We are often asked to list the best tools for startups to
use in accounting and finance. Until
fairly recently, the only useful tools were QuickBooks on one’s computer and
Excel. There are finally now some
resources that substantially improve the accounting function for startups. Below are the main ones:
Bill.com – Hands down the best way to manage your
vendors. And, the integration with
accounting systems is so great that it will dramatically decrease your
bookkeeping costs. In fact, we offer a
discount on our flat monthly bookkeeping rates when bill.com is used. Bill.com can also be used for invoicing
enterprise customers directly.
Stripe – A must-use for recurring bills to customers,
especially small ones. Works very well
for billing and tracking SaaS self serve and free customers.
Expensify – Expensify describes itself with the tagline
“Expense Reports that Don’t Suck”.
That’s pretty true. Expense
reporting needs to happen. This is a great
tool for them.
ZenPayroll - "Delightful payroll" is ZenPayroll's
tag line and if payroll can be delightful with any provider it is with
ZenPayroll. Easy onboarding, 'auto pilot' payroll runs, integration
with accounting systems, handling tax and other regulatory filings,
affordability and excellent customer support are just of few of the reasons
ZenPayroll is delightful.
Xero / QuickBooks Online – In the battle to move bookkeeping to the cloud, an excellent product from Xero prompts a revision from the incumbent Quickbooks. Both are great solutions and our heart is with the newer player, Xero.
Excel – Yes, we still use it. Excel’s functionality and flexibility makes
it a must have for our financial planning and analysis and financial
modeling. Google spreadsheets do work
for very simple analyses and for a high degree of collaborating, but they don’t
have the speed or functionality yet for advanced financial tasks.
Zenefits - Provides benfits and some HR support.
Bay Point Benefits - For potentially greater and more hands-on HR support.
Zenefits - Provides benfits and some HR support.
Bay Point Benefits - For potentially greater and more hands-on HR support.
