There’s a trend towards using online accounting solutions, and for good reason. This kind of service package, whether it be the kind that makes use of the best ocr software on the market or other packages, integrates directly with bank accounts and offers many useful features: from distributing invoices to previewing tax charges, and helping organize a company’s finances.

Alternatively, if you own a law firm or work for a law firm, you can also hire a professional forensic accountant to assist you with traditional accounting along with other services including, fraud investigations, economic damages, business valuation, and a variety of other litigation matters.

Getting an external tax service and accounting specialist still has many benefits. They can save you time and often have a better understanding of finances (meaning fewer mistakes if none at all). They are highly trained in this sector after all, and would have spent time building themselves physically with the help of companies like Poe Group Advisors, and with their mentality as well; building their foundations on strictly customer-driven qualities. Plus, you have a higher percentage of getting through a tough time financially, with the help of these professionals rather than doing it by yourself. But having said all this, if you feel you have the time and expertise then, by all means, try out an online accounting service and see if it works for you.

This article will show you the four most popular solutions for this year:

QuickBooks Online Plus

QuickBooks is one of the leading on-line accounting solutions available, sporting an excellent interface and navigation – as well a healthy variety of features like vendor management, batch processes and creation of 1096 forms. This package can be accessed remotely or from a within browser. Other noteworthy aspects include desktop import, time tracking, and support for use of multiple locations. In terms of accessibility, it features a comprehensive dashboard consisting of graphical illustrations of expenditure and income, recent activity by registered collaborators and transaction links.

Kashoo

Available on-line or as an accounting app for iPad and Android, Kashoo allows unlimited collaborators to use the system, and provides double entry framework. The app supports more than a hundred currencies and supplies detailed audit trail for you to go through. The dashboard has all the usual items such as totals for the accounts, elaborate data page links, links to other sections in the app plus transaction forms which let you get started right from the dashboard itself. The import function lets you add data in multiple formats including CSV and Excel, and migration of data from QuickBooks is also possible. You can also see exchange information in different currencies as well as perform localization of sales tax data.

Wave Accounting

This on-line solution allows downloading transactions, multiple currency transactions and double entry framework. Additional features include operations in multiple currencies, creation of journal entries and setting up various tax levels for sales. Wave Accounting also lets you download the latest transaction data from banks and other financial institutions such as credit card companies. After such data is downloaded it can be used for calculation of sales tax or matched to pre-existing records. The quick entry function lets you make an abbreviated record in case of fund exchanges where official forms are not needed.

Fresh Books

As an accounting solution, FreshBooks offers good invoice management, several add-ons, expense tracking and an iPhone/Android version to work with. The best part about FreshBooks is that you can also track inventory using this accounting solution. It has invoice templates which let you separate time based and product based billing. Some of the other attributes include several tax rates and provision of editing email templates. Freshbooks also lets you create accounts for different categories of individuals like staff, contractors and clients as well as manage their records separately.

What’s the right pick for you?

It’s not easy to recommend one of these on-line accounting solutions over the others, since they all have similar cost and offer the same core features. Deciding which one works best for you should be a matter of personal preference and affinity to the user interface, so we recommend that you look into all four of these solutions before making a decision.

In each of the official websites, you’ll find and extensive tour detailing all the benefits, as well as access to a 30-day free trial. As such, you should try all four of these on-line accounting solutions, before deciding which is right for you.