8 Best Online Bookkeeping Services of January 2024

Botkeeper is best for accounting firms that want to scale by automating bookkeeping tasks. Bookkeeping qualifications do not include formal certifications or licenses. However, certified professionals may enjoy advantages in the job market.

For pricing, we considered whether a service offers a free trial or a free version of its software as well as the affordability of its lowest and highest price tiers. FinancePal is best for small businesses that need bookkeeping assistance, including catch-up bookkeeping, entity formation and tax filing. Some bookkeepers pursue certified bookkeeper certifications offered by two national bookkeeping associations. The NACPB offers a certified bookkeeping professional (CPB) designation, and AIPB confers a certified bookkeeper (CB) license.

Company

Kelly Main is a Marketing Editor and Writer specializing in digital marketing, online advertising and web design and development. Before joining the team, she was a Content Producer at Fit Small Business where she served as an editor and strategist covering small business marketing online bookkeepers content. She is a former Google Tech Entrepreneur and she holds an MSc in International Marketing from Edinburgh Napier University. The Forbes Advisor Small Business team is committed to bringing you unbiased rankings and information with full editorial independence.

• Forbes Advisor analyzed 13 online bookkeeping services and considered 15 metrics such as price, features, customer service, ease of use, integrations and service level.
• A bookkeeper can also give you insight into your cash flow (and you can get started with instant insights with Nav’s Cash Flow Tool).
• Contact us today for a consultation, and let us chart the path to your financial success.
• Meritt is the top choice for online accounting software working with QuickBooks.
• The firm strives to coach business owners, instead of just doing their books.
• As your company grows and its expenses increase, your monthly fee will automatically increase.

At my company, one of the specific things we teach accountants and bookkeepers who want to run a virtual bookkeeping service is that they should specialize in a few industries. This is true of any bookkeeper — in person or virtual — that you would hire. It’s especially true of virtual bookkeepers, however, because this will determine if the apps they use to do business are relevant to and compatible with your business. The leading online bookkeeping services offer many levels of security. Its biggest drawback is that it only offers basic bookkeeping services, excluding bill payment and invoicing. The lack of access to tax and consulting services and financial advice is also a con.

Small & Medium Businesses

There is a lot of competition out there when starting a bookkeeping business, so you’ll need to focus your energy on advertising when you get started. As a freelance bookkeeper, you’ll spend a lot of time in meetings with your clients. Having a good quality video conferencing software in place will make meetings easier and avoid wasting time trying to get laggy streams working. Starting a bookkeeping business is all about building credibility so those first few clients trust you enough to handle their books. Although you don’t need formal training to be a bookkeeper, if you’re serious about making this a successful business, you should think about getting a bookkeeping qualification.

You can use its monthly financial reports to assist with filing taxes, and it provides a simplified issuance and electronic filing of 1099s for your contractors at an additional fee. There are three subscription plans available, depending on the services you need and the frequency. These are just starting prices, as they increase based on the number of monthly expenses. The cost of bookkeeping services can vary depending on the size of your business and the features you need.

Pro Small Business Accounting Software by Intuit

QuickBooks Live and Ignite Spot Accounting are two competitively priced services, where Decimal is substantially higher in cost for the same services. One thing that we found that separated QuickBooks Live from the competition was its accuracy guarantee. Some businesses will appreciate this guarantee that the service stands behind its work. Our dedicated team of bookkeepers is committed to the precise upkeep of your general ledger, ensuring that you receive an accurate and up-to-the-minute overview of your financial well-being.

Note that online job boards might not be as lucrative as working directly with clients. As soon as you get your bookkeeping certificate or degree, you can start looking for remote entry-level bookkeeping jobs or gigs. The American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers (AIPB) does give certifications to people who work for at least 2 years as a full-time bookkeeper or equivalent part-time hours. But if you are really tight on money, self-education is a good start. So far, Ben has trained over 6,000 bookkeepers since he launched the course in 2015.