Many businesses these days use Macs for work. These run smoothly and offer amazing features, and their battery life is excellent. One other perk of Mac for business is that it supports various programs used for business, including software for accounting.
Most software developers prioritize Windows and offer tools solely to users of this operating system because of their big number. However, there are some excellent accounting solutions specially created for Mac users, too. That being said, we bring you the most adept accounting tools handpicked because of their security, pricing, and features.
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Best Software Tools for Accounting on Mac
Accounting is a tricky business that requires a lot of accuracy and attention to detail. While you can do this manually, it usually takes a lot of time and can result in many errors. This is not something that businesses can afford. On top of that, if you do it all manually, you are putting yourself at risk of data loss. Your computer can get stolen, so you’ll lose all the data. Or, it can break down like in the cases described in this blog post and all your efforts so far will be in vain.
Accounting software can help you calculate, organize, and store everything securely so that you never lose data or make mistakes. Here are the best solutions for your Mac right now:
Xero
Xero is a cloud-based accounting software used by small and medium-sized businesses. It can keep track of all your business earnings and spending, and also provide you with financial insights for company growth. You can use it from any device with an Internet connection to keep track of your transactions, cash flow, and account data.
Thanks to Xero, businesses can successfully maintain their relationship with creditors and suppliers since it helps them keep track of all bill payments. This is a perfect solution if you are frequently paying those annoying late fees. The platform’s dashboard will organize all your payments and show you when a bill is due.
That’s not all. Xero is a preferred choice of many for tracking the profitability of businesses. In the dashboard, users can view all costs as they happen, make instant modifications, and solve payment problems before they get bigger.
Since Xero is cloud-based, you needn’t install any programs or download software. In the browser, you can get a picture of the finances of your business and features such as:
- Double-entry bookkeeping for your debit and credit transactions
- Financial reports that you can customize as you need them
- Expense tracking and bill payments in one spot
- One-click payments with the Pay Now button
- Project management tools that help you track the progress of different tasks
While it offers a tremendous number of perks, you should be prepared for a slightly steeper learning curve if you aren’t familiar with how these tools work.
Zoho Books
Next on our list is Zoho Books, a user-friendly software that’s simpler to master and use, making it perfect for small to medium-sized businesses. If you don’t have much experience in managing finances or accounting – or even filing your taxes, this tool is perfect for you.
Zoho Books allows users to track their expenses by uploading receipt pictures. It will automatically record all payments from the receipts, as well as made online and through your bank account. In the end, you’ll get a detailed expense chart. It offers the option to review transactions manually and categorize them for better organization.
Zoho Books has an invoice, project, and inventory management system. You can choose between a nice free plan or a paid plan with numerous features. However, keep in mind that this tool isn’t ideal for big businesses since it doesn’t support many users, and has fewer integration options compared to tools like Xero.
If you’ve been looking for a more affordable option, this is it. There are 5 subscription options that start at only $15 monthly. Keep in mind that, if you have more users and a medium-sized business, you’ll need the higher-level plans that support more invoices and offer advanced features like vendor portals, purchase approvals, and custom modules.
When using Zoho, you can customize invoices and send them directly, but also connect to payment gateways and allow your customers to pay for your services/ products online. The dashboard will clearly show you the highest expenses and total payables, sales, and receivables.
Patriot
The software Patriot was created using real inputs and data from business owners and accountants. It’s a tool that understands a company’s financing needs and offers them a plethora of features. For starters, you can use Patriot to manage unlimited vendors and log them in a centralized database. In this database, you can approve payments, track invoices, print paychecks, and check the automated history of transactions.
This tool makes it easy for businesses to be IRS-compliant. It will summarize all payments to contractors and help you track forms like 1099 and 1096, required by law for your taxes.
Patriot is a payroll software option for small to medium-sized businesses. The thing that makes it perfect for novices is its simple learning curve and easy setup process. Patriot offers unlimited payroll runs and works on the cloud, which means that you can manage it from more than one location.
While this tool cannot handle large businesses with many employees, it’s a popular choice with smaller companies that handle the payroll for up to 200 or 250 people. For the tax filing and deposit features, you’ll need to opt for the full-service plan, the more expensive of the two offered.
Patriot is cheap, to begin with, but it charges additional fees for some services. Its basic portfolio of features includes the most important ones in payroll software such as:
- Unlimited payroll runs
- Tax-filing services
- Paying employees and contractors (up to 250)
FreshBooks
Let’s say that you are managing a small business or working as a solopreneur – or a freelancer. If this is the case, you need a simple tool to help you keep track of your finances such as FreshBooks. This revenue and finance management software is designed specifically for this targeted audience. It will offer automatic transaction recording for your payments via bank or card.
The thing that makes Freshbooks ideal for small companies and startups is its numerous payment options including PayPal, direct bank deposits, and credit cards. It also allows you to set up recurring profiles for billing and send out payments automatically every month.
Intuit QuickBooks
Next on our list is Intuit, the QuickBooks web-based solution that will store your financial data on the cloud so you can access it from any place and at any time. You don’t have to download this tool to use it. You can photograph invoices and receipts and share them with stakeholders and third parties, as well as download and reconcile credit card transactions.
QuickBooks is a great choice for different businesses that want a solution that will allow them to track and manage their finances in a single place. It has 4 plans and numerous add-on services that offer higher functionality and scalability for growing companies.
QuickBooks is rich in features, which makes the learning curve a bit steeper, especially for the ones completely unfamiliar with accounting. However, the dashboard is intuitive and you can master it after a short time of using it.
The features of this software include:
- Record-keeping and comprehensive reporting
- Invoicing
- Inventory management
- Hundreds of integrations with third-party apps
- Live, in-house bookkeeping
Whenever you access the main dashboard of Intuit’s software, you can see your profits and losses, invoices, sales, and expenses. Quick Books will automatically download and categorize transactions with your connected bank and credit card accounts. On it, you can customize invoices, set up automatic tracking for your sales taxes, etc.
Bonsai
Bonsai is trending accounting software for Mac users such as small businesses and freelancers that want to streamline their financial processes. It is perfect for automation, tax preparation, as well as invoicing, and time tracking. Bonsai is designed to save you time and eliminate errors, which makes it perfect for managing different projects and tasks simultaneously.
Popular with freelancers in addition to companies, Bonsai is ideal if you take on multiple projects or juggle many creditors or suppliers at the same time. The tool helps users deal with all the admin work in no time, sends tons of time on research, and offers simple contract and invoicing features.
Until you make a decision or test it out, you can use the free limited version. However, keep in mind that only the paid plans offer the option to run more projects at the same time. The free plan comes with a single project at a time.
Some of the things you can do with Bonsai are:
- Create new proposals
- Track your working time
- Create and customize invoices
- Draft contracts
As you can see, this software is very different from the ones discussed above. This is because Bonsai is more focused on freelancers and entrepreneurs with small companies, and the others are more focused on businesses. If you are a freelancer or want to handle finances for smaller projects, this tool is a great option.
Free Agent
Free Agent is award-winning business financial software that is very popular with accountants and companies. Over 100,000 small business owners use it to streamline their finances. The tool offers features that will help you control costs, track time, conduct payroll, send invoices, track cash flow, etc.
Accounting is no longer a challenging task – or a costly investment with tools such as these. If you haven’t used one already, pick software from this list and give it a test run.