8 Best Online Bookkeeping Services

Small companies may use online accounting services to handle their bookkeeping, payroll, and tax requirements. We’ve done the legwork for you and discovered a mix of the eight finest virtual accounting services, whether you want to retain some control or outsource completely.

• QuickBooks Live is the best online accounting service overall.
• Bookkeeper.com is the best full-service virtual accounting company.
• Bench: Ideal for businesses that are behind on their accounting.
• Bookkeeper360 is the best option for businesses that use the Xero bookkeeping software.
• Merritt Bookkeeping is the most cost-effective option for small companies on a tight budget.
• Botkeeper: Outsourcing bookkeeping is best for accounting companies.
• Sunrise is the best free accounting software accessible.

QuickBooks Live

QuickBooks Live is an online bookkeeping service provided by QuickBooks Online, our pick for the finest small company accounting software. Its online accounting solution gives you access to a staff of specialized bookkeepers. QuickBooks Live is a simple add-on to your QuickBooks Online subscription.

Pricing

QuickBooks Live has three price levels based on the amount of money you spend on a monthly basis. The monthly cost of QuickBooks Live excludes the cost of a QuickBooks Online membership, which varies from $25 to $150 per month. To understand more about the software subscription alternatives, see our QuickBooks online comparison.

• Low volume: $200 per month for monthly expenditures of up to $25,000
• Medium volume: $400 per month for monthly expenditures ranging from $25,000 to $150,000
• High volume: $600 per month for monthly expenditures totaling more than $150,000

In addition to the monthly cost, you will be charged a one-time setup fee of $50 for your QuickBooks Online account.

Features

• Dedicated bookkeeper: A dedicated bookkeeper is given to you who is a qualified QuickBooks ProAdvisor with an average of 15 years of expertise.
• Customized setup: Your personal bookkeeper will develop a strategy to clean up any existing data, link your banks, and set up your chart of accounts.
• Monthly closes: Every month, your books are closed, and you get a PDF of your financial statements.
• Payroll: For a charge, QuickBooks provides full-service payroll.
• Real-time access: Because your bookkeeper works in your QuickBooks Online account, you can simply see your books in real-time by signing in.
• Your bookkeeper is not responsible for sending invoices, paying bills, managing inventory, or providing financial or tax advice.

Bookkeeper.com

Bookkeeper.com is more than simply a bookkeeping service. Many of the services you’d expect from a traditional accounting company, such as payroll, tax preparation, bill pay, and financial planning, are available via Bookkeeper.com. You may begin by signing up for their online accounting plan and then add other services as needed.

Pricing

• Small Business: Monthly fees start at $285 for up to 125 transactions.
• Starting at $495 a month for 125 to 250 transactions per month, Small Business Plus is a great option.
• Small Business Advanced: Custom price for transactions over 250 per month.

Features

• QuickBooks Online: The premier small company accounting software, QuickBooks Online, keeps track of your finances.
• Dedicated bookkeeper: Your bookkeeper is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor certified.
• Monthly financial statements: A Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss Statement, Statement of Cash Flows, and General Ledger are given to you each month.
• General business counseling, strategic planning, tax preparation, and software training are all included in your monthly cost.
• Your accounting software installation is included in your monthly cost.
• Payroll: We will handle all of your payroll transactions and submit all required returns on your behalf. All you have to do is supply employee information and hours worked for an extra charge.
• Tax return preparation: Bookkeeper.com provides personal and corporate tax return preparation for a charge.
• Bill payment: Once you provide your permission via the web portal, your invoices will be handled and paid (extra charge needed).

Bench

Bench is an excellent online accounting solution for small companies that have been behind on their bookkeeping for two or more years. Bench’s Essential plan offers a low-cost accounting alternative by concentrating nearly entirely on bank transactions, resulting in accurate cash-basis books needed for tax returns. With Bench’s historical bookkeeping, you’ll work with a genuine team of professionals to quickly get your books in order and assist you with IRS or bankruptcy issues.

Pricing

Bench offers two price options depending on whether you want tax guidance and filings as part of your accounting. If you pay yearly, you will get a discount.

• Monthly accounting and year-end financial statements are included in the $299 monthly fee.
• Premium: Adds unlimited tax assistance and an annual company tax return to your accounting plan for $499 per month.

For $299 per month, Bench will also help you catch up on your bookkeeping. Starting at $100 each month, you may add specific accounting services like monitoring invoices, bills, and segments.

Features

• Annual financial statements are given, and financial reports may be seen at any time on your computer or Apple device.
• Historical bookkeeping: For a charge, companies who are more than two years behind on their accounting, are dissolving, declaring bankruptcy, or are experiencing IRS issues may enroll in a special program.
• Dedicated bookkeeper: The bookkeeper allocated to your account is a full-time Bench employee, not a freelancer.
• The Premium package includes federal and state company tax filings, as well as individual taxes for sole owners.

Bookkeeper360

Bookkeeper360 is a great option for small companies that want to use the Xero accounting software. Bookkeeper360 supports both cash and accrual accounting, which covers complicated things like deferred revenue, accumulated expenditures, and inventory. The Bookkeeper360 app, which connects with your Xero account to offer unique insights into your company, is included in all levels.

Pricing

Bookkeeper360’s full-service bookkeeping solutions are priced differently based on whether you require cash or accrual accounting, as well as your monthly expenditures.

Features

• App: The desktop and mobile applications link to your Xero account and provide simple dashboards, scorecards, and analytics based on your Xero data.
• Dedicated bookkeeper: You will be given a dedicated bookkeeper who will learn everything there is to know about your company.
• Financial statements: Your profit and loss (P&L) statement and balance sheet are produced on a monthly basis; weekly preparation is available for an extra fee.
• Accrual basis accounting is a kind of accounting that incorporates sophisticated accounting features including deferred revenue, accrued expenditures, and inventory.
• CFO Advisory: For an extra charge, a professional accountant will offer services to your company that is comparable to those of a CFO.
• Payroll: Full-service payroll is offered for an extra charge and is completely integrated into your accounting.
• Tax Service: For an extra charge, tax professionals may file both individual and company taxes as well as offer tax planning.

Merritt Bookkeeping

Merritt Bookkeeping is an excellent choice for small companies on a budget. Merritt charges a fixed cost of $190 each month, regardless of the number of your expenditures. There are no surprises with Merritt Accounting, so you know precisely what your bookkeeping expenses are upfront.

Features

• While your bookkeeper will utilize QuickBooks Online, you will use a unique interface to indicate your adjustments, eliminating the need to enter QuickBooks Online.
• Financial reports: You will get monthly P&L statements through email.

Pilot

The services offered by Pilot are tailored to the requirements of venture-backed startups. Your burn rate is included in the monthly statements, so you and your investors always know where you are. They also provide eCommerce and professional service companies specialized services. Pilot offers a highly complete service that covers accrual accounting in all plans while being more costly than other online bookkeeping alternatives.

Pricing

All Pilot plans must be bought on a yearly basis and in advance. Users with monthly expenditures of less than $200,000 may select between the Core and Select plans. Standard industry ratios and monthly phone reviews are included in the Select package.

The Plus package offers comprehensive customization, invoicing, bill pay, and inventory monitoring, as well as unique pricing.

Features

• Dedicated bookkeeper: Your bookkeeper will get familiar with your company and its accounts.
• Monthly financial reports contain profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.
• Monthly reports contain industry-specific statements such as burn reports for startups and inventory management for eCommerce businesses, which are only available with the Select or Plus subscription.
• Accrual basis: All programs incorporate accrual basis accounting.
• Invoices: This feature needs the Plus subscription and will generate and send invoices to your clients.
• Pay bills: If you have the Plus plan, you may pay your bills straight via Pilot.
• Annual budgeting, continuous financial assistance, pitch evaluation, and fundraising tactics are among the CFO services available for an extra charge.
• Pilot may prepare your federal, state, and local tax returns as well as file your 1099s for an extra charge.

Botkeeper

Botkeeper automates the bulk of the bookkeeping process and produces a “pre-accounting solution” for its partner accounting companies using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Botkeeper removes the bulk of data input and provides books that have the majority of your customers’ accounting completed. To close out your client’s books, you and your team will evaluate the work and make adjustments. While the yearly platform price may seem to be high, Botkeeper may replace a team of bookkeepers and can soon pay for itself if you have the necessary customer base.

Pricing

Botkeeper’s price for accounting firms includes a platform charge as well as a per-client cost:

• Annual platform fee: $42,000
• Fee per client:
  • Starter: $948 per year for a maximum of $50,000 in monthly costs
  • Basic: $2,388 per year for monthly expenditures exceeding $50,000.

Features

• Integration: Transactions are automatically extracted by integrating banks, credit cards, and payroll suppliers.
• Humans use critical thinking to assist machines in categorizing expenditures, paying bills, invoicing, reconciling, and entering transactions.
• Synch: Transactions are transmitted into the customers’ books once they have been validated by humans.
• Reports: Dashboards and up-to-date financial reports provide information on client performance.

Sunrise

Sunrise by Lendio is a one-of-a-kind bookkeeping service. It is based on its own accounting software, which is available for free to do-it-yourselfers (DIYers). You may add online accounting to your account to assist with key aspects of your bookkeeping, such as account reconciliations and month-end closure, while you perform day-to-day activities like invoicing and paying payments. The program is free, and monthly accounting options begin at $149.

Pricing

• Self-Service: Software that is available for free and does not need any accounting help.
• $149 a month for up to 120 transactions if you sign up early.
• Monthly fee of $299 for up to 200 transactions
• $499 per month for up to 500 transactions for businesses.

Features

• Sunrise is a free program that can create personalized invoices, financial reporting, expenditure monitoring, and estimations.
• Access to accountants: Allow your freelance accountant access to your Sunrise account.
• Dedicated bookkeeper: At the conclusion of each month, your dedicated bookkeeper reconciles transactions with bank statements and closes your books.

What to Look for When Choosing an Online Bookkeeping Service

When choosing which virtual accounting service would best suit your requirements, there are many things to consider. First and foremost, think about the services you want your online accounting business to provide:

• Bank reconciliation: Good accounting requires you to reconcile the balances in your credit card and checking accounts to your bank statements, which any online bookkeeping service should do for you.
• Payroll is a fantastic place to start if you’re seeking to outsource part of your accounting. Payroll services should be offered by your online accounting service, or it should be integrated with a payroll service provider.
• Financial statements: A reputable accounting service will either print your financial statements for you or notify you when they are ready to be printed. Financial statements should be provided at least once a quarter, but ideally once a month.
• Invoicing: Sending timely invoices to your clients is critical to your cash flow. Although most online accounting systems will leave invoicing to you, it may be beneficial if the service keeps track of your overdue bills and notifies you of any potential issues.
• Invoices: The business is typically in charge of monitoring outstanding bills and providing payments when they are due. However, just as with invoices, it’s beneficial if your online bookkeeper notifies you of any issues.

There are a few additional factors to consider when selecting a virtual accounting service, in addition to the services offered:

• Dedicated bookkeeper: Just because your bookkeeper is online doesn’t mean they aren’t a genuine person who is familiar with and understands your company. Your online accounting service should assign you a personal bookkeeper with whom you may communicate at any time.
• Cost: Of course, price is essential, but consider the value given in terms of time saved and the usability of your financial statements. The cheapest accounting service isn’t necessarily the best choice.
• Access to your personal data: The days of looking at your financial accounts at the conclusion of an accounting month are long gone. Your financial data should be accessible at all times, even on your mobile device.
• Consider the accounting software used by the online bookkeeping service. It will be extremely simple to move your books to another bookkeeper if they utilize similar software, such as QuickBooks Online. Transferring your books may be more difficult if they utilize their own proprietary software.

Conclusion

Online accounting services alleviate some of the stress associated with running a small company. All of the services we looked at would import your bank and credit card transactions, classify them, and reconcile them against your bank account. Some companies may also send out invoices, pay bills, provide CFO advice, and prepare tax reports. I urge you to consider which services will be most beneficial to your company and free up your time to concentrate on what matters most to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much should a bookkeeper charge per hour?

A bookkeeper should charge a minimum of $10 per hour plus a percentage of their revenue.

What services do virtual bookkeepers provide?

Virtual bookkeepers provide a variety of services and features to help you manage your finances. They will be able to keep track of all your expenses, work with budgets, pay bills for you, do payrolls, and more.

How much does virtual bookkeeping cost?

The cost to purchase a virtual bookkeeping service is somewhere between $0.25 – $5/hour, depending on the type of services offered by your chosen company.