If you run a small business, then online accounting software is a necessity. Businesses that don’t know their numbers and don’t keep a steady eye on cash flow are much more likely to fail. Keeping the books, monitoring accounts, and generating payroll can all be accomplished easily with the right software choices. Many are free or low-cost, it is just a matter of sorting through all the accounting tools and finding the right one.

When looking for the best small business accounting software to fit your business, there are a few main things to consider. First, you’ll want software that allows you to do basic internal tasks like financial reporting, accounts payable and receivable, and the ability to have your tax documents at the ready.

Here are 6 online #accounting tools to consider for your #smallbiz. VirTasktic Click to tweet

The second thing you need to consider when looking for the right software is one that provides basic external tasks like accepting merchant payments in all forms, paying your employees, and ensuring their tax documents are kept and mailed at appropriate times. It should also use standard accounting language. Ledgers, debits, and accounts are all generally accepted across countries.

Finally, make sure that you follow proper cybersecurity practices. It’s fundamental to growing your business. As much as 78 percent of retailers cite concerns about cybersecurity, so make sure your software is accompanied by cybersecurity best practices.

6 Online Accounting Software Tools For Small Business

Ready to find the perfect online accounting software? Here’s our tour of six of the best online accounting tools to consider.

1. QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is probably the world’s best online accounting software. It’s ideal for the solopreneur, the CPA, and everyone in between. Its immense functionality allows you to pay the business’s bills, generate invoices, process payroll, and generate financial reports. It will also interface with company accounts, banks, or credit cards.

QuickBooks Online is one of the accounting tools VirTasktic uses (see what other small business tools we use). Great minds think alike! Our friends over at Crazy Egg rank Quickbooks Online as their top choice too. They did a deep dive on accounting software and scrutinized 6 key aspects.

Interested in learning more? You can check out their full review here.

2. FreshBooks

FreshBooks is a software devoted to invoicing and expense-tracking. That’s FreshBooks’s original bread and butter, and there’s no better. However, it has grown beyond its initial invoice/expensing function to include payroll processing, business payments, timesheets, bank accounts, and financial reporting. It’s a great one if you’re moving from solopreneur status to hiring your first employees, because it can grow with you, from your own invoicing to payroll.

3. Wave

Wave is a fully functional online accounting app that allows you to handle all of the financial aspects of your business. But here’s the thing: it’s FREE. Seriously. The app includes invoicing, accounts payable and receivable, integration with your bank and credit cards and all the reporting you need to run your business. They’ll even hook you up to receive credit card and bank payments from customers and rates that are less than some of the larger payment processors. Whoever said, “nothing good in life is ever free,” apparently never heard of Wave.

4. Sighted

Is your client list growing? Congratulations! Sighted does the same invoicing and financial reporting as our first two candidates, but it’s also great at integrating client information and payments. Is your vendor list growing as well? It can help you customize and manage information from multiple vendors. Track your financing reporting, generate online payments, and more with Sighted.

5. WagePoint

If your client list is growing, can your headcount be far behind? If the number of your employees is rising, you can manage it all effectively with WagePoint. It simplifies payroll to make sure that you are compliant with government reporting and can generate W-2 and 1099’s at year-end for employees and contractors. It will also simplify your employees’ lives by providing the capability to get their paychecks via direct deposit while receiving online paystubs. WagePoint is excellent for companies growing their payroll.

Here’s a look at #accounting tools like @WaveHQ, @Freshbooks & @Quickbooks to see which is right for your #smallbiz. VirTasktic Click to tweet

6. GnuCash

If your small business does a lot of business overseas, or it’s an expansion target for you, welcome to GnuCash. GnuCash can handle various currencies in conversion and reporting. It will also handle your accounts payable and receivable. If you’re an open-source buff, rest assured that GnuCash was initially developed to be open source. It’s available on Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, as well as standard formats like Android and Windows.

While some of the tools we noted above provide the functionality you need to handle all your accounting needs and others just specific financial tasks, they are all excellent options to help you boost your bottom line (and keep an eye on it!) So, whether you’re running a business from a home office or expanding into your second location, these accounting software options will help you get your business activities on track.