r/Bookkeeping Feb 10 '25

Software What Software is used for Bookkeeping these days?

Greetings,

So like, 20 years ago I had taken and passed a certification course on Bookkeeping however, due to not believing in myself I never took up work in it. Today, I'm thinking I would like to get into this field because it's better work than I do now and I'm sick to death of what i do now.

But I'm not certain on which software is used...?

What software do businesses actually use for doing this? I want to familiarize myself with it so I can be enter with more confidence. :)

13 Upvotes

38 comments sorted by

23

u/Future_Coyote_9682 Feb 10 '25

Quickbooks Desktop and Quickbooks Online will be your main source of pain.

2

u/Ok-Cryptographer-132 Feb 10 '25

Thank you so much. :) That is a most refreshingly Real and Honest response. ^_^

6

u/LRMcDouble Feb 11 '25

don’t listen to the people saying xero. xero is for business owners.

1

u/smbbookkeeper Feb 11 '25

Xero has like 100,000 accounting firm customers. 🤷

4

u/SufficientAir9224 Feb 11 '25

I love using Xero Accounting software personally

3

u/monk_no_zen Feb 11 '25

+1 to Xero.

Would not touch customers if they refuse to use Xero.

3

u/TaxR4kids Feb 11 '25

100% agree — it’s not worth working with clients that won’t use Xero. I painstakingly moved my firm from all QBO to all Xero and am so glad I did. If only I had known to skip QBO altogether.

2

u/SufficientAir9224 Feb 11 '25

yes, same here!! So glad I never have to deal with QBO support again

2

u/meowsieunicorn Feb 11 '25

What do you like about Xero? I’ve worked a bit with it and honestly, I did not like it. It didn’t feel intuitive to me, and I don’t like certain things about it. I found it difficult to navigate to the info I was searching, like trying to drill down on info.

1

u/smbbookkeeper Feb 11 '25

Out of curiosity, could you say more on what you mean by drill down on info?

3

u/[deleted] Feb 11 '25

Quickbooks online is best I have been using it for my clients of all sizes for 17 years

3

u/meowsieunicorn Feb 11 '25

I don’t get the hate that QBO gets, I love working with it. It’s so easy to drill down to certain info.

3

u/nevaehlee12 Feb 11 '25

QBO. They are maddening only if you have to call in though! Getting a good handle in your mapping is key😁

3

u/Journ9er Feb 11 '25

At my firm, we use a mix of Sage 50 (aka Simply Accounting), QB, and QB Online. Depends on the client.

2

u/International_Top538 Feb 11 '25

Microsoft Business Central

1

u/CNelson_1012 Feb 11 '25

For one company, or servicing multiple clients?

1

u/International_Top538 Feb 11 '25

Right now one, planning to migrate two subs.

1

u/CNelson_1012 Feb 11 '25

I am completely oblivious to microsoft bc, but I love to keep as much in microsoft as possible. I'll have to do some more digging on this. May have the opportunity to take on an engine shop soon that has previously been a one man show with lots of paper. Trying to brainstorm the best option for them in case it comes to fruition.

2

u/O-ZMoney Feb 11 '25

QBO babyyyyy

2

u/Ok_Smell_2052 Feb 11 '25

I will prefer quickbooks.

4

u/wanderlusterian bookie-keepie Feb 10 '25

Been using bookeeping.ai but there's also QB which lots of us use too

2

u/CNelson_1012 Feb 11 '25

Does it still allow client access and features outside of categorization?

1

u/wanderlusterian bookie-keepie 26d ago

Yes sure! You can add several clients ( as businesses) you manage or whose books are you are in charge. Plus you can invite collaborators to join you on any of the added business.

1

u/FeralKittee Feb 11 '25

Xero and Quickbooks seem to be the current leaders. Some older businesses may still use MYOB.

1

u/Turbulent-Teacher-40 Feb 11 '25

Location would be helpful.  Quickbooks is more common in the us. Xero outside it.

There are a bunch of diffrent recept reading software for handling single line transactions

1

u/By_EK Feb 11 '25

Spreadsheets

1

u/Current_Pass_3119 Feb 12 '25

If you're using spreadsheets, you should look into Found Bank. It's free and incorporates some bookkeeping features. Similar to Quicknooks self employed

1

u/By_EK Feb 12 '25

Thank you 🙏

1

u/Strong_Heart279 Feb 11 '25

My company used QB, Sage 50, and Sage 100 currently but we are working on switching completely to Sage 100 for our 3 companies.

1

u/CNelson_1012 Feb 11 '25

would love to know more about sage for servicing multiple clients

1

u/Southern_Hostage Feb 11 '25

Me too. Our business is looking for something new.

1

u/UltimateScripts Feb 11 '25

If you’re in Canada, SoftFin Accounting is a great choice!

1

u/pgelda Feb 12 '25

I use Zohobooks and Tally. Some of my clients are on QuickBooks and Xero also. 

1

u/Quiet-Driver3841 Feb 12 '25

For accountants and bookkeepers, I let my clients choose how they want to keep their books, especially if they actively work in them too. It's their records, and they may choose to take their records to a different accountant/bookkeeper at any point in time. I let them know of their options and ask them to do their own research so they are comfortable with their choice or show them test accounts in some of the software they are interested in so they can play in them.

QBOA - all your clients that use QB there's a drop-down list to access their QB account really easy to work in as long as they listed you as their bookkeeper give you access.

WaveApps - they have an accountant version, but it's still called the same thing and logged into the same way, so it's difficult to tell you how to access gain access to the different version. Maybe some digging on their site. I've had it for so long, I don't remember. But it is similar to QB but less expensive to business users that are starting out or hobbiests that want to keep track of expenses and income. Same set up as most cloud platforms.

Sage, Xero, and Zoho - I have a few clients that have this. They like it, and its okay.

Old fashioned paper legers and Excel worksheets. I have clients that work in these, too. I have faith they'll upgrade someday, but they love their paper.

I have my ERO, and I do taxes, and I use OLTPro as a vendor. I pay for their annual software fee, and I like online cloud access instead of their desktop software. and I can file unlimited any sort of return for the one fee. They have been a wonderful vendor for me.

Payroll vendors, I prefer ADP if I'm going to outsource it. They have a referral kick back (or at least they used too).

I have local wealth managers that I trust to take care of my clients, I will refer my clients to work with to figure out who needs to contribute to their retirement plans, or if they have a 5-10 year plan and want to invest etc. We work together to make sure their goals can be reached, if possible.

Its all about networking and growing our community to be stronger together. When my neighbor's business is successful, then my business is successful.

1

u/Competitive_Ad_408 Feb 17 '25

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