wealthy families, SEI's Archway Platform has a history of leading the way in wealth management technology. SEI Family Office Services offers a variety of outsourced services to help family offices build efficiency in their back-office operations.

Enlist the SEI Family Office Services team to perform daily transaction-level data reconciliation across custodians, brokerage firms and third-party investment managers to ultimately produce accurate, timely management and end-client reporting. Whether your family office is looking for a fully outsourced solution to handle your invoice management, payment processing and reconciliation operations — or simply looking for additional support for your existing AP team — SEI Family Office Services can build a specialized offering designed to streamline your bill payment process.

Highlighted Features. Streamlined Investment Data Aggregation The Archway Platform unifies comprehensive accounting and investment detail within a single platform. Leverage Direct Data Integrations Featuring automated direct data feeds with custodians, brokerage firms, banks and other data enrichment sources alongside flexible APIs, family offices can eliminate manual data entry between multiple systems to ensure accurate, timely data gathering.

Manage Intricate Entity Ownership Structures Seamlessly manage sophisticated family office ownership structures including master-feeder, fund-of-funds and nested entities to provide clear, concise look-through reporting across individuals, households and generations.

Consolidate Financial Data Automatically consolidate data across entities, asset classes, custodians, managers, currencies and geographies for powerful financial analysis and reporting.

Track Complex Investment Types Designed to deliver comprehensive insight into your client's total net worth, the Archway Platform allows family offices to track traditional holdings like equity, bonds and cash as well as hedge funds, private equity and personal assets.