Freshbook : Best accounting software for small business

 

What is Freshbook

FreshBooks is an online invoicing and accounting software designed for self-employed professionals and small business owners and their teams. It is easy to use even for non-tech, non-accounting users. A comprehensive set of features, such as online payment acceptance, time tracking, collaboration, automation, and others provide users modern tools and workflow that saves time, promotes accuracy, and improves efficiency in their day-to-day business. As a cloud solution, it is highly accessible, but secure enough for sync and integration with banks, credit card companies, payment centers, and other cloud productivity apps.

Features, Benefits, Product Strengths

  • Invoicing, Payments, and Accounting –

 Freshbook  has invoicing features that are easy to use. It is simple to create and customize professional-looking invoices. Users can add their logo and personalize a thank you email. It accepts online payment from credit cards and ACH. Other features include automated reminders and client credit card charging, request for deposit on invoice, add tracked time and expenses on invoice, offer discounts, automatically calculate taxes, and more. Online payments are automatically recorded in the user’s account. More payment options for the client are available with no hidden fees. Online payment setup can be done in one click, as well as accepting credit card payments online, in person, or over the phone. Other payment features include scheduling, international currencies with Stripe, auto-generated collected payment reports, and more. Double-Entry accounting features identifies revenue items and related expenses for accurate calculation of profits and losses.

Expenses, Time Tracking, and Reporting –

 The cloud invoicing and accounting software allows users to connect their bank account or credit card for automated entry, so that the business is updated with the most recent expenses. They can take a photo of a receipt, log it, and data is updated and organized in the system. It has features for multi-currency expenses, automatic categorization, tax-friendly categories, assignment of recurring expenses, and more. Time tracking allows for at-a-glance breakdown of hours spent on work. It has a start-stop timer that automatically logs time into an invoice. Users can also track time from other apps such as Asana, Basecamp, Trello, and Teamwork , or use the Chrome browser extension. Other features include team time tracking, time against a specific client, detailed time entry notes, weekly and monthly views of tracked time, and more. The insightful dashboards provide important financial reports such as profit and loss that makes it easy during tax time. Features include color-coded breakdown of spending, summary of most recent activity, sales tax summary report, accounts aging, and more.

Projects, Estimates, Mobile, and more –

FreshBooks is ideal for small business owners and their teams. They can invite contractors, employees, and business partners to manage projects, and set permissions for file access. Simple collaboration features are built in to easily get feedback from others. Features include chat tool, project due dates, project status overview, team project and deliverables management, and others. Custom estimates can be quickly transformed into invoices. It also has customizable Proposals, estimate approval by client for project kickoff, estimate status tracking, estimate preview, addition of discounts, and more. Mobile apps for iOS and Android devices are available for creating invoices on the go, capturing receipts for expense logging, chat, status updates, and others. New features and integration are regularly introduced, such as with Gusto Payroll, profit and loss report, Dropbox integration, and same-day deposits.

Pricing

FreshBooks offers several pricing plans, which can be paid either month-by-month, or yearly up front. All plans include customizable invoices, accept credit cards and ACH bank transfers, free customer support, dashboards, estimates, secure information storage, project budgets, and powerful reports. The Lite plan is priced at $15 per month ($13.50 per month paid yearly) and includes for up to 5 billable clients. Features included are unlimited expense entries, automated bank import, time tracking, integrations, and more. The Plus plan is at $25 per month for up to 50 billable clients. It includes all Lite plan features in addition to unlimited proposals, automated recurring invoices, double entry accounting reports, and more. The Premium plan at $50 per month is for growing businesses and includes for up to 500 billable clients. A Select plan for greater than 500 billable clients is also available. A 30-day free trial is offered.

For Whom

FreshBooks is for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners and their teams. Some of the customers that gain the most value in using the software are designers, marketing agencies, plumbers, IT professionals, lawyers, architects, web professionals, and others.

Supported Languages

The interface is in English but invoices can be customized in the following supported languages: English, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, French, German, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Spanish (Latin America), and Swedish.

Some of their Clients

Freshbooks is now being used by 24 million people spread out in 160 countries

Testimonials

Trevor Howard recalled that their company’s first accounting solution was an Excel document. Realizing its limitation, they looked for a tool that would give them the ability to get more done without worrying about invoicing and accounting. He stated that the time Freshbooks saves their company and the ability for them to quickly receive payments affected their ability to grow the company at a fast rate. Time management was one of their largest challenges. The software pays for itself many times over in the time it saved them and the work it provides on their behalf.

Kathleen Shannon stated that she has been using Freshbooks for 6 years, and she loves how the design, functionality, and platform has grown with her.

Roman Mars described Freshbooks as beautiful and really well-designed. In particular, the invoicing, ability to accept online payments, tracking of expenses could not be simpler, in his opinion.

Why FreshBooks

Freshbooks is specifically designed and built for self-employed professionals and service-based business owners who do not have the time to learn or re-learn accounting. Its ease of use and set of features are meant to give users more time to focus on their business, and get less hassle from their accounting systems. It now handles accounts payable, double entry accounting and general ledger processing.