Have you heard of Wave accounting? This is accounting software that can help you manage your business with a variety of features aimed at small-scale businesses.
The most interesting thing is that this software is free, there is no subscription fee, which makes this software one of the most popular and one of the most searched accounting applications.
To manage a good and reliable business financial system, small-scale businesses or SMEs need support in the form of accounting software. This will make it easier to manage finances in your business.
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Wave accounting explained
Wave Accounting is a free online accounting software created by Wave Accounting Inc. This is a software company based in Toronto, Canada.
The wave accounting users now reach more than 1.7 million users spreading in 200 countries in the world.
Wave has recorded 236 million accounting transactions (both in the form of income and expenses), which value is equivalent to 80 million US dollars.
How to register an account wave accounting
Users only need to register with an email account, or can directly use a google account to signup.
To register you need an email address, or you can use your google account for a faster process.
In the next form, you will be faced with a table of contents which you need to fill in according to the question box.
You must fill in all the necessary data, for the next process, provide your name, business name, what does the business do, country, and business currency. Only two option for the country, you can try one United States or Canada.
After you fill out the form, the next step is to choose the service to be used, if you are not sure about your choice, you can choose not sure yet.
The third step is faced with options that you can choose the one that suits you best.
If all done, then click the button get started and if successful you can log in to the dashboard and access the menus available to manage your application.
Wave accounting pros
Small entrepreneurs who use wave accounting benefit from one of the reasons the pros are:
Easy to use
Wave is quite easy to use even if you’ve never studied accounting. For example, to record the expenses you incur in operating a business. You can use the Expenses feature, wherewith this feature you don’t need to make a double entry system journal like accountants do.
Saving time
By using Wave, you can cut the time to record transactions or create business financial reports manually. At the end of the month, all you have to do is extract financial reports directly from Wave. In addition, on the dashboard page, Wave made a financial summary for SMEs.
Free usages
You can use Wave at no cost because it is free, but you need internet access. Because this software is web-based.
You can use Wave features such as invoice creation, bookkeeping or journal recording, payments, etc. By using Wave, you can save the money if you previously allocated it to buy accounting software which is more expensive.
One Account, Multi Business
In one Wave account, you can make multiple books for your UKM. This feature is perfect for those of you who run several SMEs at once. For example, you run several online stores at once such as an online store for books, fashion, etc.
Unlimited Invoice
Another advantage of Wave is the Invoice feature. With this feature, you can design, create and send invoices directly to the customer’s email address. The number of invoices you can create with Wave is unlimited.
Wave accounting cons
However, Wave Accounting has several limitations or shortcomings, which are as follows:
Not completely free
To get all the features that Wave has such as the Payroll feature, Wave users have to pay several dollars for every 1 headcount or employee. In addition, a new Payroll feature is available for the United States and Canada.
Customer service support
For free Wave users, Wave users cannot communicate in real-time with Wave customer service. Even though Wave has completed the FAQ, webinars, forums, and contact support on its website, users sometimes still need support directly via chat or telephone. To get support from customer service you have to pay.
Advertisement
The free Wave user page features advertisements as another source of Wave income. This is Wave’s win-win solution where they create free software and work with advertisers to serve their ads to Wave users.
Internet speed
Internet data speeds are very supportive of using this wave accounting software, slow connections will face some problems due to difficulty downloading documents.
Wave accounting features
Even though Wave accounting is free, the features provided are very impressive and are not inferior to other paid accounting.
Currently, there have been changes by upgrading the appearance with the addition of the launchpad menu which makes it easier for users to navigate three options more quickly: Professional invoicing, better bookkeeping, and reliable payroll.
Wave accounting has excellent features, including:
- Invoicing: Easy to create and send invoices. You get automatic payment records when they are deposited with your bank. Also, send payment reminders for you.
- 256-bit encryption: The locked transmission code in Wave Accounting is extremely difficult for hackers to guess or breakthrough. This makes it very safe and you will never be able to solve it even if you have a bank or online shop.
- Secure Storage: Data that is owned by electronic servers and is physically protected.
- In plain and Simple English: there is a security card, code, password, random test, 24/7 monitoring, and much more. All data is safe and information that can be shared with authorized persons only.
- Read Only: Provides a read-only connection that allows you to link your credit card and bank accounts through the use of Wave accounting.
- Tracking of expenses and bill payments: keep track of where your money is direct, record bills when you receive, and make payments automatically.
- Personal Finance: Easy to track your personal and professional expenses in one central place.
- Offers more than 40 types of business profiles so you don’t have to manually configure confusing accounting details.
- Web-based application, So users can easily access it from anywhere.
- Easy to collaborate with accountants, bookkeepers, business partners, or others in real-time.
- Easy to use and easy to read with the Wave Accounting dashboard feature that tells you what you have to do today and shows your financial condition.
- Support for Foreign Currency.
- Automatic Backup: Provides hourly backups automatically.
Wave accounting cost
Using the wave is completely free, there is no cost to be charged even if only one cent. When comparing with other free software, wave accounting is the best.
It’s reasonable, this is the best free accounting software because there are no restrictions on the number of invoices, customers, and transactions.
Since the acquisition by H&R Block, the wave will be forever free for its users. Which is currently more than the number of users.
How wave make money?
If Wave accounting provides a free service, questions may arise. How does the wave get revenue to keep their service always free?
Citing from its official website, Wave earns money on financial services by offering payroll services in Canada and the US at very affordable prices.
Wave also receives earnings from services for faster payments by charging a competitive fee of 2.9% + 30 ¢ for processing most credit cards (at a fee of 3.4% + 30 ¢ for American Express), and 1% for bank payments ( if available).
Free plan cost
Free wave accounting services as follows: Unlimited invoicing, Unlimited estimates, Contact management, Expense tracking, Accounts payable, Basic inventory, and Reports.
Extra cost to use the whole platform
In general, using wave accounting is free, but a number of certain services will be charged a fee, the amount also varies depending on the selected country.
There are several services offered by Waves to support business users, especially those based in the United States and Canada.
Payroll
United States
- For the United States in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Waves handle payroll taxes, with a monthly fee of $ 35 and + $ 6 per active employee + $ 6 per independent contractor paid.
- Meanwhile, the other 36 states are subject to a $ 20 monthly base fee plus $ 6 per active employee and $ 6 per independent contractor paid. But Wave only makes payroll tax easy, and users have to write their own where waves play a role in providing information on how much money is needed for payroll.
Canada
For Canada in all regions, a fee of $ 20 monthly plus $ 6 per active employee and $ 6 per independent contractor paid. But this fee does not apply to Quebec.
Wave advisors
Your business may need guidance from an advisor, Wave provides a service for this. You can learn from a Waves mentor to guide you on accounting coaching, bookkeeping, or taxes.
Users can choose the packages offered by the wave that suits their needs, with detailed costs:
Monthly Accounting Coach costs $ 79 / month. One-Time Accounting Coach cost: $ 199. Bookkeeping costs: Starts at $ 129 / month and Tax Service costs: Starts at $ 129 / month.
Wave accounting inventory
The business owner needs to purchase different items to run his business. Inventory is all goods or items that are owned by a company for sale to its customers.
The most common definition Inventory refers to all goods, products, merchandise, and materials that a business has to sell on the market for a profit.
A newspaper seller uses a vehicle to deliver newspapers to customers, only newspapers will be considered as inventory. The vehicle used is an asset, not an inventory.
Inventory in the manufacturing industry
In the manufacturing business, inventory is not only in the form of final products that are produced and ready for sale, but also raw materials used in production and semi-finished goods in warehouses or on the factory floor.
For example, for a cake manufacturer, inventory would include packets of ready-to-sell cookies, stock of semi-finished cookies that have not been refrigerated or packaged, cookies set aside for quality checks, and raw materials such as sugar, milk, and flour.
Inventory in the service industry
In the service industry, because there is no physical stock exchange, inventory is largely intangible. So, service industry inventory mostly includes the steps involved before completing a sale.
For example, in a research consulting firm, an inventory consists of all the information gathered for a project. In the hotel industry, empty rooms become inventory for the owner.
How to track Inventory in wave
Wave accounting users can also create inventory accounts to track. This feature can be used for free with the necessary steps.
Login to wave account and enter dashboard, find Menu, and go to accounting tab. Then select chart of account. The page appears and find Inventory under the Asset tab and add a new account, and save your setting.
Wave accounting bookkeeper
Users who may be in business can make accounting and bookkeeping do their own thing. This will save costs, but take more time which may not be available for all businesses.
Wave accounting also has a feature to hire bookkeeping. You need a few steps to hire a bookkeeper.
Hiring accounting and bookkeeping will save you time, but you need to spend some money on it.
Making your own bookkeeping or renting a bookkeeper, respectively, has its advantages and disadvantages. You have your own judgment to decide.
Wave accounting category
To create a wave accounting category, users can access it via the dashboard and select “chart for account”. There are several categories available, you can create a category according to what you want. The category is Assets, Liabilities & Credit Cards, Income, Expenses and Equity.
Final thought
Wave accounting software is a useful application especially for small business people, or MSEs.
The features available are also very impressive even though the platform is free. Even the equivalent of a paid application.
Beginner users can learn because, with an easy user interface, Wave accounting can add to your experience and insight about bookkeeping.
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