Wave Accounting Software Review

Wave Accounting Software Review

wave accounting software review

You can add a customer or vendor, add sales tax, split the transaction between categories, and duplicate or delete the transaction. You can also classify transfers, process refunds, and earmark sales tax refunds. Wave’s deep, flexible transaction management tools are unmatched by any other accounting tool aimed at freelancers, and they rival QuickBooks Online’s in the small business accounting space. The site now has a traditional reconciliation tool that’s been enhanced for 2020, but freelancers may prefer to keep their accounts straight using the Transactions page alone.

It was the cheapest option, and the most user-friendly looking. I have no background in finance and didn’t want complex features built for accountants – Wave has those features, but only if you want them. Although QuickBooks Online is fairly user-friendly, it’s much easier to use if you have some basic accounting knowledge. You may find that this software has a bit of a learning curve. Receive guidance to set up your Wave account and go through the basics. Wave will calculate what you’ll owe in state and federal taxes, but you are required to file the paperwork and submit payment. 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for Visa, MasterCard and Discover payments.

Its all-in-one Android and iPhone apps replicate much of what you can do on the web-based version. wave accounting They’re free, very easy to use, and they offer two-way synchronization with your online data.

What happened to wave receipts?

Update, Jan 10, 2020: We’ve moved downloads for Wave Receipts for Android directly to Wave for the foreseeable future. … You can download a new copy directly from Wave. All of your data is in Wave, not the app, so when you login from your app, you can continue to upload apps to your account.

For larger businesses that need to use Wave for payroll processing and tax purposes, you need to consider the monthly plan. I simply create an invoice, customize a note to my customer, and hit send. Since my QuickBooks account is linked to my ACH bank, my clients pay, and the money is deposited directly into my account. To create and send invoices with Wave, you’ll choose from three templates, add your logo, customize colors to fit your business, and add customers and line items with just a few clicks. Once you’ve customized the invoice, you can save it as a draft and preview before sending to your customers. When we sent invoices, they were delivered promptly to customers’ inboxes.

Payment Solution For Your Business

One of the more helpful options is the Integrations tab, which allows you to easily connect with various apps that integrate with Wave. Wave product support is available by submitting a support request from the Wave website. For new Wave users, chat support is available for 60 days after purchase to help with any product setup issues. After the 60 days, chat support is only available for Payments and Payroll customers. Wave includes 12 reports that have limited customization capability, though they can be exported to a CSV file. Financial statements, a sales tax report, customer report, and an aged receivables report are also available, as is an aged payables report and account balances report. You can easily add a vendor bill to Wave and choose the currency that you wish to pay it in.

Many free plans are very limited, designed to upsell you on paid features. Wave Accounting, however, offers every single accounting feature for free. Not only are the features free, but they aren’t limited either.

  • This affected about 170 of our most active users and significantly disrupted their business operations.
  • When all is set, choose Simplify your payroll and click Authorize to allow Wave to pay your team directly from your bank account.
  • In February 2012, Wave officially launched Wave Payroll to the public in Canada, followed by the American release in November of the same year.
  • After deleting or archiving an invoice, customer or any other data entry, users can view deleted entries with a simple check of the View box.
  • Wave is a freemium accounting tool designed for freelancers and small businesses.

Since each mile is worth about 54 cents in tax deduction or mileage reimbursement to the IRS, it’s important to keep track! QuickBooks gives you the platform to make tracking these miles easy, and the data is logged accurately and automatically. Now that you’ve seen the pricing structure and had a sneak peek at what it looks like in action let’s talk features, of which there are many. This is where it can get confusing, so I’ll try to keep it simple by providing a scannable list, followed by a brief explanation. If you have more questions about specific features, QuickBooks’ website is filled with data, videos, and narrative to help explain their services.

Available Support

Wave is one of the best accounting software options out there, especially for freelancers and small businesses. The biggest advantage Wave has over its competitors is that it offers basic features for free, which other platforms charge for. The only services you pay for are payroll and credit card payments. Managing multiple streams of income and expenses can hard to monitor which is why I love QB’s income and expense tracking feature. It automatically imports transactions from bank and credit card accounts and will integrate other platforms like PayPal, Square, and more. You can sort these transactions automatically or customize your data.

What does a 10 99 mean?

10-99 = Wanted/stolen record.

Compared with free software like Wave, QuickBooks plans are expensive. The most basic plan, Simple Start, costs $25 a month, but the top-tier Advanced plan costs $180 a month, which is a sizable investment if you’re running a business on a tight budget. After providing a few basic details about your business — name, type, currency you use, address — you’ll have instant access to your free account. Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us.

Wave Accounting User Reviews

An expert in accounting, finance, and point of sale, Erica has been researching and writing about all things small-business since 2018. Erica’s insights into personal and business finance have been cited in numerous publications, including MSN, Real Simple, and Reader’s Digest. Wave and QuickBooks are both popular for small businesses, but they each stand alone with their unique offerings. When it comes down to Wave vs. QuickBooks, the right answer lies in the way you run your business.

She also regularly writes about travel, food, and books for various lifestyle publications. FreshBooks encourages phone calls as the first point of contact, and the customer hotlines are open from 8 a.m. For international users, there are toll-free numbers available in France, Australia, North America, United Kingdom, and Ireland. It also has an online help center, with a frequently asked questions section and articles. You can also sign up for a FreshBooks webinar free of charge, which will help you master the FreshBooks fundamentals. Both FreshBooks and Wave have easy-to-use, aesthetically pleasing user interfaces that are ideal for someone with little or no accounting experience.

FreshBooks’ user interface is aesthetically pleasing, intuitive, and easy-to-use, which makes it ideal for novice users or those who are new to accounting. For more information about its features, check out our FreshBooks review. You can also scan receipts when offline, so your account will never be out of sync; once you are online, the app will automatically update and add in that new receipt. My Tech Troop loves how you can project profitability, manage expense, and view unbilled versus billable time using this feature. They believe it helps them better manage their business, and keeps their daily resources adequately aligned. The QuickBooks Tax Deduction feature automatically sorts your business expenses into categories, helps track your mileage, and stores your receipts with a quick snap of a photo.

wave accounting software review

This powerful finance and accounting system won our Expert’s Choice Award for 2019 because it can manage and monitor invoices, then share them with customers. You can use Zoho Invoice to follow any transaction, and create and distribute invoices in various languages and currencies. It’s only objective is to support hard-working freelancers, entrepreneurs, and SMBs by offering a powerful invoicing platform absolutely free of cost. However, these features might not be enough for bigger businesses that need more than a simple money manager. If you need more powerful features — such as repeating bills, time tracking or more reporting templates — it’s worth a shot to look at Wave’s paid competitors. You can add a receipt through Wave’s iOS, Android or web app. Wave will process the uploaded receipts to extract information.

Create Your Free Wave Account

Wave Payroll is cheaper than many other paid payroll add-ons for competitors like QuickBooks, but still has its limitations. 4.7/5 rated mobile app that brings budgets, virtual cards, and more into a single app.

Before you contact Wave’s support team, it’s a good idea to check the community for similar issues if you want to get to your solution faster. The “dig deeper” section gives you the details of your transactions. The “trial balance” report gives you the overall balance of your accounts on a specific date.

wave accounting software review

In addition to packaging, pricing and available tools, we’ll be comparing Wave’s customer support and number of users to one of the most well known companies in the industry. Xero’s been around for a little under 10 years and have made quite a name for themselves as one of the most robust platforms available. They do moderately well when stacked up against some of the bigger accounting software companies.

The Best Credit Card Processing Companies For Small Business

The only caveat to this feature is you have to watch how QuickBooks categorizes each expense. It is usually correct, but sometimes the accounting software guesses and files it away incorrectly. It’s not a big deal, but something to keep in mind, especially during tax season. If you are a freelancer or marketer with no permanent staff or inventory, other accounting tools work just fine .

To add a new account, click Add a New Account at the top-right side of the screen. You can also browse through the tabs for a new account category you’d like to add and click Add a new account.

Despite these drawbacks, Wave is still the best free accounting software out there. Keep reading our in-depth Wave Accounting review to find out if it’s right for your business. A Preview option lets you see what the invoice will look like before you actually save and send it. You can toggle between desktop and mobile device views, which is a nice touch that I didn’t find elsewhere. If your Wave account is connected to a payment processor, customers receive information on the invoice about how to pay via credit card or e-check.

wave accounting software review

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BUT if you have a built-out team AND/OR sell physical products, Quickbooks starts to pay off BIG time. This is definitely not the right software for you if you’re a large business with advanced needs regarding inventory management. For more advanced tools that will serve larger product-based businesses, look to Zoho Books or QuickBooks Online. Wave allows you to add customer contact information manually or to import your list of contacts from Google Contacts and via CSV file. The customers’ names, phone numbers, saved forms of payment, and overdue balances will be displayed in a list view, allowing you to easily check if your customers owe your business anything. This review will walk through the features and services offered by Wave.

Wave also offers a thorough online Help Center with guides on setting up your account and completing common tasks, as well as video tutorials for accounting basics. You can also talk to other business owners about tips or questions you may have through the Community forum on Wave’s website. Wave accounting is simple and easy to use, with a user-friendly interface and intuitive design. Unlike some accounting software, you don’t need prior knowledge to get the most out of the system; you can easily navigate the platform and quickly learn as you go. There’s also the option to apply for Wave Payments to accept payments from your customers online and offers automatic transaction reconciliation for these payments. Although accounting and invoicing are separated into two different product sections on the Wave website , they don’t require separate accounts.

Can I View My Bill Online Instead Of Or In Addition To Receiving A Paper Bill?+

For this example, we’re going to output a PDF and we’ll include the name of our customer in the file name. Tim is a Certified QuickBooks Time Pro, QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and CPA with 25 years of experience.

Then click on the “View Previous Statements” button below the current statement. We recommend that you copy the PDF files to your hard drive for safe keeping.

Company’s Address

Easy invoicing on the go for freelancers, consultants, contractors and small business owners. (Not just a free trial.) Add optional credit card and bank payment processing to get paid even faster. Wave makes money from financial services that make running your business faster. We offer payroll services in Canada and the U.S. at a super affordable price. You can connect your bank account or credit card to track business transactions easily. You can also customize your dashboard from a range of options, including transactions, estimates, invoices, recurring invoices, bills, customers, vendors, products, or services.