Compared with the old days when many business owners would put all of their invoices, receipts, and bank statements in a bag once a year and send it to their accountants, today’s business owners have a wealth of financial and operational information available to them thanks to the increasing popularity of business accounting software.
Why have they become so popular? By using an intuitive and fully featured small business accounting software platform, you’ll have immediate access to in-depth and up-to-date reports about your company of a quality only previously reserved for the biggest firms.
You’ll know where you are now and whether you’re on track to achieve what you want. You’ll have the most relevant and accurate information to hand when making decisions for your company. And better business information leads to better business decisions.
Not all business accounting software is created equal. Some can do your payroll and others can’t. Some can submit your VAT return electronically and others can’t. Some allow you to track stock levels but most don’t.
Before you make a choice, make sure that you truly understand not only what financial information your business needs to record but what financial reporting would be useful to you in deciding whether your company is going in the direction you want it to go.
Business software UK – the top 13 small business accounting software packages
In this article, we’ll be reviewing accounting software for small business owners – everyone from freelancers to sole traders to limited company owners. As well as paid-for options, we’ve included free accounting software too but please bear in mind that, as with any other product or service you buy for your company, you do pay for what you get.
| Software | Free trial | Lowest price | Highest price | Maximum users | Charge per additional user |
| FreshBooks | 30 days | £11.00 | Custom | Unlimited | £7.00 |
| Intuit Quickbooks | 1 month | £8.00 | £30 | 4 | Tariff dependent |
| Xero | 30 days | £10.00 | £30 | Unlimited | No charge |
| Sage Business Cloud Accounting | No | £12.00 | £24 | Unlimited for higher package. Accounting Start is single user only | No charge |
| Wave Accounting | Free | £0.00 | £0.00 | Unlimited | No charge |
| Zoho UK | 14 days | £6.00 | 10 | Tariff dependent – extra users can be added for either £2 a month or £20 a year | |
| Bokio | Free | £0.00 | £10.00 | Unlimited | No charge |
| GoSimpleTax | 14days | £77.00pa | £108.00pa | No | N/A |
| FreeAgent | 30 days | £9.50 | £29.00 | Unlimited | No charge |
| AccountsPortal | 30 days | £10.00 | £10.00 | Unlimited | No charge |
| ClearBooks | 30 days | £10.00 | £22.00 | Unlimited | No charge |
| Kashflow | 14 days | £8.00 | £22.50 | Starter package single user only. “Business” package have unlimited users | No charge |
| Pandle | No – Free | £0.00 | £5.00 | Unlimited | No charge |
Prices shown as on website before any current discounts. Prices may include or exclude VAT. Please check with the vendor for their latest pricing.
Best accounting software for small businesses UK
Please find below reviews of 13 of the best bookkeeping software packages for UK businesses.
FreshBooks review
| Software | FreshBooks |
| Does it have a mobile app? | Yes |
| Can you create invoices? | Yes |
| Will you be updated upon payment of an invoice? | Yes when bank account information downloaded and when paid by linked card or direct debit account |
| Can you set recurring invoices? | Yes |
| Is there a merchant services facility? | Yes |
| Is there a direct debit facility? | No |
| Estimates to invoices | Yes |
| Apply taxes to invoices | Yes |
| Can you time-track projects and time spent? | Yes |
| Connect to your bank account? | Yes |
| Connect to other types of account? | Yes |
| How do you upload receipts? | Upload your receipts or tag expenses with a photograph |
| Can you categorise receipts? | Yes – choose from selected expenditure categories and add your own |
| Is there specialist mileage tracking? | No – separate expense entries need to be completed for each mile claimed |
| Can you run financial reports? | Yes |
| Is the software Making Tax Digital ready? | Yes |
| Can your accountant log in? | Yes |
| Does the software do bank reconciliation? | Yes |
| Is multi-currency support offered? | Yes |
| Can you run payroll? | No |
| Can you run CIS payments? | No |
| Auto-enrolment and workplace pensions | No |
Offering a free 30-day trial to new users, FreshBooks has built up a user base of over 24 million since its founding in 2003. When it was launched, it was one of the first invoicing software packages allowing companies to generate and send invoices by email as opposed to the standard post-and-paper billing of the time.
Packages start from £11 a month – you are able to add as many users as you like to the platform however each one will cost you £7 extra a month, even if that extra person is your accountant.
The tiering system is unusual. Subscribers to the £11 a month “Lite” tariff have access to a merchant service account to accept credit and debit cards (in fact, all subscribers do), unlimited customised invoices, expense entries, bank imports, time tracking, and estimate generation. However, you can only bill 5 clients at any one time.
The next tier of the service is the “Plus” tariff at £19 a month. With the “Plus” tariff, you have access to all the functionality included in the Lite package plus unlimited proposals, the ability to schedule late fees and automate reminders to late payers, issue recurring invoices, and client retainers. The number of clients you can bill rises to 50 from the rather mean 5 on the Lite tariff.
For £38 a month, the “Premium” tariff is essentially the same as the “Plus” tariff but, on that, you can bill up to 500 clients. If you need to bill more, your only option is the “Custom” tariff – prices are worked out individually for each client. Custom tariff subscribers receive custom training from a company representative (for management and staff), a personal account manager, and lower credit and debit card transaction fees.
What’s the system like to us? It’s very intuitive and you will learn how to carry out most functions in no time at all. When you log in, you’re greeted by an easy-to-navigate dashboard with shortcuts to the reports section, the “My Team” feature, projects, time tracking, estimates, expenses, invoices, and client.
Two years ago, when conducting a survey of British business, Xero discovered that the average payment time went down from 39 days to 19 days if you offered clients the option to pay by card. FreshBooks integrates a merchant services account into all of its tariffs – clients can pay by Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Apple Pay.
Costs are 1.4% of the transaction value plus 20p although discounts are available for “Custom” tariff subscribers and subscribers taking more than £10,000 a month on cards. You can add a secure link to your invoices allowing customers to pay by card straight away and you’ll be notified when payment has been made by those methods. Processing fees incurred when you take payment by card are handily automatically added into your financial records as expenditure items.
One of FreshBooks’ greatest strengths is its invoicing features. You can take deposits by card when you send out an invoice, they’re fully customisable to your brand, and you can program in reminders to clients letting them know that the time is pay is near or now. You can set standard due dates for all clients if you like but, for more troublesome payers, you can set specific payment terms for them.
To encourage faster payment, you can offer discounts on your invoice and, for more accurate billing, you can assign an expense to a particular project or customer and set a profit margin on that expense should you wish to.
The time tracking feature in FreshBooks is particularly impressive. The in-built timer for yourself and your colleagues deliver very accurate invoicing – you can stop and start the clock either via the web browser or the app. You can add detailed notes to each period of time you log for a client or on a project. You can track the time you’ve spend on projects on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
When logging into your bank account, FreshBooks provides auto-matched category suggestions for each transaction (great for claiming back tax on allowable expenses) and it’s easy to categorise and mark refunds, transfers, and equity. Summary reports can be exported in CSV and Excel.
There are a full range of reports available on the platform including but not limited to:
- Accounts Aging Report
- Balance Sheet
- Chart of Accounts
- Client, team member, or date reporting
- Color-coded breakdown of spending
- Cost of Goods Sold
- Expense Report
- General Ledger
- Invoice Details Report
- Journal Entries
- Other Income (interest, rental income, etc.)
- Payments Collected Report
- Profit & Loss
- Sales Tax Summary Report
- Summary of most recent activity
- Trial Balance
You can, of course, create your own reports choosing from the wide range of system inputs the variables you want to track.
FreshBooks is not the cheapest option available but it is practical, reliable, Making Tax Digital-ready, and the time-tracking service will be of particular use to services firms. There is no payroll functionality on it however and this may discourage companies with staff from choosing this platform.
What do others think? Tech Radar rates the software 4.2 out of 5, FinancesOnline 9.8 out of 10, and the respected Capterra review site scores it 4.5 out of 10.
Please click for FreshBooks’ website.
Intuit Quickbooks review
| Software | Intuit Quickbooks |
| Does it have a mobile app? | Yes |
| Can you create invoices? | Yes |
| Will you be updated upon payment of an invoice? | Yes when bank account information downloaded and when paid by linked card or direct debit account |
| Can you set recurring invoices? | Yes |
| Is there a merchant services facility? | Yes |
| Is there a direct debit facility? | Yes |
| Estimates to invoices | Yes |
| Apply taxes to invoices | Yes |
| Can you time-track projects and time spent? | Yes |
| Connect to your bank account? | Yes |
| Connect to other types of account? | Yes |
| How do you upload receipts? | Upload your receipts or tag expenses with a photograph |
| Can you categorise receipts? | Yes – choose from selected expenditure categories and add your own |
| Is there specialist mileage tracking? | Yes |
| Can you run financial reports? | Yes |
| Is the software Making Tax Digital ready? | Yes |
| Can your accountant log in? | Yes |
| Does the software do bank reconciliation? | Yes |
| Is multi-currency support offered? | 145 currencies in Essentials and Plus |
| Can you run payroll? | Yes (costs more) |
| Can you run CIS payments? | Yes (costs more) |
| Auto-enrolment and workplace pensions | Yes (costs more) |
For many companies, Intuit Quickbooks is the best bookkeeping software on the market because of the sheer volume of functions and features included for the price. Others think that Quickbooks is one of the most user-unfriendly bookkeeping programs on the market because it assumes a certain level of knowledge in the user which often isn’t there – after all, most business owners are not trained bookkeepers.
Consumer Affairs’ website users score the package 2.1 out of 10 however among professional magazine reviewers it does a lot better – 4.5 out of 10 at TechRadar, PCMag, and Capterra while scoring 9.4 out of 10 at FinancesOnline.
The users who have bothered to leave a review hate it in the main while the professional reviewers who can judge it alongside its competitors think very highly of it. We think it is certainly worth consideration because of how clever the system is – before you commit, you might like to road-test the software with its current 1 month free trial.
Intuit, founded in 1983, launched Quickbooks for business as the follow-up to their hugely successful Quicken package which helped individual consumers manage their own financial affairs better.
What does it offer? There are four user tiers – the cheapest at £8 a month is for the self-employed and it includes:
For £12 a month, the “Simple Start” tariff adds:
The £20 a month “Essentials” package allows up to 3 users, handles invoicing and payment in up to 160 currencies, and the ability to manage bills and payments. The £30 a month “Plus” package has an intelligent time- and project-profitability tracking function, budget setting tools, predictive modelling of income and expenses, and the ability to have 5 users access your account.
We like the fact that you can integrate both PayPal and GoCardless for debit card, credit card, and direct debit payments. With invoicing on the platform, you can customise them to conform to the appearance of your branding and the fact that it allows you to apply discounts during sales and charge fees to late payers.
You can produce a range of financial reports on the platform – choose from one of the dozens of templates (you can adjust start and end times on these reports) and you can customise your own choosing one of the hundreds of measurement variables.
Connecting to your bank is straight forward and the reconciliation function is superb. QuickBooks is also Making Tax Digital-ready meaning that you don’t have to use specific bridging software to file your VAT returns online.
Quickbooks has also integrated payroll, CIS, and workplace pensions very well onto the platform. The standard payroll service costs £4 a month plus £1 for every employee and it delivers everything you’d expect from a payroll agency. If you get stuck, Quickbooks offers users live video help and the knowledge base on the site is easy to follow and comprehensive.
For companies wanting payroll, CIS, and workplace pensions, the “Advanced Payroll” feature for £8 per month (plus £1pm per user) is superb. Additional features on payroll include:
You can also give your employees access to an online portal so they can view rotas, accept payslips, submit leave requests, submit expenses, view their banking information, accept or decline offered shifts, and log their timesheets.
For CIS users, QuickBooks automatically deducts CIS contributions, prepares accurate returns for HMRC, and allows you to easily create contractors and sub-contractors on the system.
There is significant workplace pension and auto-enrolment integration – QuickBooks connects direct with Now Pension, The People’s Pension, Smart Pension, Aviva, and NEST.
For added functionality, there is a wide range of apps that you can integrate with QuickBooks – some are free and some are paid for. However, most of the apps seem targeted towards the North American market so you may only find a handful which are useful for your company.
QuickBooks is a Marmite product – you either love it or you don’t. As we mentioned earlier, you may wish to take up the 1 month free trial to see if it’s right for you and your business.
Please click here for Quickbooks’ website.
Xero review
| Software | Intuit Quickbooks |
| Does it have a mobile app? | Yes |
| Can you create invoices? | Yes |
| Will you be updated upon payment of an invoice? | Yes when bank account information downloaded and when paid by linked card or direct debit account |
| Can you set recurring invoices? | Yes |
| Is there a merchant services facility? | Yes |
| Is there a direct debit facility? | Yes |
| Estimates to invoices | Yes |
| Apply taxes to invoices | Yes |
| Can you time-track projects and time spent? | Yes |
| Connect to your bank account? | Yes |
| Connect to other types of account? | Yes |
| How do you upload receipts? | Upload your receipts or tag expenses with a photograph |
| Can you categorise receipts? | Yes – choose from selected expenditure categories and add your own |
| Is there specialist mileage tracking? | No – separate expense entries need to be completed for each mile claimed |
| Can you run financial reports? | Yes |
| Is the software Making Tax Digital ready? | Yes |
| Can your accountant log in? | Yes |
| Does the software do bank reconciliation? | Yes |
| Is multi-currency support offered? | 160 currencies for Premium subscribers |
| Can you run payroll? | Yes (costs more) |
| Can you run CIS payments? | Yes (costs more) |
| Auto-enrolment and workplace pensions | Yes (costs more) |
Xero is an intuitive and smart bookkeeping and accounting package which is probably better suited for companies with 5 or more staff (plus directors). Unlike most of the other products we’re reviewing in this item, Xero allows for unlimited users at no extra charge – ideal for sharing log-ins with financial controllers in your business, your accountant, your bookkeeper, and, if you have one, a part-time financial director.
Based in New Zealand, Xero is one of the most highly-rated bookkeeping platforms on the market. The company has three offices in the UK (Milton Keynes, Manchester, and London) and the company provides around the clock support to users by phone, email, and online chatbot.
Perhaps more than any of its competitors, the company has worked hard to court the third-party app market and there are currently over 800 different integrations (some free, some paid-for) for clients to select from. The apps you can download onto the platform range from apps to save time on expenses, time-tracking, invoicing, and inventory/stock management.
The company is offering a free 30 day trial for users and its packages start from £10 a month. The £10 a month package includes Making Tax Digital for VAT, automatic CIS reports and calculations, and the ability to capture receipts and bills with its Hubdoc photography app. This package is designed for lower-activity, lower-turnover businesses as is allows only 20 bank transaction reconciliations, the entry of 5 bills onto the system, and the ability to send 5 quotes and invoices. This is a tariff perhaps more suited for contractors and freelancers operating with a handful of clients.
The £24 a month package is essentially the same however the quotas on invoices, receipts, and bank transaction reconciliations is lifted. For an extra £6 a month, their top tier offers the ability to handle multiple currencies.
In terms of its look and its interface, it has been designed with the average business owner in mind who may not know a great deal about bookkeeping and accounting – much of it is “one-click” making using the functions much quicker and easier.
For us, this is ideal because too much knowledge has been assumed on the part of customers with many bookkeeping apps available making the user experience confusing and non-intuitive. That said, the program can do so much that, other than for the basic functions, there is a learning curve before you can extract the greatest value from the platform.
In reviews, Xero scores consistently highly – 9.5 on FinancesOnline, 4.3 out of 5 on Capterra, 4.5 on TechRadar, and 4 out of 5 in PCMag.
For quicker and easier payment by customers, you can add PayPal for card payments and GoCardless for direct debit payments. Setting up accounts is easy (as is linking any existing accounts you have) and the charges are low.
We like the invoicing features a lot – automated invoice reminders, quick invoice creation, a dashboard for bulk invoicing, the ability to invoice from your mobile, charge billable expenses to customers, and the “get paid now” function which adds a secure payment link to your invoices.
For professional services firms and companies which bill by the hour, the time-tracking feature is great (even in producing CIS compliant invoices). Cost and time tracking is straight forward and Xero strays into project management software territory offering user the ability to control workflows and collaborate on a project. Your time and your staff’s time can be tracked to the minute and creating an invoice from those hours spent with a client or on a project is easy.
The payroll, CIS, and workplace pension functionality within Xero is also superb but, as you’d expect, costs extra (£5 per month for up to 5 members of staff and £1 per month for every employee thereafter).
The payroll software submits RTI data to HMRC, sends pension information to NEST and other providers, offers multiple payment schedules (weekly, fortnightly, and monthly), expense reimbursement, and you can program in different pay rates depending on the type of work performed by an employee within a given period. You can track and manage leave and Xero performs statutory pay calculations for your staff members.
Users are also invited to share the Xero Me mobile app with members of staff which allows them to request leave from their phone, submit their timesheets, and view their payslips.
Adding CIS to your Xero account costs £5 per month or you can have it for free with subscription to any of Xero’s Business Edition plans. The CIS suite calculates the deduction on any bill or invoice automatically, creates statements for deductions and payments, and allows you to set up subcontractors. Coming soon, you’ll be able to verify subcontractors online via the platform.
As you’d expect from a platform primarily designed for businesses with larger turnovers and more staff, the reporting on company and financial performance is comprehensive with a large range of pre-built reports you can alter the date range for and an ability to build your own reports using the inputs you want.
Please click here for Xero’s website.
Sage Business Cloud Accounting review
| Software | Sage Business Cloud Accounting |
| Does it have a mobile app? | Yes |
| Can you create invoices? | Yes |
| Will you be updated upon payment of an invoice? | Yes when bank account information downloaded |
| Can you set recurring invoices? | Yes |
| Is there a merchant services facility? | Yes |
| Is there a direct debit facility? | No |
| Estimates to invoices | Yes |
| Apply taxes to invoices | Yes |
| Can you time-track projects and time spent? | No |
| Connect to your bank account? | Yes |
| Connect to other types of account? | No |
| How do you upload receipts? | Upload your receipts to the system |
| Can you categorise receipts? | Yes – choose from selected expenditure categories and add your own |
| Is there specialist mileage tracking? | No – separate expense entries need to be completed for each mile claimed |
| Can you run financial reports? | Yes |
| Is the software Making Tax Digital ready? | Yes |
| Can your accountant log in? | Yes |
| Does the software do bank reconciliation? | Yes |
| Is multi-currency support offered? | On higher packages |
| Can you run payroll? | Yes (costs more) |
| Can you run CIS payments? | Yes (costs more) |
| Auto-enrolment and workplace pensions | Yes (costs more) |
Sage is possibly the best-known and most-respected name in the accounting and bookkeeping software sector. Set up in the early 1980s in Newcastle upon Tyne, it now has a presence in 23 different countries around the world producing localised versions of its famous software.
However, the Sage Business Cloud Accounting software, although attractive and functional, lags slightly behind many of its competitors in our opinion on its user-friendliness. In its defence, it is not expensive in comparison to packages offered by other companies and it does have a very large app store (some free, some paid for) allowing you to customise what you can do on the platform so that it best suits your business’s needs.
Take payroll – something for which Sage is famous. Nearly half of all British workers’ tax and National Insurance calculations are worked out on a Sage system. Sage’s pricing is very competitive offering clients the following bands:
1-5 employees – £7 + VAT per month
6-10 employees – £12 + VAT per month
11-15 employees – £17 + VAT per month
16-25 employees – £27 + VAT per month
26-50 employees – £57.75 + VAT per month
51-100 employees – £61.50 + VAT per month
100+ employees – £85.50 + VAT per month
These prices are in addition to the standard subscription costs of Sage Business Cloud Accounting. But what are those costs?
The standard “Accounting Start” package is £12 a month and, for that, you can invoice customers, track whether those customers have paid you, connect to your bank, handle VAT (Sage is Making Tax Digital compliant), and correct previous transactions, run reports (including cash flow statements). You can use Sage Business Cloud Accounting either on your desktop/laptop or via its app for smartphones and tablets.
The “Accounting” package costs £24 a month and, in addition to the functionality on the “Accounting Start2 package, you also benefit from the ability to add unlimited extra users at no charge, a quoting and estimating tool, purchase invoice issuance, invoicing in multiple currencies, delivery notes, credit notes, and remittance advice notes.
Although it is generally rated well in online reviews, Sage Business Cloud Accounting attracts lower scores than most of its competitors. PCMag awards it 3 out of 5, TrustRadius 7.2 out of 10, TechRadar 4 out of 5, and FinancesOnline 9.3 out of 10.
Please click here for Sage Business Cloud Accounting’s website.
Wave Accounting review
| Software | Sage Business Cloud Accounting |
| Does it have a mobile app? | Wave Accounting |
| Can you create invoices? | Yes |
| Will you be updated upon payment of an invoice? | Yes |
| Can you set recurring invoices? | Yes when paid by linked card |
| Is there a merchant services facility? | Yes |
| Is there a direct debit facility? | No |
| Estimates to invoices | No |
| Apply taxes to invoices | Yes |
| Can you time-track projects and time spent? | No |
| Connect to your bank account? | Yes but it’s complicated |
| Connect to other types of account? | No |
| How do you upload receipts? | Upload your receipts to the system |
| Can you categorise receipts? | Yes – choose from selected expenditure categories and add your own |
| Is there specialist mileage tracking? | No – separate expense entries need to be completed for each mile claimed |
| Can you run financial reports? | Yes |
| Is the software Making Tax Digital ready? | No – bridging software required |
| Can your accountant log in? | Yes |
| Does the software do bank reconciliation? | Yes |
| Is multi-currency support offered? | On higher packages |
| Can you run payroll? | No |
| Can you run CIS payments? | No |
| Auto-enrolment and workplace pensions | No |
If you’re looking for free accounting software, then you might wish to consider Wave Apps Accounting. However, before you do, please bear in mind that Wave not only has some impressive features but some fundamental problems too – especially for businesses based outside North America.
You can’t run payroll on it. You can’t run CIS on it. You can’t do your workplace pensions on it. And you can’t really connect to your bank account in the way that you can with the other platforms listed on this page. One last thing – it isn’t Making Tax Digital-ready either so you can’t file your VAT returns on it.
For many business owners in the UK, that might make the choice of Wave Accounting a difficult one to justify. It does just enough but you’ll still need your accountant involved in many different aspects of your financial recordkeeping – and one of the major selling points in using bookkeeping software is the ability to minimise the amount of time you pay for an accountant’s services.
It’s not all bad though. Its users regard it very highly and it achieves some great scores on reviews on the internet – 4.5 out of 5 from Software Advice and TechRadar, 4.4 from Capterra, 9.1 out of 10 from FinancesOnline, 4 out of 5 from PCMag, and 8.2 out of 10 from TrustRadius.
Perhaps the biggest selling point is that it’s free and you can add unlimited extra log-ins to your account.
That’s because the company’s goal in releasing the software is not to win subscriptions from customers – it’s to process their payments for them. Although it is not a condition of service that you have to accept Wave Accounting’s merchant service facility, it is remarkably integrated with the platform.
The cost of processing transactions is cheap too. For cards issued in Europe, the cost is 1.4% of the transaction value plus 20p. For non-European-issued cards, the price is 2.9% of transaction plus 20p.
Because the platform is so focused on getting you to use it for invoicing so that your customers pay you by card, perhaps Wave Accounting’s most advanced platform feature relates to invoicing.
You can invoice in any currency you want. You can send estimates and quotes to clients and converting them into invoices is easy. The platform will send customers reminders with attached statements when they’re overdue.
The technology you need to use to customise your invoices to match your branding is incredibly simple and intuitive. You can send apps via Outlook, Gmail, and the Wave iOS or Android app as well as many other delivery mechanisms. You can track payments, overdue invoices, and partial payments.
There are also a range of reports you can compile, download, and share on how your business is performing including comparative indicators, cash flow statements, sales tax statements, and profit/loss accounts.
For micro-businesses, gig economy workers, side-hustlers, and freelancers who have no need for an accountant and who want the ability to be paid quickly, Wave Accounting might be the platform you need. However, when your business becomes bigger and more complex, you’ll more than likely need to think about migrating all the information stored on Wave onto a more advanced platform – and data migration is difficult.
Please click here for Wave Accounting’s website.
Zoho Books UK review
| Software | Zoho UK |
| Does it have a mobile app? | Yes |
| Can you create invoices? | Yes |
| Will you be updated upon payment of an invoice? | Yes when bank account information downloaded and when paid by linked card or direct debit account |
| Can you set recurring invoices? | Yes |
| Is there a merchant services facility? | Yes |
| Is there a direct debit facility? | Yes |
| Estimates to invoices | Yes |
| Apply taxes to invoices | Yes |
| Can you time-track projects and time spent? | Yes |
| Connect to your bank account? | Yes |
| Connect to other types of account? | Yes |
| How do you upload receipts? | Yes |
| Can you categorise receipts? | Yes |
| Is there specialist mileage tracking? | No |
| Can you run financial reports? | Yes |
| Is the software Making Tax Digital ready? | Yes |
| Can your accountant log in? | Yes |
| Does the software do bank reconciliation? | Yes |
| Is multi-currency support offered? | Yes |
| Can you run payroll? | No |
| Can you run CIS payments? | No |
| Auto-enrolment and workplace pensions | No |
Zoho Books is impressive and good value for money for what it does at the upper end of the tariff structure. With a 14-day free trial, it’s one of the better integrated platforms offering users the ability to shape the software to fit their financial needs – as long as they’re happy to leave their payroll to their external bookkeeper, their accountant, or a service bureau.
A lot of money has been spent on Zoho Books and investment in the platform continues. Zoho Books is part of a wider range of products from this India-based technology giant – the bookkeeping platform links seamlessly to its other services including project management software, customer relationship management software, web conferencing, presentations, spreadsheets, and word processing. You could run your entire business from the Zoho platform should you please.
Let’s look at the tariffs first. For £6m a month, you get sales approval functionality, the ability to create recurring transactions, projects and timesheets management, expense tracking, customisable invoices, budgeting tools, and bank reconciliation. You can up to 2 users, 5 automated workflows, and 50 contacts stored on the platform.
For £12 a month, you can register 3 users, store up to 500 contacts, and implement 10 automated workflow modules. In addition to everything you receive in the basic tariff, you also receive vendor credits, Twilio integration (cloud communications including the ability to make and receive phone calls and text messages), reporting tags for expenditure, the ability to get purchase approval, and bill management.
The top tier package is £18 a month – it also offers user the ability to store more than 500 contacts, register 3 users, purchase order issuance, sales order issuance, and inventory/stock management. If you’re interested, Zoho also offer a free custom web domain name for subscribers to this package.
If you want to add further users, the cost is £2 a month or you can purchase an annual licence for £20.
As we mentioned earlier, Zoho’s integration with other services is impressive. For example, it offers connection to the following payment gateways:
- Stripe – possibly the market-leader in online card transactions
- PayPal – Zoho is directly integrated with PayPal and PayPal Business
- 2checkout – supporting multiple currencies, this multilingual service is popular among businesspeople selling internationally
- square – offer the ability to process payments from major card issuers and some of the less well-known ones
- Braintree – a merchant services provider focusing on popular overseas credit cards whose names you might not be familiar with
PayPal Pay Flow is also integrated – that’s the version of PayPal’s merchant services program for very high volume vendors. You can also set up direct debits to take payments from customers’ accounts through its partnership with GoCardless.
What about invoicing? Zoho allows you to set up recurring payments from clients, send out automated reminders, and customise payment receipts. It also handles deposits and advanced payments, returns and refunds, and all invoices issued are secured via a digital signature compliant with ESIGN and eIDAS laws.
Classification of expenses is straightforward meaning that it’s much easier for your accountant to claim back allowable expenditure to reduce your income tax or corporation tax liabilities. The software manages recurring expenses easily and it allows you to tag an expense to a customer invoice so you can collect them money back from them (whether you charge it at cost or with profit).
We really like the bank reconciliation features on Zoho – you can connect with several bank accounts at a time with a few clicks. It learns how you spend your money on and on what meaning that, as time goes on, it gets better at automatically matching what you’ve spent to a particular expenditure category. The cash flow predictor tool is also really clever as it takes account of past reconciliations, recurring payments that you make, and average balance mismatches.
On the subject of reporting, Zoho’s reporting function is just as advanced as on some of the other leading platforms we’ve featured on this page. There are over 50 built-in reports – you can generate tax reports, performance reports (including profit & loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statements), and even audit trails as well as examining cost centres to see whether each department is spending money as wisely as possible.
The platform is also Making Tax Digital-friendly for VAT form submissions.
Zoho scores well with online reviews – 4 out of 5 at TechRadar, 4.4 out of 5 at Capterra, and 4.5 out of 5 at Software Advice.
Please click here for Zoho Book’s website.
Bokio review
| Software | Bokio |
| Does it have a mobile app? | Yes |
| Can you create invoices? | Yes |
| Will you be updated upon payment of an invoice? | Yes when bank account information downloaded |
| Can you set recurring invoices? | No |
| Is there a merchant services facility? | No |
| Is there a direct debit facility? | No |
| Estimates to invoices | No |
| Apply taxes to invoices | Yes |
| Can you time-track projects and time spent? | No |
| Connect to your bank account? | Yes |
| Connect to other types of account? | Yes |
| How do you upload receipts? | Upload your receipts or tag expenses with a photograph |
| Can you categorise receipts? | Yes – choose from selected expenditure categories and add your own |
| Is there specialist mileage tracking? | No |
| Can you run financial reports? | Yes |
| Is the software Making Tax Digital ready? | Yes |
| Can your accountant log in? | |
| Does the software do bank reconciliation? | Yes |
| Is multi-currency support offered? | Yes |
| Can you run payroll? | No |
| Can you run CIS payments? | No |
| Auto-enrolment and workplace pensions | No |
Bokio is one of the lesser-known bookkeeping and accounting software platforms – there are no reviews of it online except for 74 customer reviews at TrustPilot who give the brand a combined 4.7 out of 5.
Unlike many of the other packages reviewed on this page, there is no credit/debit card merchant service provider or direct debit provider integration. This, of course, does not stop you from making your own arrangement with the providers however it does make it more difficult to know which invoices to mark as paid when they’re settled by card or direct debit. In addition, you’ll have to create a separate entry for the fees charged by the providers you use in your expenses.
Bokio is free accounting software for small businesses in the UK. It is Making Tax Digital-compliant for your VAT returns but they don’t offer payroll, CIS submissions, or workplace pension functionality. As with finding merchant services and direct debit providers, this is something you’ll have to find other suppliers to help you with. At time of writing, they’re currently working on a payroll system but there is no current release date offered by the company just yet.
What Bokio can do it does well thanks to its intuitive user interface and its simple, unfussy controls and screen layout.
You can customise reports to check on the financial and operational performance of your business however the number of built-in reports are limited in comparison to its competitors – balance sheet reports, accounts receivable, EC sales list, your general ledger, Making Tax Digital VAT return, profit and loss report, and accounts payable.
Unlike with other packages, there is no charge for invoicing in different currencies, granting log-ins to others (like your accountant), and there are no limits to the number of invoices you send, receipts you log, or contacts you hold within the system. It connects to most British banks and manages your expenses and their classifications very well.
It’s all free, gratis, kostenlos.
However, from £10 a month, you can purchase the “Priority Support” service which helps you set up your account in the first place and offers support response within 24 hours on any aspect of using the platform or bookkeeping in general.
There is also a “Hire An Accountant” option who will help you with your VAT, year end accounts and customised bookkeeping – your accountant will also be there for you for an accountancy review and an online session to help you get started with Bokio.
Additional functionality the software team at Bokio is working on at the moment includes the ability to send quotes, support for flat rate VAT traders, and a way to bulk record bank transactions.
Please click here for Bokio’s website.
GoSimpleTax review
| Software | GoSimpleTax |
| Does it have a mobile app? | Yes |
| Can you create invoices? | No |
| Will you be updated upon payment of an invoice? | No |
| Can you set recurring invoices? | No |
| Is there a merchant services facility? | No |
| Is there a direct debit facility? | No |
| Estimates to invoices | No |
| Apply taxes to invoices | No |
| Can you time-track projects and time spent? | No |
| Connect to your bank account? | No |
| Connect to other types of account? | No |
| How do you upload receipts? | Yes |
| Can you categorise receipts? | Yes |
| Is there specialist mileage tracking? | No |
| Can you run financial reports? | Apart from self assessments, no |
| Is the software Making Tax Digital ready? | Yes |
| Can your accountant log in? | Yes |
| Does the software do bank reconciliation? | No |
| Is multi-currency support offered? | No |
| Can you run payroll? | No |
| Can you run CIS payments? | No |
| Auto-enrolment and workplace pensions | No |
The GoSimpleTax platform is a very basic self-employed accounting software platform with very limited functionality. Its primary purpose to is to help contractors and freelancers accurately calculate their income tax and national insurance liability for self assessment purposes. Unincorporated partnerships can also use GoSimpleTax for their SA800 partnership HMRC form and each partner’s SA104 form.
Should you want to be able to do more, the package integrates well with FreeAgent, FreshBooks, QuickBooks, and Xero.
GoSimpleTax’s target markets are Airbnb hosts, contractors, directors, individuals with multiple sources of income, landlords & those who derive income from property, ministers of religion, musicians, online sellers, people who earn overseas income, retirees, the self-employed & freelancers, sole traders, trusts, and UBER and taxi drivers.
Although what it does is very limited, reviewers believe that it does what it does very well – it receives a 4.4 out of 5 rating from Capterra, 8 out of 10 from FinancesOnline, and 3.5 out of 5 from TechRadar.
Please click to visit GoSimpleTax’s website.
FreeAgent review
| Software | FreeAgent |
| Does it have a mobile app? | Yes |
| Can you create invoices? | Yes |
| Will you be updated upon payment of an invoice? | Yes when bank account information downloaded |
| Can you set recurring invoices? | Yes |
| Is there a merchant services facility? | Yes |
| Is there a direct debit facility? | Yes |
| Estimates to invoices | Yes |
| Apply taxes to invoices | Yes |
| Can you time-track projects and time spent? | Yes |
| Connect to your bank account? | Yes |
| Connect to other types of account? | Yes |
| How do you upload receipts? | Upload your receipts or tag expenses with a photograph |
| Can you categorise receipts? | Yes – choose from selected expenditure categories and add your own |
| Is there specialist mileage tracking? | No – separate expense entries need to be completed for each mile claimed |
| Can you run financial reports? | Yes |
| Is the software Making Tax Digital ready? | Yes |
| Can your accountant log in? | Yes |
| Does the software do bank reconciliation? | Yes |
| Is multi-currency support offered? | Yes |
| Can you run payroll? | Yes |
| Can you run CIS payments? | No |
| Auto-enrolment and workplace pensions | No |
Launched in 2007 and purchased by state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland for £53 million in 2018, FreeAgent is one of the UK’s most successful and highly-thought-of accounting and bookkeeping packages.
Its users rate it highly – 871 reviews on TrustPilot deliver an average score of 4.7 out of 5. TechRadar and Merchant Maverick score it 4 out of 5, Reviews.co.uk 4.5 out of 5, and FinancesOnline 9.5 out of 10. Customers comment on it “being the easiest to use presenting genuinely useful information and insights”, “pretty easy to learn”, and “I now enjoy keeping track of my finances”.
Originally put together for the contractor market (which has come under sustained attack for the last 20 years with some arguing that the government are trying to tax contractors out of existence), it has widened its target audience in recent years and the company has built a very user-friendly, jargon-free service which customers genuinely seem to appreciate.
It is Making Tax Digital compliant supporting the EC Goods and Services system, Flat Rate Scheme, and the new and very complicated Reverse Charge scheme. Both accrual and cash accounting systems are supported for VAT reporting and it’s straight forward to switch between the two once your turnover breaches the threshold where you have to switch to accrual only.
You can also run payroll on FreeAgent. It handles the government’s Employment Allowance, supports paternity/maternity pay and student loans, and it submits payroll information to HMRC via the RTI interface – a legal requirement for a number of years now. You can generate payslips for staff that can both be shared online and printed off as well as P60s.
However, it currently does not have the functionality needed to run CIS payments or workplace pension schemes.
However, unlike every other package here, it still retains enhanced functionality for contractors and their clients included deemed payments with IR35 reporting. Its origins as contractor software can still be seen with its impressive time- and project-tracking functionality – you can track time spent by yourself and employees by stop and starting the clock on the app or on the desktop platform. You can charge different tasks at different rates, generate time-sheet reports, and generate invoices based upon time spent.
The software has deep and useful integrations with Stripe and PayPal for debit and credit card transactions as well as GoCardless for direct debit payments.
As with other packages we’ve reviewed for this article, its invoicing interface is simple to use and you can customise the look of your invoices to fit in with your company branding. It has the very useful feature of being able to convert quotes/estimates into invoices at the touch of a button, and invoices can be created using any currency across a choice of 25 different languages.
Bank integration is quick and smooth and there are many different built-in reporting templates you can use to monitor financial and operational performance. You can analyse right down to project level to examine levels of profitability and examine the costs attached to a particular job.
FreeAgent is offering a 30-day free trial to new customers. Packages start from £19 a month for sole traders (including self assessment filing) rising to £24 a month for unincorporated partnerships (includes profit share calculation) and ending at £29 for limited companies (including self assessment filing, dividend vouchers and corporation tax forecasting).
Please click to visit FreeAgent’s website.
AccountsPortal review
| Software | AccountsPortal |
| Does it have a mobile app? | No |
| Can you create invoices? | Yes (Can customise) |
| Will you be updated upon payment of an invoice? | Yes when paid by linked card |
| Can you set recurring invoices? | Yes |
| Is there a merchant services facility? | Yes |
| Is there a direct debit facility? | No |
| Estimates to invoices | Yes (refers to them as quotes) |
| Apply taxes to invoices | Yes |
| Can you time-track projects and time spent? | No |
| Connect to your bank account? | Yes |
| Connect to other types of account? | Yes |
| How do you upload receipts? | Yes |
| Can you categorise receipts? | Yes – choose from selected expenditure categories and add your own |
| Is there specialist mileage tracking? | No – separate expense entries need to be completed for each mile claimed |
| Can you run financial reports? |
Profit and Loss Balance Sheet Trial Balance Period Balance Transaction Line Items Products and Services Nominal Ledger Aged Receivables Aged Payables EU Digital Services / VAT MOSS |
| Is the software Making Tax Digital ready? | Yes |
| Can your accountant log in? | Yes |
| Does the software do bank reconciliation? | Yes |
| Is multi-currency support offered? | No |
| Can you run payroll? | No |
| Can you run CIS payments? | No |
| Auto-enrolment and workplace pensions | No |
AccountsPortal were one of the first online bookkeeping and accounting platforms in the UK however, despite an easy-to-use interface and its popularity among accountants themselves, this software does not get anywhere near the publicity it should. It seems to have fallen so far off the radar that none of the major software sites have reviewed it yet.
Perhaps they should. For £10 a month (there is a thirty day free trial), the nice-looking dashboard hides an abundance of functionality split into the following sections – dashboard, inventory and stock, taxes and VAT, real-time reporting, accept online payments, quotes, purchase orders, intelligent banking, categories, and contacts and statements.
Integration with PayPal, Stripe, Vend, and Yodlee bank feeds come as standard – it is a pity though that there is no integration with GoCardless for direct debits. Another big omission by the company is the lack of a mobile app – we hope they develop one soon to complement the web version of the platform.
The company prides itself on its customer support promising never to charge clients anything for help in using and getting the most out of the software. The website contains a substantial knowledge base so customers can learn the system and some of its more advanced functionality on its own. If you do need help, the company offers an online ticket desk so you can see how far along you are in the queue although the company does pride itself on its “super-fast turnaround time”.
You can link directly to your bank account or manually import Bank Statements. When connected to your bank account, the software learns to match transactions (payments in or out) with an invoice or receipt – you can help it learn faster by using the handy “Import Rules” function.
The platform is one of the few to include stock and inventory management – you can input your own price list into AccountsPortal making the production of invoices much faster.
Creating reports to show your company is performing is easy and the built-in reports already include aged payables, aged receivables, balance sheet, bank reconciliation, EU digital services / VAT MOSS, nominal ledger, period balance, products and services reporting, profit and loss, transaction line items, and a trial balance. You can, of course, create your own custom reports.
Please click to visit AccountsPortal’s website.
Clearbooks review
| Software | ClearBooks |
| Does it have a mobile app? | Yes |
| Can you create invoices? | Yes (Can customise) |
| Will you be updated upon payment of an invoice? | Yes when bank account information downloaded and when paid by linked card or direct debit account |
| Can you set recurring invoices? | Yes |
| Is there a merchant services facility? | Yes |
| Is there a direct debit facility? | Yes |
| Estimates to invoices | Yes |
| Apply taxes to invoices | Yes |
| Can you time-track projects and time spent? | Yes |
| Connect to your bank account? | Yes |
| Connect to other types of account? | Yes |
| How do you upload receipts? | Upload your receipts to the system (via 3rd party integration with Receipt Bank) |
| Can you categorise receipts? | Yes |
| Is there specialist mileage tracking? | Yes |
| Can you run financial reports? | Yes |
| Is the software Making Tax Digital ready? | Yes (for subscription level “Large”) |
| Can your accountant log in? | Yes |
| Does the software do bank reconciliation? | Yes |
| Is multi-currency support offered? | 170 currencies for subscription level “Large” |
| Can you run payroll? | No – Clearbooks have a separate App for Payroll) |
| Can you run CIS payments? | Yes (only available on the more expensive editions “Practice Edition”, and “Large Plan”) |
| Auto-enrolment and workplace pensions | No – Clearbooks have a separate app for payroll which does have auto enrolment) |
Clearbooks, founded in 2008, started as a simple accounting app to help its founder manage his personal and business finances better but it was so good that he decided to scale it to offer it to thousands of businesses – there are now 13,000 customers using the system. And it was one of the first to achieve accreditation by the ICB and ICAEW.
Every effort has been made by the publishers to simplify the interface so that those with little or no knowledge of bookkeeping or accounting can navigate their way around the system and do what they want to do. We were impressed by the way the system took us through the workflow and, if we did need any help, the company offers a free one-to-one training session with a qualified bookkeeper as well as a well-established and quick customer support service.
Clearbooks integrates both PayPal and GoCardless meaning that you can take payments by credit card, debit card, and direct debit from clients. You can send quick-pay invoices to clients with an embedded secure weblink for them to settle their account by card – you can even offer incentives to do so by offering a discount. Your customers can also log-in via a secure link to your portal to see the invoices they’ve paid and they are due to pay.
Tracking and categorising expenses is easy – the app allows you to take a picture of an invoice and, using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), it reads the text on it and populates all of the receipt fields – that saves you and your colleagues in manual data entry you would otherwise have to have done.
Clearbooks is Making Tax Digital-ready and it updates corporation tax and VAT estimates every time you carry out a bank reconciliation. As with many other packages, it assigns company expenditure to categories allowing your account to claim those expenses back when calculating your and your company’s tax liabilities.
The platform produces a wide variety of financial and operational performance reports so that you can review the progress of your company and for HMRC – reports include aged debtors, balance sheet, cash flow, dividend vouchers, export reports, management reports, P11Ds, profit and loss, projects (cost centres/departments), and trial balances.
Clearbooks integrates with AutoEntry, Companies House, XE, Yodlee, Clear Books Payroll, Receipt Bank, GoCardless, PayPal, Pay360 by Capita, Commusoft, and iPages to provide users with added functionality.
The basic Clearbooks tier is £10 a month and, in comparison with many of the other platforms on here, you receive a lot of services for your subscription. For larger or more complex companies, the company’s “Large” plan features much additional functionality suitable for more substantial enterprises.
Please click to visit Clearbooks’ website.
Kashflow review
| Software | Kashflow |
| Does it have a mobile app? | Yes |
| Can you create invoices? | Yes (Can customise) |
| Will you be updated upon payment of an invoice? | Yes when bank account information downloaded and when paid by linked card or direct debit account |
| Can you set recurring invoices? | Yes but not available on lowest cost “Starter” subscription. |
| Is there a merchant services facility? | Yes |
| Is there a direct debit facility? | Yes |
| Estimates to invoices | Yes |
| Apply taxes to invoices | Yes |
| Can you time-track projects and time spent? | Yes but only through 3rd party apps |
| Connect to your bank account? | Yes |
| Connect to other types of account? | Yes |
| How do you upload receipts? | Upload your receipts to the system |
| Can you categorise receipts? | Yes – choose from selected expenditure categories and add your own |
| Is there specialist mileage tracking? | Yes |
| Can you run financial reports? | Yes |
| Is the software Making Tax Digital ready? | Yes |
| Can your accountant log in? | Yes |
| Does the software do bank reconciliation? | Yes |
| Is multi-currency support offered? | Yes but not available on lowest cost “Starter” subscription. |
| Can you run payroll? | Yes. Only on “Business + Payroll” subscription and then only for 5 people |
| Can you run CIS payments? | Yes |
| Auto-enrolment and workplace pensions | Yes. Only on “Business + Payroll” subscription and then only available as an addon |
Used by over 50,000 British businesses, Kashflow is one of the most popular bookkeeping and accounting packages currently on the market. The company’s found became increasingly frustrated with keeping his accounts in Word and Excel and built the system himself initially just to save time. Following support from the Princes Trust to turn it into a commercial venture back in the noughties, the company was eventually purchased by IRIS in 2015.
The platform features deep integration with GoCardless for direct debiting of customers as well as Square, Stripe, WorldPay, and PayPal for credit and debit card payments. As with many other packages, you can send out an invoice with an embedded link directly debtors to a secure online payment portal when they can pay by Visa, Mastercard, and a variety of other cards.
The invoicing system is very advanced with the option of automating invoices to save time and automatic email chasing of late payers. The software is Making Tax Digital-ready and you can run payroll, CIS, and workplace pensions on it however the cost for doing so is £6.75 a month if purchased separately from the platform or £22.50 for a joint purchase. You can run payroll for 5 members of staff for these prices and every additional employee on top is £1 per month.
The sheer number of built-in reports is impressive running into dozens and there is, of course, the option to create your own reports and save them onto the system. The bank reconciliation offered by the platform is also advanced allowing you to compare every transaction you’ve inputted into Kashflow with payments your bank has processed.
Packages for Kashflow start at £8 per month – this tariff is intended for sole traders, contractors, and small businesses. While you can send an unlimited number of quotes, you are restricted to 10 invoices and reconciliation against just 25 bank transactions. The starter tariff also includes purchase and expense management, a mileage tracker, and the submission online of your VAT return. You can only, however, have one user meaning that your accountant won’t be able to log-in to download information about your business.
For £16.50 a month, you’re not limited to the number of invoices you can send and it’s multi-user meaning that your accountant will be able to log in. For £22.50, as mentioned earlier, you can add payroll on top but there’ll be extra charges per month once you have 6 employees or more.
Reviews for Kashflow are mixed. 69 users submitted a review on TrustPilot awarding it just 1.7 out of 5. Software Advice awards it 4 out of 5 and GetApp 4.2 out of 5,
Please click for Kashflow’s website.
Pandle review
| Software | Pandle |
| Does it have a mobile app? | Yes |
| Can you create invoices? | No (apart from uploading a logo, but Pro subscribers can choose from 1 of 7 professional templates) |
| Will you be updated upon payment of an invoice? | Yes when paid by linked card |
| Can you set recurring invoices? | Yes |
| Is there a merchant services facility? | Yes |
| Is there a direct debit facility? | No |
| Estimates to invoices | Yes |
| Apply taxes to invoices | Yes |
| Can you time-track projects and time spent? | No |
| Connect to your bank account? | Yes – only in Pro version |
| Connect to other types of account? | Yes |
| How do you upload receipts? | Upload your receipts or tag expenses with a photograph (Pro subscription only) |
| Can you categorise receipts? | Yes – choose from selected expenditure categories and add your own |
| Is there specialist mileage tracking? | No – separate expense entries need to be completed for each mile claimed |
| Can you run financial reports? | Yes |
| Is the software Making Tax Digital ready? | Yes |
| Can your accountant log in? | Yes |
| Does the software do bank reconciliation? | Yes – only in Pro version |
| Is multi-currency support offered? | Yes |
| Can you run payroll? | Yes – for an additional charge |
| Can you run CIS payments? | No (but does have guide as to how to correctly enter an invoice and create correct CIS deductions, but this is a manual process) |
| Auto-enrolment and workplace pensions | No |
And finally, Pandle – a UK-based free online accounting software package offering what it calls “refreshing simple bookkeeping”. Reaction to the platform has been positive with users on TrustPilot awarding it 4.7 out of 5, Capterra 4.8 out of 5, and Software Advice 5 out of 5. In fact, it’s the highest rated platform as determined by users and reviewers in this article.
As with Wave Accounting, it derives its fees from payments made to you by clients on credit or debit card. For those taking the free subscription, the charges are 2.4% of the transaction value plus 20p for Europe-issued cards and 3.9% of the transaction value plus 20p for non-Europe-issued cards.
There is a paid-for subscription available for Pandle if you choose it. For £5 extra a month, you get all the features offered in the free service plus unlimited users, the option to set permissions for particular users, receipt uploads, project management, access to premium invoice templates, connection to PayPal feeds, multi company management, cash flow forecasting, and bank feeds. Please be aware that you can’t connect to your bank on the free service.
The invoicing interface is slick and available both on desktop and via the app. You can create customised invoices and send them to users wherever you are (as long as you have an internet connection), you can customise quotes (and turn them into invoices when the customer says “yes”), search through previous quotes, group invoice by email, and split invoices.
The number of in-built reports isn’t massive (balance sheet, cash flow, EC sales lists, payables, profit and loss, receivables, trial balance, and VAT returns) but you can create and save your reports on the user-friendly dashboard provided by the platform. Submission of your VAT return is possible via the platform as it has been certified as Making Tax Digital-ready by HMRC.
The platform does offer payroll but not CIS or workplace pensions. The cost per payslip is £4 plus VAT (subject to a minimum charge of £16 per month for the service) which makes it expensive compared to other options we’ve reviewed on this page. The savings you make on either the free subscription or the £5 a month subscription would soon be dwarfed if you had a few members of staff you run payroll for.
Please click to visit Pandle’s website.
Accounting software and accounting apps – your next move
When choosing bookkeeping software for your company, make sure you choose carefully. Although migrating from one online accounting package to another is possible, it is time-consuming and most accountants will charge you for their time.
If you want the cheapest VAT software, make sure that the option you choose is Making Tax Digital ready. You should also take care to choose the right limited company accounting software because the needs of incorporated businesses are much more complex than the needs of sole traders and partners.
Investing in an online bookkeeping service not only provides you with up-to-date information on your cash flow and on the money due in from invoices. You will also feel more in control of your business and be more aware of its strengths and weaknesses meaning that you can provide better short-term and long-term leadership.