What accounting software do you use for your small home business?

[soccerdad72]

As others have said, Quickbooks is pretty much the standard for small business accounting software.

 

[SC Minnie]

I would use Excel or Google Sheets before a ledger book. While I'm pretty good at math, the computer/cloud is going to be EXCELLENT. With either one you can create lookup tables to create invoices (I used to do that when I freelanced), save as PDF, and print or email. I was even able to set it up for when different companies would pay different amounts.

And, you can save to the cloud so it's always available no matter where you are.

I used Excel to track sales and expenses for my small business. It works for now.

OP-- depending on how many sales and expenses you have you should be able to track is on an spreadsheet once you get the correct columns and formulas set up.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Unless the business is very complicated in some way EXCEL or Sheets really should be enough for money in and from whom, money out and to whom. I like Sheets because it has a free version and preserves versions in the history so you can go back to prior versions easily, EXCEL is more powerful but unless you know how to use the power or need it, well, it isn't always meaningful plus you need to pay for it. Be careful to keep paper records that also record the same info in case of some sort of glitch, I like paper records because they allow you to staple the hard copy receipt but I also like to embed a digital image of a receipt in EXCEL or Sheets. Also paper is the perfect backup and will save you in case of errors or business expense challenges.

As always, create a separate bank account for the small business purpose to keep all your finances separate, people get into all sorts of trouble by blending personal and business money so I'd avoid that.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I use Wave for my sole prop as a sports official. No cost and seems to have everything I need. I started using it late last year when I started working hockey as well as softball.

Can you tell me a little bit more about Wave? It was on one of the list I read on good accounting software for small home businesses. I like that it’s free!!! I only have one client right now(may add a few more eventually), and I’m the only employee. So all I really need to do is track income, expenses, maybe make invoices, calculate & pay taxes, and invest in an IRA.

 

[EACarlson]

Can you tell me a little bit more about Wave? It was on one of the list I read on good accounting software for small home businesses. I like that it’s free!!! I only have one client right now(may add a few more eventually), and I’m the only employee. So all I really need to do is track income, expenses, maybe make invoices, calculate & pay taxes, and invest in an IRA.

It allows you to list accounts receivable and track when the payments come in as well as what expenses you have. For me it's been great to keep a running total of profit for the year so I can see how much I have to claim at the end of the year. Not fancy and not going to help with calculating taxes or doing an IRA. I use TurboTax Self Employed for the taxes and I don't do an IRA out of my side hustle.

 

[disneychrista]

We’re all existing in “”the cloud” all the time for the most part. All of our personal data is in the cloud, even if we’re not online. We can all do the things we know to do to protect ourselves from the bad guys..but it’s tough to go back.

 

[tvguy]

View attachment 786622

Sounds like what my son the IT guy talking.

 

[_19disnA]

Yea. 'the cloud' was the prior BIG IT thing before AI. Cloud is just a fancy name for a server somewhere that holds your data. Nothing wrong with that, but no big thing either. Any data whether from running a business or general information/pics/etc. you store on any PC should always have a backup somewhere. Where that backup is located depends on how much data, how frequently it changes and how sensitive the information might be.

 

[china mom]

I am an excel nerd. I have three long term rental properties and one short term rental. I have one workbook for the three LTR houses and one workbook for the STR house because I am tracking very different income and expenses between the two types of properties.

I keep both workbooks on Google Drive so I can access them from my phone, home or job.

I played around with Quickbooks at first but couldn't justify paying for it when excel works so well for me.

 

[DVC-Don]

We use Quickbooks for my wifes three employee insurance agency.

 

[goofyernmost]

When I had my business, we used a system called manual ledgers. Everything was entered on a spreadsheet in different categories but it was all pencil and hand operated. I have a Quicken program now that I use to just keep track of my personal financial situations and constantly think about how much easier it would have been if it existed back then.