University of San Agustin

General Luna St., 5000 Iloilo City, Philippines

www.usa.edu.ph
COLLEGE OF COMMERCE

AE 21/AE 21a - IT APPLICATION TOOLS FOR BUSINESS

Asynchronous Activity No. 01
Carmela B Clarito BS Accountancy 2C

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have been forced to adjust to new
ways of working, and those with accounting software have seen significant
advantages. However, even before the outbreak, accounting professionals already
had a positive stance toward the use of accounting software tools. According to
Fredman (2023), accounting software offers features for tracking the revenue and
expenses of a business, and the best small business accounting software has a wide
range of reports that allow businesses to analyze their financial health, manage taxes,
make sound financial decisions, and project for the future. Some of the most popular
accounting systems on the market used by various companies are the following
(Freedman, 2023):

✓ FreshBooks
FreshBooks is known for being the best software for invoicing. It allows you to
track the status of invoices so you know when the customers received their bills
and when their balances are due. It also facilitates online invoice payments, so
customers can make a payment directly from the invoice. FreshBooks dashboard
is simple to navigate, and it includes time and expense tracking, a project
management feature, and tools to create proposals that you can send to
prospective clients. It also has a double-entry accounting system that makes sure
you are organized and equipped for tax time. You may enable other users
access to some features and grant permission to specific people if you want
accountants to have access to your dashboard, reports, invoices, and expenses.

✓ Xero
Xero is the best software for tracking and paying bills. It is cloud-based, so you
won’t need to download any programs. It also offers professional double-entry
bookkeeping functionality, so your transactions will be entered as a debit as well
as a credit. Xero’s new Hubdoc service allows you to capture data from bills and
receipts, which will further reduce your workload by eliminating manual data
entry. It also lets the users share and access the latest data and check the cash
flow of the company in real-time. It has a dashboard to view bank balances,
bills, invoices, and expenses.

Email: cma@usa.edu.ph
 University of San Agustin
General Luna St., 5000 Iloilo City, Philippines
www.usa.edu.ph
COLLEGE OF COMMERCE

✓ Wave
Wave is a free accounting software that has the basic accounting features small
businesses need and can also be integrated with payroll software. It gives you
the ability to run financial reports, gives you access to unlimited accountant
connections and transactions, allows you to create and schedule recurring
invoices and payments, and allows you to set up automatic payment reminders
and syncing with your bank and credit card accounts. You can integrate
popular business apps at no additional cost.

✓ Plooto
It is known for automating accounts payable. Plooto's software includes smart
approval workflows and secure electronic payments, which reduce errors and
speed up the accounts payable process. Additionally, Plooto offers business
accounts payable and accounts receivable automation, which helps you
collect on past-due bills. With Plooto, the payment is automatically reconciled
once the customer makes a purchase. With the integrations, you may make
large quantities of payments, search records, approve payments, and pay
electronically or by check.

✓ QuickBooks
QuickBooks is known to be the best overall accounting software for small
businesses. It provides four plan options for small businesses, as well as a separate
option for self-employed users. Whether they are start-ups or existing firms, each
offers features that are appropriate for a variety of small businesses. The platform
is quite simple to set up and use, allowing you to get your accounting software
up and running on your own. If you require more support, Intuit provides access
to experienced bookkeepers and accountants who can assist you with
configuring the program in a way that is appropriate for your business.
Furthermore, QuickBooks Online allows you to design unique invoices and forms,
ensuring that your company's branding is constantly at the forefront of client-
facing interactions. The price is reasonable for the features and services
provided.

Email: cma@usa.edu.ph
 University of San Agustin
General Luna St., 5000 Iloilo City, Philippines
www.usa.edu.ph
COLLEGE OF COMMERCE

QUICKBOOKS

As mentioned, QuickBooks is an accounting software for small and medium-sized

businesses developed by Intuit, a US-based company. QuickBooks allows you to look at
and manage your purchases, sales, and expenses in one spot (Tuan, 2023).

Features and functionality included in QuickBooks (Tuan, 2022)

a. Reliable reports and accurate numbers

QuickBooks offers the following features to help businesses ensure accuracy and
minimize accounting errors:
✓ Invoice reminders, Report frameworks that fill in data automatically, Chart of
accounts which is a list of a company’s accounts and balances, support for
invoicing and taking payment from clients

Also, QuickBooks offers a wide range of reports including:

✓ Account list, Balance sheet comparison, Balance sheet, General ledger, Journal,
Profit and loss comparison, Profit and loss, Recent automatic transactions,
Recent transactions, Reconciliation reports, Recurring template list, Statement of
cash flows, Transaction detail by account, Transaction list by date, Transaction list
with splits, Trial balance
✓ In addition, you can create custom reports and management reports using the
three pre-made templates (sales performance, company overview, and
expense performance).

b. Usability
One of the top advantages of QuickBooks is that it is user-friendly and doesn't
require you to be a financial expert to utilize it. Even for beginners, QuickBooks is
simple to use and intuitive to browse. The dashboard is the first thing a user sees
when logging in, and it contains the most important information, including profit
and loss, expenses, bank accounts, invoices, sales, and tips. Users can access
sites including banking, sales, costs, workers, reports, taxes, accounting, apps,
tools, and dashboards via a menu on the left side of the screen.

c. Integrated financial management

QuickBooks integrates to a variety of third-party programs, allowing you to
enhance your accounting practice's capabilities and accelerate your workflow
and your clients' accounting processes. You can add apps for:
✓ Expenses management: Expencify, Receipt Bank, AutoEntry, Billing and Invoicing:
Chaser, Quotient, Time tracking: TSheets, eCommerce: Shopify

Email: cma@usa.edu.ph
 University of San Agustin
General Luna St., 5000 Iloilo City, Philippines
www.usa.edu.ph
COLLEGE OF COMMERCE

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/oidam/intuit/sbseg/en_us/quickbooks-
online/web/image/product/final-qbo-dashboard-laptop-SmB-product-qbo-us@2x.png

Email: cma@usa.edu.ph
 University of San Agustin
General Luna St., 5000 Iloilo City, Philippines
www.usa.edu.ph
COLLEGE OF COMMERCE

Accountants can sign up their small business clients to QuickBooks Online with special
pricing discounts for accountants.

QuickBooks Plans and Annual Pricing (Intuit, 2023)

✓ Simple Start
US$136.08 /year
✓ Essentials
US$204.12 /year
✓ Plus
US$287.28 /year

QuickBooks Advantages

• Installation
This online platform is particularly accessible because it can be used on any
device with a browser. For use, QuickBooks Desktop must be installed on a
specific device. QuickBooks Online does not require installation (Payline, 2023).
• Pricing
QuickBooks Online has different choices of price plans. The top version allows up
to 25 users. QuickBooks Desktop has one plan, and you will need to pay for each
additional user allowed to access the plan (Payline, 2023).
• User Interface (UI)
QuickBooks Online has an incredibly intuitive user interface. The program is a
modern and well-designed application that makes it easy for the user to find
what they need and make use of all the necessary functions without needing
any training (Payline, 2023).
• Quick access
The ability to utilize QuickBooks from a phone or tablet while on the go is an
additional great advantage. Your mobile device can be used to keep track of
spending, enter transactions, generate reports, and send clients invoices.
QuickBooks instantly syncs your data to the cloud and across all of your devices
(Tuan, 2023).
• Customizable
You may use a variety of options in QuickBooks Online to customize your reports.
You can select how you want to manage the financial data for your business
using the features, and you can click to quickly obtain the data you require
(Payline, 2023).

Email: cma@usa.edu.ph
 University of San Agustin
General Luna St., 5000 Iloilo City, Philippines
www.usa.edu.ph
COLLEGE OF COMMERCE

QuickBooks Disadvantages according to Payline (2023)

• Restoring Previous Versions

QuickBooks Online can't recover transactions from earlier versions of your books.
As a result, you are unable to restore an item that was unintentionally deleted or
return to one that was modified. The data must be manually entered by user.
• Cost
QuickBooks Online's free version includes a wide range of accounting tools.
However, you have to spend more money to gain access to additional features,
25 users, and add-ons. The highest plan is six times the price of the basic plan. It is
important to carefully examine all aspects that are crucial for your organization
in order to determine the cost. Customization, while fantastic, comes at a cost.
• Processing Payments
Payment methods accepted by QuickBooks Online include bank transfers, debit
cards, and credit cards. The charging system is an issue. For instance, the
transaction fee ranges from 2.4% for invoiced payment cards to 3.4% for swiped
payment cards.

References

Freedman, M. (2023). The Best Business Accounting Software Services of 2023. Business
News Daily. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7543-best-accounting-software.html

Tuan, J. (2023). Four benefits of using QuickBooks as your accounting software. Steelkiwi.
https://steelkiwi.com/blog/quickbooks-as-your-accounting-software/

Advantages & Disadvantages of QuickBooks Online. (2021).

https://paylinedata.com/blog/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-quickbook-online

QuickBooks online pricing | QuickBooks Philippines. (2023). QuickBooks Online.

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ph/pricing/

Email: cma@usa.edu.ph