Someone asked this question before but not much lead. I have also tried googled but no much luck (lots in USA). Hope someone here can share….
Hubby has a really tiny business, so really after a simple system that can link to banks. Have done Excel all this while but was hoping there's one that can just download all bank transactions.
Live in hope… Thanks heaps!
Wow, thanks for this. You are Champion! Will certainly have a look at both.
I saw Manager before and thought they are US based (because of the mention of VAT). But I just checked they too have GST. So will check again.
Have a great day!
Just out of curiosity, don't you have security concerns when providing your internet banking passwords to some 3rd party software?
I use Wave Apps for my business and couldn't rate the service higher. Been using for over 2 years. Automatically downloads from all Australian banks and 'guesses' expense categories for each transaction. Does bank reconciliations well. And best of all it can hook up with Stripe so you can generate invoices and accept credit card payments (also all automated) and Stripe's rates are one of the lowest merchant fees. It sounds like I'm a rep but I'm not :) It's 100% free.
Back before I started with Wave Apps I looked into Xero et al, but there was heaps of crap I didn't need (depreciation schedules etc) and it was just overkill for the simple business I run. Good luck.
Thanks Pbg, will have a look later. Very nice sharing.
Just curious how you found them?
Also question on security-are you concerned?
I found them with just a google search - same as no doubt you have done recently. I didn't want to pay any money because my background is in chartered accounting so I could do it all myself with spreadsheets for free, plus I had access to MYOB (which is terrible!). I just couldn't justify paying money. So I searched around for free accounting packages. I was happy with offline package but the cloud format was a bonus. I tried out/downloaded maybe 5-6 different packages and there were a number of good free ones BUT as I said above there were either far too many complications that I just wouldn't use, or they weren't very user friendly. I tried out Wave Apps and it took a while to setup and get my head around (it's simple, yes, but at the end of the day it's still accounting software so isn't a total no-brainer). Things like customising invoices with your logo and layout can take some time to perfect and it's a bit trial-and-error. But now that it is all working I can invoice pretty quickly (quicker than typing a new invoice in Word) and it handles all the credit card payments automatically should my customers choose to pay via credit card.
In terms if security, I guess I'm pretty laid back. I'm not really concerned with my security/identity theft in general so I happily share my bank details with providers like this (obviously not with scammy-type websites). All of my business accounts have tokens which I need to enter everytime in Wave Apps if I want it to download transactions for me. If you were more concerned about security you could look into tokens on all your accounts? In my opinion, the massive time saving of having all transactions download and allocate automatically (no matter which accounting software you use) far outweighs the security risk factor. Each to their own though.
Wow, PBG, this is unbelievable. Another CA! I believe I have advanced level Excel and had been happy to use it for our one only investment property but I just have too many credit cards these days (thanks to OzB!) I will certainly look at WaveApps! As for security, I am very much the same as you: just dont want to get over-worried about it, and trust that our banking system is good enough to pick up dodgy stuff. After all, I dont go to dodgy websites and we bank with the major banks here.
Just as a matter of interest, have you tried others? Esp Pocketbook and Manager mentioned above? I downloaded Pocketbook and was really shocked+impressed with the speed.
Another CA
I understand there are heaps of us on OzBargain :)
have you tried others? Esp Pocketbook and Manager
I think I tried pocketbook but not manager. I can't really remember as it was a few years ago. I tried and handful and some lasted a minute and some a few days. Sorry I can't provide a useful comparison on these vs wave apps. Maybe google could help with a comparison?
When you do settle on a product please come back and let us all know. Maybe its time to switch my provider! Haha
@PBG:
Hi PBG, I have been playing with Wave for a while now and love all the features. The main concerns I have now is the date format and GST.
Pocketbook is a bit cumbersome in categorising. Too labourious. Unless I didnt know how to do it.
Can't remember what my date format is set to or if its changable (out at the moment so can't check).
But certainly I have GST working flawlessly, including all reporting etc. What is your GST concern?
@PBG:
On GST, say I paid $110 on credit card, when doing category, seems like I have to manually 'post' to a new GST account. I havent tried it yet, would love to hear your thoughts… eg any shortcuts?
@Pumpkin_rrr: In the business section on the transactions screen if you click the "more details" it drops down a section where you can input the tax code. Then it sorts out the 10% automatically and also allows you to do Sales Tax Reports which are effectively BAS returns.
The tax code section only appears in the business section, not in the personal section.
I hope that makes sense. Play around a bit more with products and the accounting settings (gear icon visible only in the business section) and you'll get more of an idea what is possible
I used cashbook complete if your needs are simple.
Thanks keggs, will look at it later.
Similar question:I'm amazed as to how you found them. Looks like my google is outdated :-((
Pocketbook does the majority of Australian banks.
http://www.getpocketbook.com
As for a wider invoicing & accounting software, Manager.io is free and is good IMO.
http://www.manager.io/