QuickBooks Online being selected as our best pick for small businesses

 

What led to QuickBooks Online being selected as our best pick for small businesses is that even its basic plan has lots of features other vendors charge extra for, including professional invoicing and the ability to accept payments, track expenses, and manage your business's cash flow. QuickBooks' higher-priced plans include batch invoices; business analytics; a dedicated support team; on-demand online training; and integrations with Bill.com, Salesforce, and HubSpot. With all of QuickBooks' plans, you can snap photos of receipts and link expenses from your mobile device, integrate with several apps, and access customer support.

Another aspect of QuickBooks that makes it ideal for small businesses is the ability to connect with a live accountant. Cloud accounting software automates a lot of the tasks, but sometimes, you need the insight of an accounting professional. With QuickBooks's Live Bookkeeping service, you get access to a bookkeeper who sets up the software for you, categorizes transactions, reconciles accounts, closes books monthly and runs detailed reports. Another helpful feature with the service is Cleanup, which QuickBooks rolled out earlier this year. Customers can use the feature on a pay-per-use basis to reconcile historical accounts and categorize historical transactions. Pricing for the live bookkeeping service depends on your needs and requires an initial consultation (which is free) with a QuickBooks representative.

For small business owners who already have a trusted accountant, QuickBooks makes it easy (and free) for them to collaborate with you. The software enables you to invite an accountant who can work on your books for free. All the accountant needs to do is accept the invitation. You can remove access anytime.

QuickBooks offers small businesses of all sizes a full suite of features and functionality at affordable price points, but that's not the only reason we selected it as the best accounting software for small businesses. We also like its reputation and adoption rate. If you work with an accountant or accounting consultant, chances are, they are familiar with QuickBooks