Anyone use an online accounting package? Wave?

[2LittleMonkeysJumpingOnMyHead]

I'm considering switching from a big messy spreadsheet to something easier for this financial year. I'm happy to pay a small fee for something which works well and has great features like apps etc.
I'm a freelance trainer so no stick control stuff needed, just customers, invoices, expenses etc
I've been playing with Wave, which is free, but I'm not sure whether the odd little bugs I've encountered will be a deal breaker.
Has anyone got any recommendations?

Have a look at www.vtsoftware.co.uk. It's desktop based rather then cloud. There are two versions, a free cash book for just recording your in's and out's and keeping track of bank balances etc., or the paid version (just one off fee £125), which includes sales and purchase ledgers, so can be used for creating invoices and keeping track of monies owed etc. Very easy to use, flexible, and an ideal step up from spreadsheets. I've been using it for my book-keeping clients for many years and can't recommend it highly enough.

Alternatively, for a cloud based system, have a look at www.kashflow.co.uk which is a lot cheaper than freeagent (£5 or £10 per month depending on number of transactions), and is also easy to use, and includes sales and purchase ledgers.

Both these systems will handle VAT if appropriate.

Thank you. I really need a cloud based service as I'm used to working from all different computers and devices. Kashflow looks like a good one so I'll try a free trial of that one, I think.

I use zero, I think it's cloud based ...

Sigh! Xero!!!!

I use freeagent which is 20 pm for sole traders. I just started but it works well for me as a freelance copywriter.

I use kashflow and like it

www.crunch.co.uk/

This is a fantastic cloud based accounting system that I have used for past 4 years. Backed up with telephone support to your own allocated Accounting team, highly recommend you check them out.

I hadn't come across crunch, ill take a look at that one.

I've played with kashflow, but it doesn't let you scan in receipts like wave. Unless you pay for the add on which is £10pm!

I'm not sure but think wave is double entry, whereas I currently work on cash. Is this likely to be a problem?

Another vote for Xero here although I have to admit I am not currently using and I probably should be, however my excel spreadsheet works very well (my accountant said it is the best she has seen, go me!). My DH was talking about payments via Xero today - PDF invoice arrives, tap it, enter your details, tap again and it's paid. Hmmm, I really should be using it...

So far so good with Wave, here. My first invoices have been sent, paid and data entered without repeatedly typing thread stuff. I'm loving the receipt photographing and processing, too: I'm actually snapping them as I go along instead of gathering a huge stash!

I use Wave and I've never had a problem with it. I do also handle cash though and still do that via spreadsheets (which I combine with the Wave ones for electronic transfers), which is perhaps not the neatest way to do things! Someone told me though that HMRC still like to see physical receipts, not just copies, so whilst you might use the code for calculations, ensure you keep the originals too (hard lesson learned...)

Thanks for the info. I thought I read electronic was fine, I shall look into that...

A Google seems to suggest in most situations a scan is fine, but that backing up to keep for the required time is essential.
How did you learn the hard way that it was otherwise?

Sorry, sounds worse than it was. I learned that after throwing some of my receipts one tax year and then someone told me I couldn't use electronic copies. I could add though, I'm not an accountant. I do use the photographing receipts option though to carry out calculations automatically now, I just keep the physical receipts too, just in case.

HMRC are happy with electronic images of invoices etc. as long as they're in a WORM format (write once ready many) using a popular industry standard format, such as a pdf and properly filed/organised.

Most people fall foul because they just haphazardly put each "document" into random places on their computer using different types of file, i.e. some in word, some in excel, some as jpegs some as pdfs, and worse still, using random descriptions. Makes it incredibly hard for someone else to try to find what they're looking for, hence why some tax inspectors are unhappy and insist that you print them off yourself for them.

Others make the basic mistake of not backing up their data, and then either change their PC or it suffers a hard drive crash, meaning everything's lost!

The other topical problem is scanning into some kind of software. Unless you also scan to your own backup, you'll lose your scans if the software firm closes down (i.e. cloud) or if you stop your subscription. If a tax enquiry starts after you've stopped using that software, you may end up having to pay to resubscribe to get access, and worse case scenario, if you've stopped paying, they may have deleted your data!

So, feel free to use digital scans, but make sure you've got them well organised, in a constant format, files/directory sensibly named, and that you back up, back up and back up again!

After all, you wouldn't just "file" your paperwork in a disorganised manner in random places around the house, or just hand them all over to someone you don't know - that's a recipe for disaster, and exactly what you do with computer versions if you don't keep control and organise it properly!

That's good to know, Bunny, I'm much better at keeping everything organised electronically than when I'm working in paper format.

I'll still keep physical receipts as back-up though.

Thanks for the clarification, badbadbunny. Wave lets you export the receipts to a zip file. I'll check what format they are within that and set reminders for regular backups.