When I was starting my business I started from a zero base. That is, no customers.
I needed an accounting system but I did not want to spend very much as I needed to protect my cash as much as I could. This is always wise no matter how early or late your business is in its maturity.
A friend of mine introduced me to Wave Accounting which she had been using for a number of years.
Wave Accounting Features
I took a look at Wave and decided that was the way I would go. It has many of the features of the accounting software packages that you pay for. Wave is funded by the transaction fees that are generated if you receive your payments via credit card, and the fees that they charge in association with that are very reasonable. They also provide some other paid services if you want them.
It is completely cloud based, you can run several businesses off the one login and it is easily configured. So, perfect for a small business such as my consultancy.
The Benefits Of Wave
It produces very professional looking invoices for your customers and has a mobile invoicing app for on your smartphone which I really like. It even sends you an alert when customers view the invoices that you have sent them.
You can scan and email your receipts to your wave instance and then when it appears in the app you then code the invoices. Alternatively, there’s a smartphone app that allows you to scan the receipt and then code it from your phone.
The system allows you to enter and manage your accounts payable and tells you if accounts receivable and Payable are overdue. It will send reminders to your customers if they have not paid within the required timeframe.
When setting up Wave, you need to load the New Zealand GST rate into it. You also need to take care when entering Supplier invoices (Bills) to ensure the GST is reflected correctly.
Reporting And Add Ons In Wave
Reporting in Wave is clear and simple in relation to Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, and GST (or Sales Tax as the app calls it).
What it does not have is an inventory system, fixed asset system, or allow you to load budgets in the system to report against.
What many companies do in relation to the fixed asset system is run a spreadsheet and record the depreciation each month by entering a journal that captures it.
Wave has a great add on in Google Sheets that allows you to easily export the reports to Google sheets. I use this to then do my reporting against budgets.
Recommendation For Wave Accounting
All in all I am very pleased that I choose Wave Accounting. You could not get better value for no money.
If you need guidance with your Wave accounting or would like assistance in its setup and reporting, Biz Assist would be only too pleased to assist. Enquiries can be made via www.bizassist.nz .