A financial management software (FMS) connects, creates, reports, and stores various transactions related to cash flow throughout the business.
The primary purpose of any financial software for businesses is to count the money in circulation within the organization, affiliated vendors, and customers. It helps the treasurers and finance managers manage the to and fro movement of resources. Thus, businesses of any size need a basic accounting solution to report credit and debit transactions.
Below is the ultimate list of the best financial management tools for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs).
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Bonsai
Bonsai is an all-in-one business management solution becoming increasingly popular among small businesses. One of the most commonly used functions is financial management. It covers everything business owners need to manage their finances efficiently and achieve profitability goals: invoicing & payments, accounting, taxes, and even banking. With an intuitive and user-friendly dashboard, it is straightforward to use.
Using Bonsai, SMBs can easily track income and automatically categorize expenses to maximize write-offs resulting in bigger tax returns. It enables small business owners to get paid faster by creating professional invoices in seconds with global payments and automatic reminders.
In addition to financial management, Bonsai offers a complete client and project management solution. It includes contracts & e-signing, proposals, CRM, client forms, scheduling, time tracking, and many other features for running and growing a business successfully. Business owners can generate custom contracts and proposals from 1000+ templates in Bonsai’s library.
All of Bonsai’s features are integrated and automated, making it an all-in-one business process management platform that saves time and money because everything is accessible within one tool. With its growing popularity, Bonsai is one of the best options out there for keeping a pulse on your business finances and scaling your business in no time.
Workday
Workday is a renowned brand for business applications. One of its most subscribed tools is its finance management solution. SMBs use this tool to focus more on financial transaction analysis and planning than processing the transactions. Also, Workday updates its tools and functionalities more often so that your business can stay relevant in the market.
Furthermore, the Workday FMS tool employs state-of-the-art data processing technologies like machine learning, object data modelling, and in-memory computing for financial transaction anomaly detection. The tool can also provide intelligent and practical recommendations based on your business process and finances.
Hence, with the Workday finance system, you need to invest less time in managing the routing transactions and processes. You can invest time savings in business areas like marketing and sales to improve revenue collection.
Causal
Causal is a simple spreadsheet tool, just like Excel, without the complexities of Excel. Your accounting and finance team can use this tool to perform complex business finance calculations like scenario planning, data forecasting, and data modelling. Additionally, the tool allows for intuitive and interactive data visualizations in freeform texts, tables, and charts.
You can also integrate Causal with business data sources like accounting software, ERPs, and hosted databases. Doing so will allow your teams to pull data from these sources and incorporate live data or historical data in business reports.
Therefore, the product is appropriate for startups, not-for-profit organizations, cryptocurrency businesses, finance teams, and marketing teams.
Sage Intacct
Since 1999 Intacct has been the leading service provider that offered tailored cloud-based FMS tools for small and medium-sized businesses. Additionally, it has been the pioneer in amalgamating finance and accounting with cloud technology and bringing the FMS tools online, accessible from anywhere.
Moreover, it has been the preferred source for advanced financial applications for the AICPA or the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Sage acquired Intacct in 2017 and branded the FMS tool as Sage Intacct. It has become a vital part of the Sage Business Cloud. The new FMS comes with separate program cores like Core Financials, Advanced Functionality, Dashboards and reporting, and Billing to cater to all the needs of global SMBs.
Xero
Xero is an elaborate accounting tool that lets small and medium businesses enter bills, send quotes to clients, send invoices to customers, digitize receipts with Hubdoc, bulk reconcile transactions, etc.
However, you can also subscribe to their add-ons like Claim Expenses, Analytics, and Track projects to transform the accounting tool into a robust FMS. Furthermore, it offers you bonus built-in functionalities like project finance tracking, contact management, secure file storage, inventory management, etc.
Xero brings all the accounting and finance features to the table to enable SMBs to manage their business efficiently and achieve profitability goals. With its more than 20 features, the Xero dashboard will be in control of your business finances.
The dashboard brings cash flow statements, account balances, bank reconciliation, outstanding invoices, and specific business products in one place so that you can keep track of your company’s health.
Kissflow
Kissflow is not just another finance management solution. It is a unified tool that enables your finance team to do everything an ERP tool can’t deliver. For example:
- Give approvals to projects and procurements that follow the internal and external financial guidelines. With this rule-based system,
- You’ll never delay any legitimate procurement but always stop wastage and unnecessary purchases.
- Secure sensitive business data from employees with role-based and need-to-know basis tool access.
- Get all the finance and operations data in one simplified dashboard to make smarter decisions.
Furthermore, the graphical user interface (GUI) and visual elements of Kissflow lets SMBs customize the app effortlessly depending on the products and services the business offers.
Certinia
Certinia is another popular name for business financial management, planning, and analysis. Its FMS ERP has been developed on the cloud-based Salesforce development platform.
The intelligent software programming enables the Certinia ERP to deliver a comprehensive and customer-centric status of the business. Furthermore, being a unified FMS ERP, it brings the front-end and back-end into one centralized space without creating a workflow doubt among the employees.
Therefore, the leadership team can access merged data for important decision-making while bottom-line employees can accomplish their tasks efficiently. Moreover, with the Certinia tool, you bring home not just an FMS but a whole bunch of business tools like:
- PSA or professional services automation solutions
- Inventory management solutions
- Billing and invoicing systems
- Accounting and financial management systems
Thus, your accounting, finance, and leadership team can always access real-time data related to the operations and customers.
AccountsIQ
AccountsIQ is a cloud-based accounting tool that transforms financial data processing, collecting, and reporting works enjoyable and error-free. It offers simple yet sophisticated tools for budgeting, automating consolidation, filing digital VAT forms, auditing, and managing cash flow.
The AccountsIQ development team developed the product, keeping in mind the needs of business entities that have many departments working in silos. Working in silos could prove financially unfavorable for small to medium businesses.
Hence, with this FMS tool, various business entities of your company like HR, payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, procurement, service delivery, and inventory, will come under one umbrella.
AccountsIQ includes 250 report templates, dashboards, management reporting packs, Power BI links, and Excel Add-Ins. Furthermore, the tool comes with a customizable 6-dimension BI coding structure and a 3-tier General Ledger. Ultimately, all these features let you use the FMS tool for performance benchmarking and granular reporting for all the business verticals.
NetSuite Financial Management
If you need an FMS tool that will effortlessly integrate the sales, back-office, and service processes of your business, you can try NetSuite Financial Management. Its proven and comprehensive financial management abilities take any company beyond conventional accounting tools.
NetSuite financial software helps you with:
- Accelerated and error-free closing of financial books and ledgers
- Robust expense management functionalities
- Auditable and streamlined revenue management
- Real-time and overall view of the financial health of the business
The tool is based on the cloud so that employees and business managers can access the required data from remote locations. There is no need to install any standalone software, and all the tasks can be performed from a lightweight web app.
It features all the necessary modules and tools for accounting, billing, budgeting, planning, financial reporting, revenue reporting, and so on.
QuickBooks
Manage and monitor all the finance-related documents with QuickBooks and record expenses in a single platform. It provides different templates for different purposes, such as accounting, payments, payroll, starting a business, and more.
With QuickBooks financial management software, you can gather details on expenses and check whether you have money to execute operations effectively. This is useful for small businesses to have complete insights into financial performance and business processes.
Monitor simple cash flow without maintaining a sheet for it. By accessing the financial data in a single place, you can enhance forecasting accuracy and make data-driven decisions immediately. In the financial management solution, you will find financial accounting, billing, financial reporting, invoices, human resources, and inventory management.
QuickBooks allows you to track and calculate overhead costs along with the expenses. Also, you can manage your payroll processes and expenses effectively. Calculating tax every year is now easy as QuickBooks allows you to calculate your taxes quickly without any error.
You will get features like bill management, employee timesheets, estimates, expenses, receipts, invoices, mileage tracker, cash flow management, bookkeeping, sales tax, tax deductions, and more.
| Pros ✅ | Cons ❌ |
|---|---|
| Provides different templates for different finance related activities | Financial planning option is only available in higher plans |
| It is flexible and scalable | |
| Offers plenty of useful features |
Set up your business account easily and start managing your finances from the comfort of your home at a price of £2.50/month. You can avail yourself of a free 30-day trial to explore the product from its deep.
FreshBooks
Spend less time accounting and more time experiencing the best financial services with FreshBooks. It allows you to create invoices, generate bills and financial reports, track project costs, monitor expenses, and more. You will get everything you need to manage and monitor business transactions even without any accounting knowledge.
You can allow team members to access logs and collaborate on projects in order to enter their log expenses and hours spent on work. On the dashboard, you will get a clear picture of your business’s income and expenditure. You can also get financial statements on your screen with a single click.
FreshBooks automates many tasks, such as sending payment reminders, tracking hours, and more, so that you can focus on financial needs and clients. It offers templates for estimates, proposals, and invoices that you can customize by adding company fonts, colours, and brand logos to impress your audience.
Tax calculation is never a problem again since FreshBooks calculates taxes easily. It saves a list of multiple categories that help you store receipts and their information. Due to this, whenever you generate an invoice, the information gets autofilled. You will also get expense reports, reminders, late payment fees, recurring profiles, and more.
| Pros ✅ | Cons ❌ |
|---|---|
| User-friendly and simple to use interface | You can’t remove branding in lower plans |
| Generates reports quickly | |
| Automatically stores the information of clients |
Track your finances from anywhere with FreshBooks‘ flexible plans for self-employed freelancers, businesses, and enterprises. The price starts at £7.50/month. Give it a try for 30 days and get a refund immediately if you don’t like the service.
Quicken
Organize and optimize your business by managing finances with Quicken. It lets you track income and expenses, get insights, and find tax deductions to enhance your business growth. You will get all the tools and features you need to transform the way you manage finances.
To visualize everything on a single window, you need to download all the finances into a unified system. This gives you detailed performance reports of your finances, helping you understand whether you are making a profit and saving on taxes or not.
Quicken allows you to track invoices, bills, and estimates as payables or receivables to keep them organized with vendor and customer lists. It maximizes your tax deductions with its reports on profit and loss, cash flows, tax schedules, balance sheets, and more.
Make informed decisions with customizable reports on expenses, investments, income, debt, etc. This helps you get the important information for your priorities and goals. Also, you will get the option of customizing the templates with the brand logo, fonts, colours, and style.
You can also store personal and business documentation in Quicken and attach receipts, images, and warranties to your transactions with a few clicks.
| Pros ✅ | Cons ❌ |
|---|---|
| Customization process is awesome | Learning curve can be a bit steep |
| Splits receipts into several spending categories | |
| Affordable prices for individuals |
Save your money and effort by implementing Quicken in your business at a starting price of $3.59/month. You can try it for 30 days to experience its features.
Next, I will discuss the need for financial management software.
Why Do You Need a Financial Management Software?
For many years, businesses thought a comprehensive financial management solution was only for enterprises and multinational companies. However, the thought process has changed since many software as a service (SaaS) providers offer robust on-premise or on-the-cloud FMS subscriptions at an affordable price to attract businesses.
These days, SMBs are also going for a scalable FMS for the following reasons:
#1. An online or offline FMS tool can help you eradicate financial errors like overpayment or underpayment of tax, payroll errors, overpayment to vendors, etc. This way, your business can stop leaking money as waste and invest that in operations instead.
#2. Standard FMS solutions come with an advanced reporting and analytics system. The leadership team can generate actionable reports on business revenue with a few clicks to show the investors past, present, and future growth trends across products and markets.
#3. SMBs need to get financial management software for enhanced financial and data transparency across all departments. Otherwise, the leadership will have to rely on guesswork and lose control over money flowing out of the company.
#4. FMS providers constantly update their tools as the accounting standards and tax codes change globally. Thus, you don’t have to assign a team of accountants to include the latest tax changes or accounting practices in your book manually.
Must-Have Features of a Financial Management Software
You can’t just grab any FMS tool online. The tool needs to offer the standard features and functionalities so that you get value for money. Here are the features that you should look for in an ideal FMS tool:
#1. General accounting module to cover accounts payable (AP), payroll, accounts receivable (AR), general ledger, etc.
#2. An FMS should also include a dedicated tool to manage cash, revenue, and treasury.
#3. You’ll also need functionalities like budgeting, planning, and forecasting in your FMS platform.
#4. To ensure your business complies with all local and international laws, you need governance, risk, and compliance tools in an FMS.
Final Words
Financial management software is vital for your business’s general enterprise resource planning (ERP) tool. An FMS, along with the ERP, integrates financial and operational data into one central software system that business stakeholders and managers can refer to for decision-making.
You can get started with any of the tools mentioned above to manage your business money. Moreover, these tools help you transform your company into a digital one for better handling of financial data while complying with global standards.