Five inexpensive or free software packages to help SOHO owners manage the accounting and finance aspects of their business.
Accounting and finance software are important types of computer programs for any SOHO (small office/home office). While many SOHO business owners take the do-it-yourself (DIY) route for managing business expenses and other bookkeeping tasks, good accounting software can make financial tasks a lot easier to deal with.
Many software companies offer excellent commercial accounting products, but if you’re working in a small office environment chances are you’ll find the software “features” are more than you need making financial tasks cumbersome.
The solution is to use SOHO accounting software which will have fewer complex options but still provide exactly what you need to manage financial tasks for your small business.
Recommended Reading: The following Webopedia term definitions will help you to better understand accounting, tax and financial software: accounting software, cloud computing accounting software , tax software and financial software.
5 Inexpensive Accounting and Finance Software Options
There are many small business accounting and finance software solutions as well as online hosted services to choose from. A SOHO package is designed to meet the unique needs of a SOHO business owner and some can even be downloaded or used online in a Web browser for free. Here are five good software suites to try.
1. GnuCash
GnuCash is a personal and small business financial accounting software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL. It’s designed to help you manage common and basic accounting tasks. with this program you can track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. GnuCash is available for GNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows systems.
2. Kashoo
A simple online accounting software application that SOHO business owners can use to track expenses, send invoices and create financial reports. Kashoo follows the rules of GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) and because it is cloud-based you can access your account from anywhere with an Internet connection. Other features of Kashoo include secure 256-bit SSL data encryption and an iPad app. The Kashoo Entrepreneur Edition is offered completely free.
3. Soho Essentials: Small Office Advantage
Soho Essentials is a business management solution offering mail merge, email marketing, checkbook recordkeeping and easy tax preparation and perfect Schedule C tax reports. Other useful business tasks that can be handled with Small Office Advantage include do-to lists, invoicing and purchase histories.
4. TurboCASH
An open source accounting package distributed under the terms of the General Public License (GPL). It is completely free to download. TurboCASH accounting software can be configured for any country and any small business and includes functions for debtors, creditors, general ledger, full stock control, VAT accounting, invoicing, bank reconciliation, trial balance, balance sheet and income statements and more. The TurboCASH download is a self-extracting .EXE file that runs on Windows PCs.
5. WinWeb Accounting Software
WinWeb applications are Web-based so you can access your financial information at any time with a Web browser and Internet connection. WinWeb offers apps to manage finances, view sales and expenses, create customized invoices, import contacts and make sure business records are aligned with the money in your bank account. WinWeb allows for multiple concurrent users and has no monthly limits that will affect how many transactions you can record.
Recommended Reading: SOHO Business Solutions: Office Productivity Software.
This article was originally published on April 18, 2012
