Thursday, August 14, 2014
New Breed of Small Business Accounting Apps: 5 Spreadsheet Killers in the Cloud / a few accounting apps on the market stand out as strong alternatives to QuickBooks or humdrum Excel spreadsheets.
GettApp for Business2Community writes: If you’re like some small businesses, you may be under the wrong impression about the tools to maintain and close your books. You might think you have only two choices: spreadsheets or QuickBooks. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
You now have access to an ever-expanding field of cloud-based accounting apps. More importantly, a few accounting apps on the market stand out as strong alternatives to QuickBooks or humdrum Excel spreadsheets.
That’s what we’re covering in this article. But rather than looking at idle clones of older software tools, we’re discussing accounting apps that offer new and exciting features, integrations and forward-thinking pricing models.
Let’s dive right in and look at five spreadsheet killers from the cloud!
Xero
Xero is a cloud-based accounting app that’s made quite a name for itself since its inception in 2006.
Related Resources from B2C
Xero is made with mobile-friendliness in mind, allowing you to keep track of your income and expenses no matter where you go. The app’s simple interface allows you to see your current balances at-a-glance, as well as peek at upcoming bills and outstanding invoices.
Xero makes reconciliation ultra simple (in a way that will be very familiar for anyone who’s ever reconciled on paper – albeit, more simply).
Advantages of Xero:
- Accounting and payroll in one app (at one price)
- Unlimited users (your staff + accounting professionals)
- Simple, powerful interface
- 99.9% up-time
- Free 24/7 email support
- Integrates with more than 300 third-party business apps
- Xero starts at $9 per month and its pricing scales up alongside your growing company, based on the size and complexity of your accounting and payroll needs – not the number of users.
FreeAgent
FreeAgent is an accounting app especially for freelancers and small businesses.
FreeAgent is fully cloud-based, meaning there is nothing to install and you can access the app from anywhere with a mobile or Internet connection.
FreeAgent departs from the old notions of accounting in the digital space because it incorporates proposals and invoicing. Those tasks are of particular interest to freelancers and small businesses, and FreeAgent manages them with ease.
FreeAgent also sports a squeaky-clean, mobile-friendly interface (for iOS devices). What’s more compelling to us though is he heightened security offered by FreeAgent. Your data is routinely backed up to FreeAgent’s servers. FreeAgent even encrypts your data with 256-bit SSL encryption. That gives you peace of mind, when you file away your accounting data in the cloud with FreeAgent.
Advantages of FreeAgent:
- Invoices and proposals
- Tax estimates
- PayPal and GoCardless integrations
- Bank statement importantly
- Real-time cash flow and P&L statements
- FreeAgent offers straightforward pricing at $24 per month.
KashFlow
KashFlow focuses squarely on the UK market.
It’s also utterly simple to operate, with its developers boasting that no accounting knowledge is necessarily – no jargon, no no complex operations, and, best of all, no complicated formulas to remember.
KashFlow even makes VAT a snap – and that’s reason enough alone to give it a try.
The development team responsible for KashFlow have seen fit to cut it down to only those essential features for small business accountants.
Advantages of KashFlow:
- Payroll functions
- Automation features
- Third-party integrations
- Invoicing
- Proposals and estimates
KashFlow is very simple to use. It’s unique focus on the UK makes it a no-brainer if that’s your market.
Nutcache
Nutcache is a free invoicing and time management app. Why does it make our list of accounting apps? The reason is that some businesses are just that simple – all they need is invoicing and time management.
Nutcache boasts easy invoicing and time management. If you’re a one person show, you’ll be able to keep your sanity as you keep track of multiple projects.
Nutcache also allow you to track expenses. This helps you gauge the profitability of your business (or micro-business).
Nutcache is completely free, and the company places no limit on the number of invoices and transactions available to you.
Advantages of Nutcache:
- Easy to use
- Ideal for freelancers, small businesses, and micro-businesses
- Professional invoicing
- Simple data export
- Free!
Nutcache is the accounting app for the rest of us – and it proves that no task is too small.
Street Invoice
Street Invoice is a mobile accounting app that works on Android, Blackberry and Windows PC.
Street Invoice makes it easy to send professional-looking invoices to your customers, as well as capture signatures.
This is great for your mobile business, as you can use your smartphone to collect payments and capture signatures on-the-go.
Street Invoice’s mobile integration is very well implemented. The app even allows you send invoices via text message, email or chat.
On the other end of the Street Invoice spectrum, the app provides clean, professional reports of all your transactions.
Advantages of Street Invoice:
- Mobile invoicing and payments
- Estimates
- Cost tracking
- Mobile printing
- Ultra-secure cloud-based services
Street Invoice is super simple and highly mobile. If that’s what fits the bill at your business, you owe it to yourself to give Street Invoice a shot. A freemium version of Street Invoice is offered and paid subscriptions start at $4.99 per month.
Intuit Reaches New 1-Year High at $83.65 (INTU)
ABMIN Staff for American Banking & Marketing News writes: Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday , AnalystRatings.NETreports. The company
traded as high as $83.65 and last traded at $83.41, with a volume of 650,662 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $82.03.
traded as high as $83.65 and last traded at $83.41, with a volume of 650,662 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $82.03.
A number of research firms have recently commented on INTU. Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Intuit in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They now have a $84.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $77.00. Separately, analysts at Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of Intuit in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. They now have a $66.00 price target on the stock. Finally, analysts at Goldman Sachs raised their price target on shares of Intuit to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Intuit currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.21.
has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Intuit currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.21.
The stock’s 50-day moving average is $81.45 and its 200-day moving average is $77.88. The company has a market cap of $23.670 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18.
Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The company reported $3.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.50 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Intuit will post $3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
predict that Intuit will post $3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Intuit Inc (NASDAQ:INTU) is a provider of business and financial management solutions for small businesses, consumers, accounting professionals and financial institutions.
.Offsetting capital gains tax on sale of an asset?
Over @ Bogleheads we came across the following discussion: Offsetting
capital gains tax on sale of an asset?
by aguyyo » Tue Aug 12, 2014 11:59 am
I'm trying to sell a website I made. I understand the gain will be subject to short-term capital gains taxes because I only created the website a few months ago.
What expenses can I use to offset that capital gain? I can't deduct my time. I can deduct hosting and domain expenses. What about something like if I bought a desk so I could work more comfortably (I was previously just sitting on my couch with my laptop on my lap)?
Is there anything else I can do to minimize the tax burden (e.g. structure the deal a certain way)?
If it makes any difference, this isn't my full-time job, but web development has been an ongoing side project of mine for quite some time and I will continue to develop websites/apps heading into the future.
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Re: Offsetting capital gains tax on sale of an asset?
by pshonore » Tue Aug 12, 2014 2:18 pm
Sounds to me like you're running a business (creating websites). You have income from sale of a product ( a website) and expenses (equipment on which you develop websites, connection fees, software you purchased for web development, possible business use of home, etc. Your net profit is usually considered ordinary income reported on Sched C. Now if you bought or developed the website AND operated it and then sold it, possibly that might be considered business property and have different tax treatment. Tell us more
Posts: 2971
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 3:21 pm
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Re: Offsetting capital gains tax on sale of an asset?
by roymeo » Tue Aug 12, 2014 2:25 pm
This is a self-employment job this is not an investment. Long/Short Term Capital Gains do not apply here. Any of the various tax products should walk you through your profit/loss, deductions, etc. If you're making very much from this you also may need to file estimated taxes.
The sewer system is a form of welfare state. | -- "Libra", Don DeLillo
Posts: 972
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2007 8:19 pm
Location: SF, CA
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Re: Offsetting capital gains tax on sale of an asset?
by aguyyo » Wed Aug 13, 2014 9:35 am
I'm not making that much on this sale (just four figures). Short-term capital gains tax rate is the same as ordinary income tax rate so the distinction doesn't really matter.
The point of my question is which expenses can I reasonably deduct to lower the taxable income? Do they have to be related to that specific website, or since this is a side-business that I run, can I deduct other web development expenses I have?
For example, I'm selling website X. I also developed website Y & app Z, but they turned out to be nothing. Can I deduct the expenses of developing Y & Z against the income from the sale of X? They're all related via my general web/app development business.
What about physical materials? Buying a desk isn't directly related to web development, but I bought it because it enabled me to work more efficiently in the tiny space that is my studio apartment. How about if I buy a new computer? I'm looking to buy a Mac because Apple doesn't let you code iOS apps on a PC.
Is there something I can read that explains the dos & don'ts?
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Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2014 12:51 pm
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Re: Offsetting capital gains tax on sale of an asset?
by pshonore » Wed Aug 13, 2014 10:47 am
The distinction DOES matter for tax purposes, believe me.
There are tons of books on Amazon relating to Small business and tax deductions. I recommend "Small Business Tax Deduction Secrets" by Stephen Nelson who often posts here as Seattlecpa. (Unfortunately I can no longer find the book on Amazon. He also has a website - http://www.stephenlnelson.com/
To briefly answer your question, all costs of developing a website(s) would be deductible as a business expense whether you sell them or not. Of course if you don't make a profit on a regular basis, the IRS may decide its a hobby and not a business and disallow your deductions. Some expenses (web connect fees, contract labor) are taken when you make the expenditure. Other, like office furniture and software (just to name a few) should be depreciated over the useful life of the asset. The IRS had guidelines on all this stuff in their various publications.
UK : Smartphones: An accountant’s guide
John Stokdyk for AccountingWeb UK writes: When an AccountingWEB member recently wondered whether the time had come to replace his 10-year-old Nokia, he got a huge and surprising response. John Stokdyk summarises the resulting debate.
Aside from direct debt recovery, the most intense debate on AccountingWEB this summer was triggered by Marting’s Any Answers query at the end of July, Do I need a smartphone?
Martin relies mainly on a landline and for the past 10 years has kept a pay-as-you-go Nokia in the car for emergencies. The phone coverage in his area is still only 2G and though he only envisages using a mobile for calls and occasional texts, he is contemplating switching to a contract smartphone. His question was: “How many of you with smartphones use the extra functions regularly, especially if you are mostly home based - is it worth it?”
Welcome to the mobile revolution!
For Marting - and anyone else asking the same question - it really IS all about you. Dnicholson captured the essence of the underlying challenge: “If your current phone is 10 years old and you're asking the question, the answer has to be that you don't need one. Whether you could change your life and make use of one is a whole other question, but a much bigger one than you asked.”
Thanks to the miracle of miniaturisation, if the PC you’re using is more than a couple of years old, the smartphone you might get on typical deal is probably faster and packs more memory than your desktop or laptop.
But exchanging a 10-year-old Nokia for a superfast smartphone is a bit like going straight from a moped to a 900cc BMW motorcycle, as seems so popular among many 60+ men. Using a smartphone is a lot less physically dangerous, but will you be able to handle all that extra power? And more importantly, do you know where you want to go with it?
The answer boils down to your inner desires and technological habits. If you are comfortable with the bigger screens and physical keyboards attached to PCs and don’t need 24/7 access to the net, what’s the point of changing?
Yet smartphones offer unimaginable possibilities. You’ve got to be able to imagine them. As our community editor Rachael Power explained, “The tool is what you make it, that's the beauty of technology nowadays.”
A good smartphone could transform your working life - but as often happens with tech, changing one element may demand a major rethink about a lot of other aspects of your set up. The best 3G/4G coverage or long-term plan might be available from a different supplier than your current landline provider. Or the glitzy smartphone that everyone tells you to get will create incompatibilities and niggles with the software you work with on a daily basis.
Need a smartphone?
A sceptic’s view from Andrew Hyde - of course you need one, otherwise you will find yourself:
- actually listening to people you are having dinner with
- sleeping through the night instead of being woken up by the arrival of yet another unwanted message
- concentrating on the road when driving
- having to find other ways of annoying people on public transport
- thinking about things, instead of replying instantly to an email/text with a misspelt, rude, half-witted, ungrammatical, stream-of-consciousness, knee-jerk reply
- rejoining the human race
You’ve also got to have the aptitude, enthusiasm and commitment to make the investment in a smartphone worthwhile - and you may well need a bit of training and advice before you set off down that road. Fortunately, scores of AccountingWEB members were on hand to share their thoughts.
One of the biggest surprises about the summer smartphone debate on AccountingWEB was that the comments ran roughly 2:1 against getting a smartphone. Dnicholson nailed the practical point of view, while others fretted about the psychological impacts of smartphone use (see right) and the spectre of commercial brainwashing. Mikhael commented: “A lot of new gadgets are just variations on a theme, people trying to sell you something you don’t really need, and you feel stupid not buying into it... because everyone else seems to be.”
What do you need it for?
Apart from identifying whether you really want one and will know how to use it effectively, the next most important consideration is to work out what you might actually use the thing for. Paying £40 a month to make a few calls and send some texts does not make a sensible business case.
But what are the possibilities that might appeal to someone like Marting? AccountingWEB member AS painted a convincing picture: “If you regularly travel to clients… then a smartphone makes life very easy and, if properly set up, you have your emails, contacts, diary etc to hand, this data is backed up and amendments in one device get replicated elsewhere.”
Several sceptics in our smartphone debate confessed they owned one, including Old Greying Accountant who admitted, “The camera alone is the only reason I have kept the phone because it is invaluable as a portable scanner/copier to collect information when at a client.”
Several people including Stepurhan pointed out that you don’t actually need a smartphone if you do most of your job on a PC. But Happy liked the flexibility a handheld device brought to his working life: “I can take a day off or half day, go out, and no one knows I reply to emails on my phone just as if I'm in the office. Brilliant for school hols. It was also invaluable when my broadband was out of service earlier this week.”
However the always-available nature of the smartphone can be disruptive and distracting. Some seasoned accountants said that they liked using their smartphones, but hardly for making calls and withheld their mobile number from clients. And like children or pets, mobiles need regular feeding; managing battery life and keeping track of the device can bring a new layer of stress to your life. [snip] The article continues @ AccountingWeb, click here to continue reading....
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