Oct 15,2019 • Filed to: Business Tips • Proven solutions
It can be difficult to keep on top of busy accounting tasks if you lose track of your payments. That’s why, in today’s business environment, more and more businesses have embraced digital accounting software to make their lives easier. For businesses looking to manage their finances, there are a wealth of accounting software packages on the market to make this task easy and cost-effective. Given the variety of packages on the market it’s important to do your research to find the right software for your business. Below, we take a look at the best accounting software for Mac (including macOS 10.15 Catalina). for small and medium business.
AccountEdge Pro Powerful small business accounting software for the Mac and Windows desktop user. There are an array of Mac-compatible cloud bookkeeping and accounting software products available suitable for small business use, most guaranteeing users the same full features and intuitiveness as the PC versions.
Best 5 Accounting Software for Mac
1. FreshBooks
For small and medium sized businesses or personal users that are seeking a seamless solution for their payment, invoicing and payroll management needs, FreshBooks is one of the best and simplest solutions. This accounting software package is suitable both for on-premises accounting applications and cloud-based versions of business’s accounting functions. It has many web-based features including electronic payment, remote payroll facilitation, online banking and reconciliation, and mapping features. The versions from 2008 onwards also allow you to import data to Excel spreadsheets so you can generate custom reports more easily.
Pros:
Includes basic functions
Low Cost
Easy to use interface
Flexible with third party applications
Cons:
Lack of advanced business-specific features
Double entries and keying errors
File size issues
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2. FreeAgent
FreeAgent is a particularly handy software that enables SME’s to set up recurring invoices and automated reminders to keep on track of accounts ‘hands-free’. The expense tracking feature helps users to track their spending by taking pictures of their receipts and uploading them to FreeAgent so they can be automatically processed. This means that you don’t have to put in the legwork of processing receipts yourself. Likewise, near tax time, sole traders and limited company directors can submit tax returns in a single click. In addition, SMEs will benefit from the overhead view of their accounts and automatic bank feeds, enabling users to import bank transactions directly.
Pros:
Simple and effective dashboard system
Automated Receipt Processing
Fast one click tax returns
Real time view of cash flow
Cons:
Core functionality is limited
Inventory tracking is confusing
Doesn’t have the capacity to support larger businesses
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3. Xero
Xero is now a well-known name among Mac accounting software, due to its great interface and richness of functionalities. Functional on both PC as well as Mac, what makes it widely preferred is its ease of use. Xero doesn’t compromise on features even on the Mac version. A great thing about it is that there is no binding contract and the user can cancel their subscription at any time.
Pros:
Real-time account monitoring available on mobile
Multiple third-party apps included
Simple layout
Cons:
No way to add a digital signature
Can’t create new business documents
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4. ZohoBooks
The user interface makes it easy to send professional invoices to clients from day one, whether you’re on a desktop or iPhone. Automated banking allows you to connect Zoho to your bank account for a real-time update on your transactions. Organizations are able to track inventory in real-time. The Client Portal allows you to share recent transactions, accept bulk payments and process customer feedback. One particularly useful feature is the ability to attach expense receipts. Zoho Books allows you to capture all your receipts in one place (You can also take a picture of your receipts to upload them onto the system).
Pros:
Competitive price
Professional invoices are easy to send
Automated banking allows you to stay on top of your accounts
Cons:
Can’t complete a payroll
Receipts can feel disorganized
Can’t create PDF files
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5. WaveAccounting
With Wave Accounting, a free accounting software mac, users can create and send professional invoices and receipts. The invoice system is particularly quick, with most client invoices cleared within 2 days. Payroll enables business owners to pay their workforce easily, with direct deposits and online pay stubs to save you leg work. Whether payments are by the hour or by salary, payments can be made every week, every two weeks, or monthly.
Pros:
This accounting software mac is very cost effective
Solid invoicing, accounting, and receipt scanning features
Flexible Payroll features enable you to pay staff as you need
Cons:
Pay-as-you-go service can be an inconvenience
Advertisements are distracting
Limited customer service
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Unlock the Full Potential of Accounting Software for Mac
As Mac computers have evolved, they’ve solved many day-to-day business problems, reducing the time and resources needed to achieve business goals. This applies to your accounting problems as well. Accounting software for Mac computers has made business accounting much simpler and more effective. But while this software has resolved many problems it doesn’t come without limitations. Processes like transitioning from hard copy to digital documentation, or making work more flexible and collaborative are not issues that are easily solved.
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Offering a complete solution to fill the gaps in accounting processes, PDFelement is a valuable addition to your software inventory. All accounting documentation becomes flexible and open to collaboration with this simple, effective software program. Transform all file types into editable PDFs in minutes and collaborate on documents (commenting, annotating and redacting) all within one interface. Create fillable forms, combine multiple documents, and extract data for analysis. This will reduce the time needed to complete projects in-house and deal with external clients. PDFelement is your toolkit for complete accounting success.
Export data into an analysis-ready format
Manually extracting and exporting data has always been one of the biggest headaches for accountants. Hours and hours of valuable working time are wasted each year copying and analyzing data from paper forms, or manually inputting that data into digital programs. It also leads to mistakes due to human error. Leave this issue in the past with PDFelement which allows you to extract and export data at the click of a button.
To simplify the process following data extraction, all data can be exported as analysis-ready files for Excel so that that data can be further analyzed and worked into financial reporting. With full customization of data forms and batch exporting available, PDFelement massively reduces the resources needed when working with financial data.
Automatic form field recognition on PDFs
Filling out forms, and processing them, is a central part of accounting work. This is always a very time consuming task – manually printing, filling out and sending forms wastes hours of accounting effort. Most accounting programs for Mac haven’t been able to solve this problem, but using PDFelement alongside your accounting program will massively reduce the time spent working with forms in your accounting workflow.
Preserve industry-standard PDF files accurately
High documentation standards are required within the accounting industry. When creating, or converting other documents to PDF, PDFelement will ensure all files adhere to the International Standards Organization (ISO) standards for both PDF and PDF/A documents.
This means that all your documents can be saved, shared and sent across all platforms to any colleague or client with complete peace of mind. PDFelement makes this simple, efficient, and safe by ensuring that the highest standards are always maintained.
Create fillable and editable forms from scratch
PDFelement offers simple drag and drop functionality to create fillable, interactive forms from scratch. This is something that has traditionally taken a lot of time, effort and skill to complete.
The specific ‘form’ section in the program’s editing interface offers all the elements needed to create every type of form including creating form fields, tick boxes, buttons, combination boxes, and digital signature boxes. All the other editing and creation tools work effortlessly alongside the form creation features so you can create robust and user friendly forms for all your accounting requirements.
Secure confidential accounting files with password protection
Security is an ongoing issue with accounting documents that can cause major issues when mistakes are made. Controlling access to your accounting files is essential in the digital age and PDFelement, again, is the best solution for this problem.
Simply add passwords to encrypted files and manage and change multiple passwords all within the ‘Protect’ tab of PDFelement’s software. This offers complete control of your accounting documents and lets you limit who can open and view sensitive data in a manner that traditional accounting software for Mac cannot.
Protect specific, sensitive content with the redaction function
Document protection doesn’t always just mean restrictions over the whole document. Increasingly, different members of staff, or clients, need to view different content within the same file, and be restricted from others. PDFelement can help you solve this problem in minutes!
PDFelement’s ‘Protect’ tab also offers a simple tool to redact specific sections of a document, either with block redaction or redacting specific words throughout the whole document via an intuitive search function.
Several different redacted files can be created within minutes.
Use OCR to create quality, editable, digital files from paper documents
Paperless working is a goal of most modern businesses, and accounting is no different. A paperless office can have a huge positive impact on the day to day success of an accounting department.
When wondering how to effectively convert thousands of paper documents into a digital format, many businesses have often found this a difficult issue to solve. Advanced Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a feature within PDFelement, detecting exact characters and letters on scanned documents and converting them to make the scanned files editable and searchable once they are saved to your systems. Thousands of hours can be saved when converting documents and managing all files will become easier with PDFelement.
If you are a Windows user, you can check out Top 5 Accounting Software for Windows. For those who are searching for online or cloud solution, please check out Online Accounting Software here.
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Some businesses prefer using Macs, and that shouldn't mean they receive worse accounting software. Thankfully, Xero offers a solution for those businesses.
The problem with many Mac accounting applications is that the programs are basically stripped-down versions of their Windows counterparts, so for this category, we looked for easy-to-use, full-featured accounting software that works equally well on PCs and Macs.
After much research and analysis, we recommend Xero as the best accounting software for Mac in 2019. Xero is web-based, so the software is the same across both platforms, and it has a comprehensive suite of features, making it suitable for most small businesses, including nonprofits. Additionally, its mobile app caters to Mac users, as it can be used on not only the iPhone and iPad but the Apple Watch as well.
Why Xero?
Pricing
If you have multiple users, Xero offers the best value for your money, as it supports an unlimited number of users for no extra cost. Also, most of its features are available on all of its plans, including inventory tracking, which is often only included in premium plans.
Xero has a 30-day free trial that allows you and your team to try out all its features before deciding if it's the right online accounting software for your business. Another nice thing about the trial is that it gives you the option of using a demo company, in case you'd rather not take the time to import your data before you try it out.
Unlike accounting software programs that base pricing on the number of users each plan supports, all of Xero's subscription plans support as many users as you wish to add, so as your business grows, you can add new employees to your account for no additional cost. All plans include most features – even estimates, inventory tracking and recurrent invoicing. The exceptions are multicurrency, expenses and projects, which are only included in the top plan.
Here's an overview of the subscription plans Xero offers:
The Early plan costs $9 per month. It's limited to five invoices and quotes, five bills, and 20 bank transactions.
The Growing plan costs $30 per month. It has unlimited invoices, bills and bank transactions.
The Established plan costs $60 per month. It also has unlimited invoices, bills and bank transactions, and it supports multiple currencies, which may be useful if you have an international clientele, and has expense management and project-tracking features.
There are no long-term contracts for Xero. You can change your plan to a cheaper or more expensive option to fit your business's needs without incurring additional costs. The ability to cancel your plan at any time without penalty means you won't be locked into a service for years, using software that doesn't meet your needs or that you don't like. There are also no setup fees or hidden costs.
Xero no longer provides payroll services with its mid- and top-tier plans, but instead recommends adding Gusto to your plan. Pricing starts at $39 per month, plus $6 per month per person.
Ease of Use
To find out if Xero is as easy as advertised, we tried the software ourselves by signing up for a business account. Registration was a breeze, and we were able to start using Xero right away.
The user interface is intuitive and gives you getting-started tasks that help you explore the software and use its core features. Plus, many pages have videos or guides that provide a quick tutorial on how to use that feature.
The dashboard uses simple dropdown menu navigation, so it's easy to add data, connect accounts, create reports, and find the tasks and information you're looking for. It displays key information with at-a-glance widgets that show you snapshots of bank balances, invoices owed, total cash in and out, outstanding bills, tasks, and more. One unique thing about Xero's dashboard is that these widgets are movable, so you can organize the display to your liking. You can also click on them to quickly navigate to certain parts of the software.
When looking for a small business software solution, it's important to find one with a good interface. Xero checks off that box. The software is highly usable, and the interface shouldn't confuse small businesses.
Xero Features
When we asked small business owners what the 'perfect' accounting software should do, the resounding answer was that it should save you time. Xero meets this requirement by automating processes, making accounting tasks as easy as possible to accomplish. In addition to standard accounting capabilities, here are some of the timesaving features Xero offers:
Invoicing: You can send electronic invoices, which your customers can pay online. If your business provides customers with quotes or estimates, you can convert them to invoices with just a few clicks. You can also schedule the system to automatically send recurring invoices and reminders so you don't waste time chasing payments.
Bank reconciliations: When you connect your bank accounts to the system, Xero automatically imports bank and credit card transactions. The software's smart reconciliation tool matches transactions and learns how to predict matches as you use this feature. You can also set it up to reconcile transactions in bulk based on rules, eliminating the need to individually categorize transactions.
Inventory: The software includes inventory management tools and can track items in real time, showing you how many products you have in stock when you're creating an estimate, quote or invoice. It can help you identify your bestselling and most profitable items, and you can create and email purchase orders directly from the software and then copy the data to generate bills for payment or invoices for customers. Integrations are available if you have advanced inventory management needs.
Mobile access: Using the Xero Accounting & Invoices app for iPhones and iPads, you can create and send quotes and invoices, attach documents to invoices, reconcile transactions, and get a real-time view of your cash flow. The iWatch version of the app shows you how many new transactions you have, your account balances, and whether your balances have gone up or down. Xero also has an app for capturing and submitting expenses, and another for tracking projects.
Customer Service
Xero offers free, 24/7 customer support by email or live chat. Outbound phone support is available if you have an issue that can't be resolved by chat or email. Its support teams are located around the world, so there's always someone available to help you, no matter what time zone you're in. The company prides itself on providing prompt responses; wait times are minimal.
We chatted with the company, posing as a small business looking for accounting software, and asked a long list of questions about Xero's capabilities. The representative we chatted with was helpful and knowledgeable. He answered our questions, offered links that could give us more information and encouraged us to take the software for a test drive.
Xero offers self-help options on its website, including a searchable database of step-by-step instructions, small business guides, video tutorials, podcasts, training opportunities and a blog. For example, if you're a QuickBooks user looking to switch to Xero, you can read an article with detailed instructions that walks you through the process, showing you how to import your QuickBooks data into Xero so you don't have to manually enter data and recreate customer accounts.
Overall, Xero offers exceptional customer service. The business's customer service representatives are prompt and friendly, and the company offers a wide assortment of resources to understand the software.
Other Benefits
In addition to its timesaving features, Xero has an impressive selection of tools that help you manage your finances and run your business.
Reporting: Xero takes the headache out of financial reports with a variety of reporting options, including a general ledger, aged receivables and payables, profit and loss, and a balance sheet. The reports are customizable so you can track the data that's most important to you. The software also includes budgeting tools.
Expense claims: With the Established plan, you can record, manage, claim and reimburse expenses. The software allows you to add billable expenses to invoices and attach receipt images, making it easy to pass on expenses to your customers. The Xero Expenses app can snap pictures of expenses, assign receipts to a customer, or project and submit expense claims.
Bill payments: The system allows you to schedule payments and to set up batch payments and recurring bills, helping you avoid past-due bills. When entering a new bill, you can start from scratch or save time by replicating and editing a previous bill.
Manage contacts: Xero's profiles show you contact details and activity history. For example, you can see a customer's sales history, including how much they've spent with you, if any invoices are open and their average remittance time. You can connect to Gmail to add email correspondence to the activity stream, and you can add contacts to groups, helping you create targeted email marketing campaigns.
Track projects: Included with the Established plan, the Projects feature allows you to track tasks, billable time and expenses, budgets, and payments to ensure the work you've done for clients is profitable. You can invite users to projects only or allow them to access other accounting features like invoicing. The Xero Projects mobile app can track time and job progress and create simple invoices.
Integrations: Xero offers extensive third-party integrations, connecting to more than 700 applications for small businesses, such as payment processors and POS systems, time trackers, CRM software, inventory management programs, payroll and HR, and e-commerce platforms. It has an API, so you can create custom integrations for it if you work with a developer.
Limitations
For Mac users, Xero is a tremendous option overall. As mentioned above, though, the Early plan is very limited, so even very small businesses will likely need to subscribe to the Growing plan.
If you want to customize the look of an invoice beyond adding your logo and changing the font, the process is more complex than it is in programs that give you a choice of premade templates.
Another drawback to Xero is that not all accountants use it. However, this is only an issue if you hire an outside accounting firm, as you may find your choices are more limited. To alleviate this issue, Xero provides a list of accountants who use its software on its website. The company also offers resources to help accountants export Xero data into QuickBooks, which is helpful if your accountant prefers that program.
Ready to choose your accounting software? Here's a breakdown of our complete coverage: