7 Best Online Bookkeeping Services for Small Businesses

The software used by 1-800Accountant integrates with many of the top accounting software packages. It’s common for owners of small businesses to attempt bookkeeping on their own, but it’s easy for bookkeeping to become an afterthought until tax time approaches. Choosing the right bookkeeping services for your small business will also free up time for you to focus on your company, easing a lot of stress.

InDinero offers monthly, quarterly, and annual pricing but differs from the rest on our list because you have to talk to a salesperson to get an actual price. In the cleanup/setup phase, your bookkeeper helps you set up your chart of accounts, connects your banks, and teaches you the basics of QuickBooks. If you have information in QuickBooks already, your bookkeeper will help clean it up in the first month of service. In fact, you may find you rarely need to meet with your local bookkeeper in person.

Thankfully, online bookkeeping services have lowered the financial barrier to getting bookkeeping and tax-related help. Every business, from the biggest corporations to pre-revenue startups, benefits from bookkeeping. Up-to-date financials allow business owners to make informed digital bookkeeping services budgeting decisions, identify potential tax deductions, and have stress-free tax seasons. Bookkeeping creates financial statements, like your balance sheet and income statement, that hold key information about your cash flow, profitability, and business health.

  1. Ask your prospective virtual bookkeeping service if they have experience in your industry, and if so, how many clients they have in your industry.
  2. Its mobile app integrates with your Xero account to provide business insights, and there are also payroll, human resources (HR), taxes, back office, and CFO advisory services available.
  3. Or let a tax expert powered by TurboTax do your taxes for you, start to finish.
  4. While Bookkeeper360 is our best recommendation for Xero users, it also works well for QuickBooks Online users dissatisfied with the limited services of QuickBooks Live.
  5. If your monthly average is $50,001 or more, the monthly price for QuickBooks Live is $700.

The bookkeeper enters relevant data such as date, price, quantity and sales tax (if applicable). When this is done in the accounting software, the invoice is created, and a journal entry is made, debiting the cash or accounts receivable account while crediting the sales account. Many firms that charge a flat monthly fee also offer tax filing services for an extra fixed annual fee in the range of $750 to $900.

Why We Chose Wave Advisors

Depending on the service you choose, a bookkeeper can give you guidance or take the lead on your bookkeeping. Its pricing can be a bit confusing as there is a sliding scale based on not only the accounting basis but also the amount of monthly expenses and the frequency and type of services you need. If you’re seeking straightforward and affordable pricing, then Bench is a good option, although it has its own proprietary accounting software. Bookkeeper360 offers both accounting and cloud-based bookkeeping services and business advisory services. Bookkeeper360 is also the only provider in this guide that works with Xero.

Consider using one of the best bookkeeping services to make managing your books a breeze. Bookkeeping is the process of tracking income and expenses in your business. It lets you know how you’re doing with cash flow and how your business is doing overall. Staying on top of your bookkeeping is important so that you don’t have unexpected realizations about account balances and expenses. We’ve put together this guide to help you understand the basics of small business bookkeeping.

Learn their process for dealing with clients

It can be difficult to trust a virtual service with your books, and even harder to know which service to choose. To help ease the process, I’ll show you how I run my virtual bookkeeping service and explain what to look for in these services, so you can make the best decision possible. A small business can likely do all its own bookkeeping using accounting software.

Best for Full-service Bookkeeping

However, with Block Advisors, you’ll be assigned a dedicated bookkeeper who will provide access to video meetings, and there is also a phone number to call if you need support. While it lacks its own mobile app, you can use QuickBooks Online’s app to access your books. It’s ideal for businesses looking to outsource their bookkeeping with a full-service accounting firm. But if you’re looking for a dedicated mobile app that enables you to communicate with your accounting team and access your account from anywhere, then 1-800Accountant is a good option. It also lacks a couple of important bookkeeping features, including full-service payroll and paying bills.

For the vast majority of businesses, the job of bookkeeping is too small for a department but too much for the owner. Merritt Bookkeeping has the most competitive pricing on our list and is the only one to offer a flat rate for all types of businesses. Unfortunately, if flexibility is what you’re looking for, Merritt Bookkeeping may not be for you since you can only import data from QuickBooks Online. If you’re looking for something very cheap and simple and your business is in its very early stages, the affordability of Merritt Bookkeeping makes it a good choice. With Live Full-Service Bookkeeping, your dedicated bookkeeper will work with you to get to know your business, bring your past books up to date, and manage your bookkeeping for you, start to finish. Equivity offers a range of virtual services for businesses—from administrative assistants to paralegals.

However, it doesn’t offer sales tax return filing and chief financial officer (CFO) advice. We recommend Bookkeeper.com if you’re seeking both sales tax return filing and CFO advice. The best online bookkeeping for your business depends largely on your startup’s budget, bookkeeping needs, monthly expenses, and additional features you require. Our top recommendation for an online bookkeeping service for startups is 1-800Accountant.

Bookkeeper360 offers all three, so it’s a good solution if that is what you’re looking for. Xendoo offers a variety of financial services for startups and small businesses, including bookkeeping, tax preparation, and fractional CFO services. Additional features include bookkeeping advisory and software, financial reporting, accounting services, payroll services, and business entity formation.