If you’re a freelancer or launching a small company, focusing on growing your business while keeping close tabs on your daily cash flow can be challenging. This is where accurate accounting with help from bookkeeping apps can help you get a handle on your finances.
Although there are many bookkeeping platforms available, there are also a multitude of accounting tools and bookkeeping apps that target small business owners and freelancers. By using a bookkeeping app, you can monitor your cash flow, keep track of expenses, pay bills, send invoices to your clients, and more—on the fly and from your phone.
4 Bookkeeping Apps to Help You Manage Your Cash Flow
Wave
When it comes to free and simple bookkeeping, it’s time to ride this Wave. You can create a Wave account in under a minute. Called “real accounting for non-accountants,” Wave allows you to create and send invoices, generate financial reports, track expenses, and link directly to your business bank account. You can even use the Wave app to send invoices from your phone and accept credit card payment (for this service, you’ll pay a typical credit card transaction fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents.)
Kashoo
Built for small businesses by a team that claims to have a working knowledge of how small businesses function, Kashoo is a simple accounting tool and app designed for busy entrepreneurs. Kashoo’s software lets you control your bookkeeping needs from one simple and organized place. Using the tool, you can run profit and loss reports, create customized invoices, get paid by credit card from your invoices online, track and store expenses, and connect with your bank in real-time. Another reason to use Kashoo: If you need help managing your business finances, you’ll get free support forever. You can contact a Kashoo team member by email, phone, or social media. To get started, you can sign up online for $19.95 a month. You can also try it out for free for 14 days with no commitment.
Quickbooks
Intuit’s Quickbooks offers an immersive way for freelancers and small businesses to manage their cash flow, invoicing, billing, and even taxes. With many different price points and packages available, the “self-employed” plan is perhaps the best option for independent contractors who want an immersive accounting platform for an affordable price. At only $5 a month for new customers (regularly $10/month), you can generate and send invoices and also get paid by credit card bank transfer (to accept payments, you’ll have to pay a small fee.) The self-employed package also lets you track and itemize business expenses as well as monitor your automobile mileage.
FreshBooks
This cloud accounting system is a great option for small business owners and independent contractors who want an all-in-one option for managing their bookkeeping tasks, including invoicing, sending late payment reminders, tracking time, managing expenses, and viewing financial reports. According to the company, the average FreshBooks customer saves over 16 hours a month by using its platform to eliminate the hassle of creating invoices and collecting payments. Costs start at $15 a month, and you can also give FreshBooks a free test drive for your first 30 days.
While comparing bookkeeping apps, there’s another function that all of these tools on our list share: They all help you get paid fast with invoice financing. By integrating your bookkeeping tool with Fundbox, you don’t have to wait 30, 60, or sometimes 90 days to get paid on your invoices. Here are the basic steps to help you get started with invoice financing:
- Set up a free Fundbox account and select a bookkeeping app from a list of partners (which include the four apps listed here).
- Once approved, choose the invoice you want to clear.
- Fundbox transfers the amount of that invoice to your bank account in as soon as one business day.
- Repay Fundbox via weekly payments over either a 12 or 24-week time frame.
