To make evidence-based decisions for your business, you need financial reporting software to import and analyze your financial data and accounting statistics. However, financial reporting for a small business is very different from that for a large business, making it difficult to find the financial reporting software that best suits your needs.
To help you narrow your search, we’ve rounded up the best financial reporting software for businesses of all sizes.
Top accounting software compared
In addition to price, there are many other features to consider when choosing a financial reporting software platform. This chart summarizes some of the main things to look for:
starting price | Pre-built reports | Custom template | Free account forever | Free trial | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
fast books online | $30 per month | 60+ | Yes | No | Yes | Visit QuickBooks |
whole sage | Contact for quote | 150+ | Yes | No | No | Visit the Saint |
network suite | Contact for quote | Not yet disclosed | Yes | No | No | Visit NetSuite |
G | $15 per month | number 22 | Yes | No | Yes | Visit Xero |
Featured stories | $35 per month | 17+ | Yes | No | Yes | Visit Spotlight |
Zoho Books | $15 per month | twenty four | Yes | Yes | Yes | Visit Zoho |
QuickBooks Online: Best Overall Financial Reporting Software
QuickBooks is best known for its accounting and bookkeeping software, but it actually offers a very powerful financial reporting library as well. The entry-level Simple Start plan already comes with dozens of reports, and the Plus plan offers more than 60 different reports to choose from. QuickBooks also comes with many other advanced features, including time tracking and inventory management, depending on the plan you decide on.
Price
QuickBooks Online offers four different pricing tiers to choose from:
- QuickBooks Get started simply: Access is $30 per month for one user.
- QuickBooks Essentials: $60 per month for up to three users.
- QuickBooks Plus: $90 per month for up to 5 users.
- QuickBooks Premium: $200 per month for up to 25 users.
First-time QuickBooks customers can choose to explore QuickBooks by signing up for a 30-day free trial without committing to a plan. You can also skip the free trial and instead lock in 50% off your first three months, but you can’t choose both at the same time.
feature
- Includes automatic sales tax calculation.
- Bookkeeping automation reduces tedious manual work.
- Easily share your books and reports with your accountant.
- Use the mobile app to automatically track mileage for reimbursement.
advantage
- Over 60 financial reports to choose from.
- There are no limits on invoicing and billing per plan.
- Mobile receipt capture for every plan.
- Multiple pricing plans provide scalability as your business grows.
shortcoming
- More expensive than some competitors.
- Each pricing plan is limited to the number of users.
- Customer support is not well reviewed.
For more information, read our full QuickBooks Online review.
Sage Intacct: The most comprehensive report
Sage Intacct offers over 150 pre-built financial reports to choose from and the ability to generate custom reports. This comprehensive financial reporting software tracks financial and operational data and even allows you to combine data from multiple entities so you can view advanced data. You can also slice and dice data based on 10 pre-built dimensions, or define your own to get more granular data and enhance your financial reporting.
Price
Sage Intacct does not publicly disclose its pricing information. You must contact their sales team for a custom quote.
feature
- Create reports, charts, dashboards and visualizations.
- Multi-entity analysis of complex businesses.
- Smart general ledgers use artificial intelligence to scan for anomalies.
- Add user dimensions for more detailed reporting details.
advantage
- Designed for large, multi-entity enterprises.
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities help automate work.
- Choose from over 150 pre-built accounting and financial reports.
- Drag and drop dashboard creator.
shortcoming
- Pricing is not transparent.
- Due to the large number of features, the learning curve can be steep.
- Too complex for small businesses.
NetSuite: Best for Large Enterprises
NetSuite is a complete business software stack solution, including powerful financial reporting options. Because NetSuite is designed for large enterprises, it includes reporting capabilities to support their needs, such as consolidating financial, operational, and statistical data into a single report. You can also create customized versions of the same report to present to different audiences so that you can highlight different aspects of the same data set.
Price
NetSuite does not publicly disclose its pricing information. You must contact their sales team for a custom quote.
feature
- Create multiple versions of custom reports to display to different audiences.
- Combine financial, operational and statistical data into one report.
- Identify emerging trends with real-time analysis.
- Gain meaningful insights with industry-standard KPIs.
advantage
- Comprehensive, sophisticated financial reporting.
- Designed with business needs in mind.
- Many different integrations are available.
- Combine multiple types of data into one report.
shortcoming
- Pricing is not transparent.
- Higher learning curve.
- The interface can feel outdated compared to its competitors.
For more information, read the full NetSuite review.
Xero: Best for small businesses
If you’re a small business owner looking for simple financial reporting software, Xero is a great choice. The accounting software offers a limited selection of default report templates such as Profit and Loss Statement, Assets and Liabilities, and Budget Variances.
You can also create your own custom report templates and save them for later use to easily generate reports in the future. Xero also offers a good selection of other accounting features, such as invoice creation and expense management.
Price
Xero Accounting also offers three different pricing tiers to choose from:
- Early Xero: $15 per month.
- Heterogeneous growth: $42 per month.
- Cerro was established: $78 per month.
Xero also offers a 30-day free trial so that you can try the software before purchasing a paid plan.
feature
- Provides expense and mileage tracking.
- Inventory management is available on all pricing plans.
- Create quotes, send invoices and enter bills.
- Sync your bank accounts for automatic tracking and reconciliation.
advantage
- Unlimited number of users for all accounts.
- Affordable pricing plans.
- The learning curve for beginners is low.
- Easy to navigate interface.
shortcoming
- There isn’t as much financial reporting as some other competitors.
- You must upgrade to an established plan to gain access to many features.
- Invoices and billing are limited for earlier plans.
For more information, read the full Xero review.
Zoho Books: Best Automation
Zoho Books currently offers 24 accounting and financial reports to choose from, making it a strong contender for your choice of financial reporting software. Reports can be scheduled to be sent automatically at specific intervals, and you can configure role-based access to reports. Zoho Books also offers four ways to automate your work—workflows, webhooks, email alerts, and custom features—to reduce repetitive manual tasks.
Price
Zoho Books offers six different pricing plans that are billed per organization rather than per user. Basic pricing plans are:
- Free: Businesses with a turnover of less than $50,000 per calendar year are charged $0.
- standard: $15 per month per organization (billed annually), or $20 per month per organization (billed monthly).
- professional: $40 per month per organization (billed annually), or $50 per month per organization (billed monthly).
- High quality: $60 per month per organization (billed annually), or $70 per month per organization (billed monthly). This plan offers a 14-day free trial.
- Elite: $120 per month per organization (billed annually), or $150 per month per organization (billed monthly).
- final: $240 per month per organization (billed annually), or $275 per month per organization (billed monthly).
Zoho Books also offers the following add-ons:
- Other users: Annual billing is $2.50 per user per month, monthly billing is $3 per user per month.
- Advanced automatic scanning: 50 scans per month, billed annually for $8 per month, or $10 per scan, billed monthly.
feature
- Double-entry accounting software.
- Generate quotes, invoices and sales orders.
- Includes easy expense tracking.
- Client login allows them to manage payments easily.
advantage
- Six pricing plans offer excellent scalability.
- A variety of automation options are available.
- More affordable than many competitors.
- Free forever plan available.
shortcoming
- External integration is required to automatically calculate sales tax.
- Currently, Payroll Plus is only available in 21 states (although access is expanding).
- The free Invoicing and Inventory add-on must be set up for full functionality.
To find out more, read our full Zoho Books review.
Key Features of Financial Reporting Software
Pre-built reports
The best financial reporting software should already come with a library of complete common financial reports, such as profit and loss statements. These pre-built templates can generate new reports in just minutes.
Custom template
In addition to pre-built templates, financial reporting software should also allow you to create and save your own report templates. You should be able to build your own templates from scratch as well as edit and save existing templates.
data import
Financial reporting software should integrate with all your data sources, and most come with pre-built connectors to do this. The software should also give you the option to manually upload data via an Excel sheet or other file format.
Report export
Once the final report is ready, you should be able to share it in a variety of ways. The most common method is to download the PDF and email it to a colleague, but some financial reporting software also allows you to publish it to the web or present it online.
predict
In addition to generating reports for past data, the best financial reporting software can also create forecasts for the future based on data-driven trends. This helps your business make evidence-based decisions based on data.
How do I choose the best financial reporting software for my business?
To choose the best financial reporting software for your business, consider your needs and budget. Small businesses may be satisfied with a few basic reporting templates at lower prices, while enterprises are willing to pay more for advanced features like multi-entity reporting.
Make a list of your must-have features and prioritize them during your search. If you’re on a strict budget, you may have to be willing to compromise on some of these areas to keep costs low. Ask yourself whether the lower cost is worth skipping missing functionality or having to perform time-consuming manual workarounds.
When looking for the best financial reporting software, take advantage of free trials, free accounts, and free software demos. For demo calls, come prepared with specific questions and requirements so you can confirm that the software will integrate with the rest of your business software stack.
method
To choose the best ecommerce accounting software, we reviewed product documentation, demo videos, and user reviews. We evaluate products based on pricing, customer service, user interface design, and scalability. We also considered features such as report templates, data import, forecasting and integration.
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