#1 most frequent
United States of America
48.2%66 installations of 137
What is Wave Accounting?
Wave Accounting is a free, cloud-based accounting platform exclusively for small businesses. It supports double-entry bookkeeping and permits unlimited user access, invoicing, and expense management. Wave Accounting integrates with Wave's invoicing, receipt scanning, payment processing and payroll apps.
Categories & Use Cases
Product Demos
Top Performing Features
Multi-currency support
The software supports transactions across multiple currencies.
Category average: 8.3
Order entry
Users can enter an order once, and the data flows to all the necessary units such as fulfillment and billing.
Category average: 8.4
Cost of goods sold
The software calculates the direct costs attributable to a finished product, such as materials and labor, and includes roll-up pricing.
Category average: 8.5
Areas for Improvement
Credit card processing
The software facilitates credit card processing.
Category average: 7.7
Direct deposit files
Direct deposit is the ability to electronically transfer pay to an employee’s personal bank account.
Category average: 8.3
Centralized Rules Framework
Integrate disparate ERP and transactional systems into single ERP instance
Category average: 8
Who Buys & Uses Wave Accounting
#2 most frequent
Canada
30.7%42 installations of 137
#3 most frequent
Brazil
2.9%4 installations of 137
Perfect accounting choice for small businesses
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Tracking financials, invoicing clients.
Pros
- Professional invoicing
- Bookkeeping is simple
- Easily track expenses and profits
Cons
- Connection w/ other accounts thru Plaid sometimes glitchy
Return on Investment
- Save me money
- Easy to use
Usability
Wave Accounting - solid bookkeeping software
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Wave Accounting in our accountancy practice for a small pool of micro clients. Software produces useful reports from transactions including a trial balance, profit and loss and balance sheet that we can then import into our accounts production software. It is free to use for very small businesses who do not require more advanced features such as VAT, MTD etc.
Pros
- Online invoicing
- Payments online
- Bank reconciliation
Cons
- Making Tax Digital
- VAT reports
- Payroll
Return on Investment
- Great ROI as it is free to use
- Better data through online access
- Had to switch to MTD software for few clients
Usability
Alternatives Considered
QuickBooks Desktop Pro, QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Online Advanced, QuickBooks Self-Employed, QuickBooks Time, Xero, FreshBooks, FreeAgent and Kashflow
Wave Accounting Apps perfect for Very Small Clients with Limited Revenue
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I use Wave Accounting for a nonprofit Client which has neither large revenue nor transactions. I have them set-up in the free version as they do not require much in the way of accounting software bells and whistles. They are basic with an average of 10-20 transactions per month, 1 bank account, 1 credit card account and payroll.
Pros
- Offers free version
- Reasonably easy to set-up
- Works similar to Xero
- Reporting is more than adequate
Cons
- Journal entries are not as fluid as QBO
- Hard to customize reporting
- Difficult to customize Chart of Accounts
- Slightly remedial - not good for large organizations
Return on Investment
- Again, there is no fee for some versions of this software. For those small clients with limited revenue, Wave Apps is more than capable. There is no monthly fee/cost and it is perfect.
- For large clients with high transaction volume, I would not recommend even for free. The program is not robust to handle the complexities of large clients.
Alternatives Considered
Xero
Other Software Used
QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Online Advanced, Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Wave Accounting has become unreliable
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Wave seems to be down more than it is up. The last few weeks it has been under repair very often making it very hard to do business. I like to use their software for invoicing but I can't get into doing my work. It is strange for a large company like this to be unavailable to its clients.
Pros
- Easy to work
- Used to be available
- Familiar
Cons
- MAINTENANCE
- Reliability
- Poor Customer Service
Return on Investment
- UNABLE TO COMPLETE MY BILLING
- Creating cash flow problems
Usability
Wave has all you need for basic acounting
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I use it for personal and business account. My bookkeeper has access and will update my accounts and generate financial statements and use it to communicate with my accountant at year end. Its nice that it imports all my financial statements from my banks allows me to categorize transactions and view my transactions and a recolcile my books as well. its easy enolugh for me to use as well and I have no finance background. The reports are helpful from P&L and balance sheets and more.
Pros
- Reconcile
- Categorize
- Reporting
Cons
- Access to submit question
- customer service
Return on Investment
- saves time and money on bookeeping and accounting
Alternatives Considered
QuickBooks Online
