5 Must-Have Features For Small Business Bookkeeping Software

Are you finding it difficult to track expenses in your new business? This challenge is common in many small businesses because of the lack of bookkeeping skills. Yet, a small business can barely afford a bookkeeper. You can handle much of your bookkeeping needs with good bookkeeping software. There is no shortage of bookkeeping suites on the market, but their suitability for small businesses differs. There are several must-have features for small business bookkeeping software to serve your business needs:

Core Accounting Tools

A bookkeeping suite should allow you to enter sales, cash receipts, purchases, paid invoices, and expenses. It should also record assets and liabilities. It is easier for a small business to follow the principle of double-entry accounting, and as such, it should allow for this mode of accounting.

Other useful tools for accounting for a small business include a general ledger, balance, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and chart of accounts. A trial balance is also desirable in seeing a comprehensive picture of financial health.

Expense Management

The bookkeeping software should also track your expenses, including rent, office supplies, food, payroll, and interest payments. It should allow logging of these expense items, whether they are paid by cash or credit. Also, the bookkeeping suite must allow for reimbursements when staff do expenses out of their own pockets. It should also let you generate expense reports.

Good bookkeeping software should work seamlessly with data capture tools like QR code scanners. They enable the accurate capture of data from expense receipts. 

Billing and Invoicing 

The bookkeeping software should also let you maintain your customer information and track payments. You can generate comprehensive invoices that include payment terms, the total amount due, the payment received, and outstanding amounts. It should also allow you to create custom invoices for each of your customers with minimal data entry.

Financial Reporting 

Small business bookkeeping software should have financial reporting tools, including profit and loss and balance sheets. It should also have a tax reporting function. These tools ensure your business stays compliant from the start. 

Budgeting and Forecasting 

Budgets and forecasts are essential in both short-term and long-term business planning. You can use the bookkeeping software to create a budget based on what you expect your business income and expenses to be for a given period. You can also view different bookkeeping reports to check whether your business is reaching its goals and make forecasts. 

Would you like to see better and easier accounting in your business? Talk to your accountant about small business bookkeeping software suitable for a growing business.