Credit card payments take 1-2 business days to process, while bank transfers can take between 1-7 business days.⁵ Wave’s accounting software is double-entry, which your accountant will appreciate.¹ Its accounting software enables you to manage cash flow and makes your accountant’s life easier(see Wave Accounting alternatives). Let’s explore what Wave Accounting has to offer and compare it to other small business accounting solutions. On March 14, 2019, the company acquired Every, a Toronto-based fintech company that provides business accounts and debit cards to small businesses. This light, user-friendly software is ideal for accounting and information technology services organizations.
A beginner-friendly interface makes it easy to get used to managing the books. Wave makes it easy to track your organization’s cash flow. Spend more time on the cause, and less time on the books. Discover the best client onboarding software to streamline your process, enhance client experience, and boost efficiency. Get essential tips and steps for setting up your business finances. Discover the essential steps to set up your business finances.
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Xero offers hundreds of add-ons, but I prefer Wave’s options, which more closely relate to accounting. Its Standard edition ($20 per month) offers more features overall than Wave Pro. The $19-per-month Pro plan adds bank-feed automation, recurring billing and receipt capture. That said, Wave is not the platform for you if your business depends on features like mileage tracking or inventory-linked expenses.
You can also get 9 major currency account details for a one-off fee to receive overseas invoice payments like a local. This enables you to pay for the things you need only, rather than have an expensive suite of features you barely use. If you’re unsure, Xero offers a 30-day free trial before you have to commit to a paid plan.¹⁶
If you use Wave’s mobile apps (available for Android and iOS), you can snap a photo of a receipt. You can choose between sending a list of their outstanding invoices or their complete account activity. Most accounting applications guess at the correct category and allow you to change it. You can add customers and vendors, append a sales tax, specify a type (deposit or withdrawal), split the transaction among categories, upload a receipt, and write a note. It helps automate account reconciliation—which benefits from enhancements and simplifications compared with last year—so you can square away your balance in Wave with your bank and credit card statements.
Is Wave’s software something I need to install?
Send invoices to clients, get paid, and manage your books, all in one convenient platform. See our step-by-step guide on how to invite collaborators to your Wave account. “Great app for writing estimates and invoices. Our invoicing process would be lost without it!
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But it offers some features that Wave Starter doesn’t, such as automated payment reminders, bank reconciliation, mileage tracking, and sales receipts. It still supports most core accounting features, including bill management, customer payments, records (for customers, products, and vendors), sales forms (estimates, invoices, and statements), and reports. Offering both free and budget-friendly plans, Wave is a user-friendly, powerful, and mobile-ready accounting solution designed for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs.
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The receipts feature lets me scan receipts in-app, auto-populates the details, and syncs transactions bond instantly to my desktop.” Manage receipts, record payments, and reconcile accounts at your convenience. Wave is cloud-based, so you can update your accounting software anywhere, anytime. If you want access to extra features such as payroll processing, automated tax filing, payment support and coaching services, Wave can assist you.
It offers some extra features such as the tracking of billable hours, as well as financial health reports, partial payments and deposits.¹³ Xero is responsive and intuitive, with core accounting features in billing, invoicing, purchasing, and expense tracking. Users will not need an accounting background to learn Wave, which features in-app contextual guidance to explain common financial processes.
For small businesses who plan to scale, Xero can scale with you. That said, QuickBooks has a range of extra features, such as profitability projections, batch invoices, workflow automation and more.¹⁴ FreshBooks is another provider offering small businesses an invoicing solution. Alternatively, if you have a business bank account with Wave Money, you’ll also have access to the customer support team.⁹ Wave also offers bookkeeping, payroll and tax coaching and advisory services for an extra fee. Wave also offers a payroll solution, enabling you to file taxes and defining indemnity in the context of actual cash value calculations pay your employees or contractors via direct deposit.
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When your billing period ends, you will lose access to any functionality or features that require an active subscription, such as scanning new receipts and managing accounting transactions using Wave’s mobile app. Our double-entry accounting software is trusted by over 2 million small business owners.With Wave, you’ll also have an entire suite of money management features at your fingertips, including invoicing, payroll, and online payment processing. With features like bill and invoice reminders, bank connections, and a receipt scanning app, you can invest more time in making a difference and less in your nonprofit accounting software.
- Xero is responsive and intuitive, with core accounting features in billing, invoicing, purchasing, and expense tracking.
- Plus, view cash flow reports to keep an eye on income and expenses and make smart business decisions.
- Along the way, I took on reviews of other types of business and personal finance technology.
Wave Review: Highly Accessible and Affordable Accounting for Sole Proprietors
However, the free plan still offers unlimited invoices, bills, and bookkeeping records, making it a solid option for those with basic accounting needs. This includes many critical features, such as the ability to connect to bank accounts for importing (and categorizing) transactions, reconcile bank accounts, and send forms accrual vs deferral automatically through Wave. Wave’s payroll feature is best for very small businesses with just a few employees or contractors that want an easy way to run payroll. Wave’s mobile receipts feature lets you instantly input expenses into Wave.
- Significant improvements have been made since our last review, affecting account reconciliation, payroll, performance, and security.
- Wave makes it easy to invite additional users to your account to help with your accounting.
- Wave makes it easy for clients to pay directly from your invoices using credit cards, ACH transfers or Apple Pay.
- You can connect bank accounts and have their transactions automatically appear in your bookkeeping, avoiding the need for manual receipt entry.
- In eight years, we haven’t had a single unpaid invoice, thanks to how easy it is to create, send, and follow up.
You can effectively analyze the financial health of your business, find ways to generate more profit, and move forward with your business plan. Accounting software helps business owners understand how money flows in and out of their businesses. Wave has all the key features you need to keep your books accurate and run your business smoothly. You can grant access to a trusted individual—an accountant, bookkeeper, tax preparer, or business partner, for example—by inviting that person to be a collaborator.
Both solutions offer add-on modules for running payroll that incur an additional monthly fee. This platform also provides customers with basic financial reporting and automated payment reminders. We also found it cost-effective with unlimited income and expense transactions.
Whether you’re using your phone, desktop, or email, all your receipts stay in-sync—giving you peace of mind with every upload. Organize and access your receipt data digitally, in one place, and avoid tax season nightmares. Keep track of business-related expenses from anywhere with the app, and use our filters to easily find past transactions.
It offers automatic tax calculations, direct deposit and optional automated tax filings (availability varies by state). The payment usually posts to your account in one to two business days. Wave makes it easy for clients to pay directly from your invoices using credit cards, ACH transfers or Apple Pay. When I use Wave, I do miss a built-in time-tracking feature.
Overall, Wave is a smart, inexpensive choice for new companies that plan to stay relatively small. Because Wave is free software, it does not offer the intricate capabilities of a paid platform. Payroll for Tax Service States is $40 per month, and payroll for Self Service States is $20. However, you can choose one of two payroll packages for an additional monthly fee.
I am an ambassador of you guys – I always share your platform to my clients – be it business people or general people – I love your work and I am very very very glad that I came across Wave! It allocated them as COGS directly which means I need a JE every time I sell any of my goods. WAVE will cause immediate debiting the WAVE client’s account. Nevertheless, WAVE will expect the merchant (the business) to reimburse them, immediately. Should you need to upgrade to a more advanced solution, Wave makes it easy to migrate your data into another system.