Any business owner needs to do proper accounting to ascertain that the business makes profits. In the past, business people kept paper records that would, often, be difficult to consolidate.
In the present day, the advancement in technology has eliminated the need for large paper files. Instead, small business owners can use free accounting software that is available online to manage all financial aspects of their business.
What is accounting software?
An accounting software assists bookkeepers and accountants in recording and reporting a firm’s financial transactions.
With recent technological trends, accounting software has become an invaluable resource for modern business. The software allows detailed tracking of financial transactions and near-instantaneous reporting and analysis.
Before accounting software, these tasks had to be performed by hand, using large transaction journals.
Manual reporting was generally impractical due to the labor involved in consolidating all the entries.
Accounting software automates these tasks, reducing the costs of accounting and allowing better financial decision-making through timely reporting.
Why you should use an accounting software
1. Accuracy
You can achieve increased accuracy by reducing or eliminating human errors in calculation. Manual bookkeeping processes involve making a lot of mathematical calculations by hand.
An incorrect calculation early on in the process could have a great impact on your end balance. Computers are virtually incapable of making such errors.
You can achieve speed and accuracy too without incurring more costs. This is the number one reason why you should start using accounting software.
2. Speed
The benefits that you get from the speed and efficiency of accounting software often go hand-in-hand with reduced overall cost.
The use of an accounting program allows each member of the accounting team to do more in a given time, which means that, overall, a smaller team is needed.
This, in turn, can reduce your accounting department’s payroll and administration costs.
3. Tax Filing
Filing your business taxes can be a complex process, requiring you to keep close track of all your business’s transactions.
Accounting software benefits include making this process easier by ensuring that all of your business’s financial details are in one place.
In addition, some companies like Intuit produce tax return software that integrates with their accounting programs.
This allows you to calculate your return itself semi-automatically, rather than spending time and resources working out the necessary details by hand.
4. Business Reports
You constantly need your invoices, transaction history, and details of your stock which are parts of your total business report.
It can be exhausting to sit down with papers and make the reports. The accounting system gets those reports ready for you on its own.
What should you look for in accounting software?
If you have a business, you need accounting software to record your income and expenses. Ideally, this is the first piece of software you should purchase when you start the business.
However, most business owners get one only when they need to pay taxes or apply for loans.
So, how to choose the right accounting software for your business? This can get confusing as there are plenty of products available in the market today.
Let’s make your job easy by listing down some important filtering criteria that you should consider before you invest in an accounting system.
It is important to be careful in choosing which one to implement as there is no one-size-fits-all solution for your own business, hence get to know your own needs through business evaluation.
Here are some examples of things to keep in mind when choosing accounting software:
Features
With the help of an accountant, you should check whether the product’s features match your needs because software solutions are not created equal.
Overall Value
Take into account the software’s overall value based on its set of features and functionalities.
Scalability
Growth is one of any business goals; hence, factor in scaling to ensure the software will grow with you as your needs become more demanding.
User-friendly:
Take into consideration how long it will take to learn the software. Choosing one that’s user-friendly is essential to immediately implement the system.
Integrations
Maximizing what you can do in the software is achieved with a robust marketplace of integrations that will enhance the system’s functionality and core capabilities.
Still, confused about how to choose the right accounting software for your business? Read our article to learn some tips on how to choose the best accounting software that suits your business and fits your needs.
Let’s have a look at the top 10 free accounting software in Africa
1. Quickbooks
Quickbooks online accounting software
Quickbooks is the first choice for many African business owners as this American company has been marketing aggressively in the region.
Quickbooks is not restricted to a particular range of business models or industries. It is utilized by every kind of company imaginable. They’ve done well by releasing several versions of their software to the demands of the industry.
The primary market for Quickbooks desktops is business and professional services. Professional service companies and independent freelancers are increasingly using Quickbooks online.
Contractors, manufacturers and distributors, lawyers, and even retail and restaurant enterprises are among the target markets for Quickbooks Enterprise. This means that QuickBooks appears to be effective and useful in nearly every industry.
Pros: Pros of Quickbooks: Quickbooks offers a user-friendly interface, time-saving automation, robust reporting, third-party integrations, and excellent customer support.
Cons: It can be costly, has limited scalability, frequent updates, potential data security concerns, and a learning curve.
2. Zipbooks
Zipbooks has a modern interface and a variety of features that make accounting easy for the user. There are different tiers, but the starter tier is the only free option.
In the starter package, the user gets unlimited bookkeeping. You can use PayPal and credit cards for monetary transactions. The free option allows you to: Manage your accounts receivable.
Manage your accounts payable. Connect credit card and bank accounts You are only authorized to connect one credit card or a bank account for each user. If you want to connect more, you have to upgrade to the paid-for packages.
Pros
ZipBooks provides powerful and simple-to-use accounting software designed to help small businesses in Africa move to the next level.
ZipBooks free starter option includes unlimited invoicing, unlimited vendors and customers, unlimited bookkeeping, the ability to connect and manage one bank account, and a business health and invoice quality score.
Cons
ZipBooks falls short in three main areas: the number of users is limited to one, you can only connect one bank and credit card account, and you cannot run a statement of cash flows.
Two of these limitations can only be resolved by upgrading to a paid subscription.
3. SlickPie
SlickPie provides basic expense management for start-ups and small businesses in Africa.
This easy-to-use expense management software provides everything a small business will need for slick and timely accounting, including straightforward invoicing and detailed reports to help keep their business finances healthy.
Pros
The free version of this accounting software allows for unlimited automated receipt entries, 10 different companies on one account, and email support. It also allows you to create quotes and estimates that can easily become professional invoices.
SlickPie also allows you to connect your PayPal and Stripe accounts for free.
That means customers will be able to fulfill their invoices with card or PayPal payments onlineand you’ll simply have to pay the standard transaction fees that PayPal and Stripe charge.
Cons
Compared to its competitors, SlickPie falls short in two areas: accounts payable is a manual process and you cant run a statement of cash flows.
4. Akaunting
Pros
Akaunting offers many of the most necessary features that a small business accounting software should have.
Within this technology, you’ll be able to invoice, sync accounts, track expenses, set up recurring bills, manage customers, and manage vendors.
Cons
Akaunting is missing a double-entry accounting system. Customers will need to pay an extra amount per year to install a separate double-entry accounting module.
Akaunting also does not automatically pull in data from bank and credit card accounts. Akaunting is also missing essential financial statements such as the balance sheet and statement of cash flows.
5. ProfitBooks
ProfitBooks creates a pretty welcoming environment for businesses to thrive. What’s good about them is they’ve made it super user-friendly, so you don’t even need to hire an accountant. I mean, even if you’re clueless about accounting, you can handle it with ease.
Invoicing is good. They offer 25 invoices per month even on the FREE lifetime plan. The invoices are very professional yet simplistic to understand.
They’re not big on direct integrations with other platforms, but they’ve got a workaround using Excel to move data around if you ever need it. Profitbooks also has fantastic inventory management providing support for a well-maintained record of items. The inventory could also be secured by controlling its access.
One more thing that sets ProfitBooks apart is its simplicity.
They don’t overwhelm you with super complicated reports. Instead, they keep it focused on what matters. It helps you concentrate on the essentials, which later leads to a more solid and non-negotiable analysis of crucial points, resulting in steady but significant growth.
They’re one of the very few accounting software providers worldwide that offer a lifetime FREE plan. It’s not some stripped-down version either; it’s quite valuable, especially for startups and small businesses.
Pros: The bank reconciliation feature is on point. The biggest pro would be the simplicity of the usage of the software and the very small learning curve. The best part is that it is 100% free to use for a lifetime.
Cons: The mobile app feels slightly chunky and can be improved. The software is not the best suited for integrations or automatic invoice generation.
6. ZohoBooks
Zoho Books is online accounting software that manages your finances, automates business workflows, and helps you work collectively across departments.
Zoho Books has been designed in such a way that it lets you connect with your bank, fetch feeds, and categorize transactions based on rules. Furthermore, you can automate complex business scenarios using custom functions and workflows to save time.
Pros
Right from negotiating deals to raising sales orders and invoicing, Zoho Books handles mundane accounting tasks so you can focus on your business.
Cons
Customer Support and the lack of detail in payments received. Also, Zoho doesn’t have an API integration with the system
7. FreshBooks
Freshbooks is a very popular cloud accounting app for small businesses in Africa.
It is used by about five million customers worldwide offering a wide range of features, from cloud-based invoicing to an online payment gateway. You’ll benefit from its robust reporting functionalities that offer insights for making more informed decisions.
Users can snap a picture of receipts or link to the bank for quick expense tracking. You can transfer your timesheet data to invoice and collect payments more quickly.
Pros
Excellent API, customer service, recurring billing & autopay functionality, and an easy-to-use interface.
Cons
Despite a wide range of excellent features, users have pointed out a few minor things that can be improved in FreshBooks: its metrics, goal setting, and reporting features can be better.
One user also found bugs in FreshBooks email click-throughs and automated expenses which did not function to his liking.
8. Xero
From expenses to capturing bills, projects, and payroll, Xero is made to keep your business moving.
Pros
Easy to use, easy to input data and there are often little popup boxes to explain what elements are. It’s cloud-managed, so there is no need to download any software or store anything locally.
Cons
- Some of the automatic accounts Xero suggests you reconcile to are not correct so it is important to double-check each transaction before reconciling.
- The way the contacts database has been developed could be improved to make importing and exporting data easier.
9. ZipBooks
ZipBooks provides you with a smart way to track all your transactions, keep on top of what you owe and who owes you, and figure out how much your business is making.
Pros
ZipBooks provides powerful and simple-to-use accounting software designed to help small businesses move to the next level.
ZipBooks free starter option includes unlimited invoicing, unlimited vendors and customers, unlimited bookkeeping, the ability to connect and manage one bank account, and a business health and invoice quality score.
Cons
ZipBooks falls short in three main areas: the number of users is limited to one, you can only connect one bank and credit card account, and you cannot run a statement of cash flows.
Two of these limitations can only be resolved by upgrading to a paid subscription.
10. GNU Cash
GnuCash is one of the best open-source accounting software that is 100% free. It offers simplicity, flexibility, and amazing features such as handling multiple currencies and some payroll features.
The application is available on Android, Linux, OpenBSD, Windows, GNU, and macOS devices. Some of the other features are managing accounts payable and receivable and managing employee expenses.
Pros
GnuCash is good free accounting software for businesses that want open-source accounting software that you can customize to meet your needs.
For example, if you need a report that is not in the list of report options, you can build it from scratch in GnuCash because a programmer or developer can change the code behind the scenes.
Cons
First, you can only have one person in the file at a time. Second, your bank and credit card information will not automatically download into GnuCash.
Instead, you have to obtain the file from your financial institution and then import the data into GnuCash.
Conclusion
We hope you learn something of value from this article listing the best accounting software used in Africa.
Most SMBs from Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Mozambique, and many other countries prefer using cloud accounting software which does not require any installation.
ProfitBooks cloud accounting software is just the solution to this problem and the #1 choice for many African businesses. Our powerful bookkeeping system allows you to track all expenditures in one place.
Get your 100% FREE account now!
