It has been my experience that most entrepreneurs are either really good salespeople or really good technicians. I don't typically run into entrepreneurs who are really good bookkeepers. Unfortunately good bookkeeping is an important part of running a business. I am in the business of helping folks out with their accounting, but I do want to share two really great and FREE online resources for entrepreneurs and small businesses when it comes to bookkeeping.
First is Outright. I have to admit I am somewhat evangelical about their product, I even blog for them on occasion because I think they have a great concept. It is free online bookkeeping, that is so simple to use you won't even know you are doing accounting. This is as close as I have seen to a perfect solution for sole proprietors and Schedule C business people. You enter income, you enter expenses and it creates a P&L for you. It will even estimate your taxes and prepare a 1099 at the end of the year if you use other contractors. The best part is it is free. They do have plans to expand the offering and possibly have some paid options in the future, but the basic service is free. You can even give me, your accountant, access to your records so I can help you out when needed.
Outright is simple and easy to use, but the price you pay is it won't do everything for every business. If your business grows beyond Outright, then you can graduate to Quickbooks Online. Intuit the purveyor of the most popular accounting package for small businesses has launched a free version of their product also. It is more complicated to use and will require more time and effort, but it is Quickbooks and can handle any number of forms of business entity. Plus when you outgrow the free version, it is easy to upgrade to a more advanced version and all your existing records will transfer with minimal effort.
If you are a sole proprietor, independent consultant or any other Schedule C business, check out Outright. When you outgrow Outright, check out Quickbooks. And let me know if you need help with either product, that's what I do.
Friday, July 10, 2009
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Great info on the virtual products. Our business is quickly moving toward virtual bookkeeping in order to gain more clients. I happen to be an entrepreneur and bookkeeper... most of my clients have continued using our services for more than three years. Those whose needs grew over 20 hours, we recruited employees to keep up their records.
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