Managing your business accounts properly is so important, but it’s something that a lot of new business owners struggle with. You didn’t start a business because you love accounting, you started it because you were passionate about your product idea, but if you are going to run a business, you have to handle all of the boring stuff as well.

Unless you are a trained accountant already, it’s likely that you will be a bit out of your depth when you first start the business. The best thing to do is to hire an accountant to handle things for you, but that may not be within your budget to begin with. Your next best option is to use accounting software which can handle a lot of the heavy lifting for you. As long as you spend some time learning how to use the software properly, this should meet your needs for the first few months, until you can afford to bring somebody in.

There are a lot of different pieces of software out there and if you don’t have any experience with accounting or running a business, you may not know where to start. It’s important that you choose the right software so it meets your needs and you don’t end up overspending. If you are lost, here are a few tips to help you choose the right accounting software for your business.

Be Realistic About Your Needs

The first thing that you need to consider is what your accounting needs are, and you need to be realistic. If you are completely useless and you haven’t got a clue, you will need more comprehensive software that automates the majority of the tasks. You may also want to consider industry specific software that will make things simpler. But this will inevitably cost you more money. If you have some basic accounting skills and you just need software that can record the numbers and keep things organized, you don’t need to spend on the most advanced software.

Consider Your Budget

Your needs are important, but you also need to think about what you can afford. If you have a large budget, you can afford to pay for the most advanced software, but if you are working to a tight budget, you may need to look at other options. There are some great open source accounting programs that use postgreSQL. These programs can be tricky to learn, but once you get to grips with basic functions like the sql date format and the database management tools, you should be able to handle your accounts. This is a much cheaper option if you are willing to spend the time learning the program.

Plan for Growth

This is a very important point that a lot of business owners forget when choosing accounting software. Even though you have considered your needs right now, have you thought about how those needs will change as the business goes through a growth period. Make sure to look at the add-on features that are available so you can scale the software to meet new business challenges.

As long as you keep these 3 things in mind, you should be able to choose the perfect accounting software for your business.