Best Accounting Software for Multiple Businesses

Sage Intacct: Best overall for multibusiness accounting

Sage Intacct delivers financial management software that provides visibility into business operations with data-driven insights. It has a customizable controller dashboard that lays out business financials and essential information through reports, statements and a wide range of visualizations.

The reporting dashboard allows real-time data analysis with a detailed general ledger and other custom reports. And for users managing accounting for multiple businesses, Sage Intacct provides essential insights to compare the statistics and figures of numerous entities.

Pricing

Sage doesn’t provide transparent pricing on its website and encourages shoppers to call for a quote.

Features

• Custom real-time reports.
• Fixed asset management.
• Specialized features for different industries.
• Robust dashboards.
• Collaboration tools.
• Financial and resource analytics.

Pros

• Both a desktop and cloud-native version of the Intacct software.
• Connects with third-party solutions such as Salesforce, with even more integrations through its web services API.
• Automations to optimize cash management processes.

Cons

• No transparent pricing information online.
• Implementation and utilization can come with a steep learning curve.

Acumatica Cloud ERP: Best ERP

Automatica’s all-in-one cloud ERP solution provides many great features for managing multiple growing businesses. The software can handle the unique requirements of various industries, with tools for construction management, field service and inventory management and optimization.

Managers of warehouse locations will especially enjoy the solution’s warehouse management system and, of course, its multientity and intercompany accounting support. Furthermore, Acumatica’s flexible software licensing plans make scaling easy for organizations, as they charge based on the functionality and data use, not the number of users.

Pricing

Pricing information is available by request on the Automatica website.

Features

• Collaborative capabilities.
• Single data model.
• Real-time insights.
• Financial management
• Point of Sale system.
• Project accounting.
• Multientity and intercompany accounting.

Pros

• Flexible pricing plans that charge businesses only for the data they use, not the number of users.
• Mobile apps for accessing multibusiness accounting data on the go.
• Real-time visibility into financial data.

Cons

• No free trial.
• Primarily a U.S.-optimized solution.
• Features may be too limiting for global enterprises.

Zoho Books: Best for enterprises

Zoho Books’ online accounting software is great for users looking to consolidate business accounting processes into one streamlined system. It even offers a free plan with a limited version of the software so businesses can experience its capabilities without breaking the bank.

The paid plans have many impressive features for multibusiness accounting, including bank feed connections, sales orders and workflow management. And if you’re still unsure whether a Zoho Books paid solution is right for you, you can sign up online for a 14-day free trial of the full-featured Premium plan.

Pricing

Zoho Books offers six different price tiers to choose from:

• Free: Costs $0 (for businesses with a yearly revenue below $50K).
• Standard: Costs $15 per organization per month, billed annually.
• Professional: Costs $40 per organization per month, billed annually.
• Premium: Costs $60 per organization per month, billed annually.
• Elite: Costs $120 per organization per month, billed annually.
• Ultimate: Costs $240 per organization per month, billed annually.

Features

• Zoho Books mobile app.
• Scheduled reporting and real-time data analysis.
• Customized invoicing.
• Expense management.
• Customer portal and vendor portal.

Pros

• Transparent pricing for paid solutions is provided online.
• Vendor portal that allows vendors to access and manage their own transactions.
• Powerful built-in integrations with many popular third-party solutions including Office 365, G Suite and Stripe.

Cons

• Free and lower-priced solutions (the Standard plan) lack cash flow forecasting and timesheet management capabilities.
• Complicated initial deployment.

For more information, read our full Zoho Books review.

QuickBooks Online: Best user experience

Intuit Quickbooks is a trusted resource for providing robust workforce management software, and its accounting solution is no exception. The cloud-based tool helps users manage their multibusiness accounting operations through its platform, which acts as a single source of truth to unite each client and business in one user-friendly system.

With its automatic data integrations and real-time updates across devices, all your important information will be easily accessible for more visibility and functionality. This unified data can give you deeper insights into your client’s growth, workflow productivity and overall business performance.

Pricing

QuickBooks Online offers four different pricing tiers to choose from:

• QuickBooks Simple Start: Costs $30 per month.
• QuickBooks Essentials: Costs $60 per month.
• QuickBooks Plus: Costs $90 per month.
• QuickBooks Advanced: Costs $200 per month.

Features

• Automatic bank feeds.
• Online customer invoicing.
• Automatic tax calculation.
• Audit every detail of a transaction.
• Customizable reports.
• Data encryption.

Pros

• Bulk importing feature.
• Unlimited invoices to an unlimited number of clients.
• Intuitive and user-friendly software.
• All plans come with cash flow forecasting, which isn’t always included within lower-cost accounting software plans (looking at you, Zoho Books).

Cons

• Prices may not be affordable for smaller business management.
• High price jumps from one plan to the next, especially for those going from the QuickBooks Plus plan to QuickBooks Advanced.

For more information, read our full Quickbooks Online review.

Xero: Best for small businesses

Xero’s accounting software is advertised as “made for small businesses,” so if you’re managing accounting for multiple small companies, Xero’s an excellent option. Like others on this list, it provides core capabilities that facilitate and support fundamental accounting operations across each of its plans. But it has a particular emphasis on streamlining processes for busy small-business owners.

Its lowest-priced plan, the Early plan, does limit the number of invoices you can send per month, but it’s a great, cost-effective option for new users with fewer or smaller accounts. And if you require more software functionality, scaling up is easy, as Xero supports unlimited users and has relatively low prices across each plan.

Pricing

Xero offers its accounting software in three price tiers:

• Early: Costs $15 per month.
• Growing: Costs $42 per month.
• Established: Costs $78 per month.

New users can also get 50% off of their first three months.

Features

• Time-tracking tool.
• Xero’s mobile app, Xero Expenses.
• Admin task automation.
• Workflow management..
• Document management.
• Financial reporting.

Pros

• 30-day free trial.
• Wide range of supported integrations with third-party solutions.
• Users aren’t locked in and can cancel their plans at any time.

Cons

• Payroll comes as an add-on through Gusto starting at $40 per month.
• Xero limits users to one organization per subscription, so multibusiness accounting would require an account subscription for each business, which can be expensive depending on the plan.

For more information, read our full Xero review.

Wave Accounting: Best low-cost option

Wave Accounting is a helpful free tool for accounting. That’s right — free for life. Users can access basic accounting software features through the entirely free accounting plan.

That said, the basic product does lack some of the perks included in other systems, but Wave offers these as optional add-ons for additional fees, taking a pick-and-choose approach. It’s also worth noting that the free plan doesn’t enforce limits on income and expense tracking, bank and credit card connections, collaborators or accountants.

So, depending on your accounting needs, Wave’s software offerings could provide you with a great free or low-cost solution.

Pricing

Wave is a fully free accounting software solution, unless you choose add-on services with extra fees.

Features

• Expense tracking.
• Accounting dashboard.
• Online payments.
• Income tracking.
• Bank and credit card connections.
• Overdue invoices and bills reporting.
• Profit and loss reporting.
• Sales and tax tracking.

Pros

• Employee self-service capabilities through the mobile money management app on Android and iOS.
• Automatic payment deadline reminders for clients.
• User-friendly interface with easy software setup.
• Supports up to 15 business profiles within one account.

Cons

• Connecting data from third-party solutions can be difficult, as Wave doesn’t provide any built-in integrations.
• With extra features listed as add-ons, it may not be a great fit for businesses needing a more robust solution.

For more information, read our full Wave review.