Think you can't afford accounting software?
I'm trying out a couple of interesting web-based accounting solutions that might be just the ticket for your small business. Outright.com is a simple web-based solution to track your income and expenses. It's free and it's targeted to self-employed sole-proprietors who file their taxes on Schedule C.
One thing I like about this particular software solution is that it is a US product built with US users in mind. Some of the other reasonably priced web-based accounting solutions were designed in other countries and will add a level of unfamiliarity for users in the US. If QuickBooks is too expensive and too complicated for you, give Outright a try.
I really like how Outright will automatically import transactions from your bank account and credit cards. Outright has also partnered up with other web-based solutions, such as Freshbooks for invoicing. There's also a lot of visual cues like bar charts and a profit box on each page. Plus, there's a community to ask and answer questions.
A downside to Outright is that reports are very limited. You can provide free access to your accountant and he or she can download transaction information to prepare financial statements and other reports for taxes.
For billing, I'm trying another free solution that I learned about from the Outright community called InvoiceBubble.com. This site allows you to prepare and send out invoices to customers by email. The sight will also provide a link with the invoice for payment by PayPal. You can enter as many customers as you like and even send out recurring bills. There is no monthly cost. Reporting of unpaid bills is very basic but there is some filtering. There is no time tracking on this site, so you'll have to do that elsewhere.
Freshbooks.com is a more robust solution for sending out invoices, and it's one that interfaces with Outright. But, Freshbooks isn't free. If you want free, Invoice Bubble is a nice solution.
So, don't think that you are stuck with Excel or post-it notes because you don't want to drop the coin for QuickBooks. Get your business organized and know if you are making money with these web-based tools.
