Small business accounting: requirements checklist
From the guide at bestfinancesoftware.com/guides/small-business-accounting, published 29 October 2026. Use your browser's print command; the site header and footer are left off the page.
| Requirement | Vendor A | Vendor B | Vendor C |
|---|
| Must have |
|---|
| Bank and card feeds for every account you hold, including the card provider you actually use. | | | |
| Invoicing with online payment, and bills you can enter, approve and pay. | | | |
| A profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow statement you can run for any period and export. | | | |
| Access for an outside accountant without sharing your login, with a record of who changed what. | | | |
| A full export of transactions, contacts and attachments in a format another product can import. | | | |
| Depends on you |
|---|
| Payroll in the same product, or a connection to the payroll provider you already use. | | | |
| Inventory, if you carry inventory; projects or classes, if you report profit by job or location. | | | |
| Multiple currencies, if you invoice or pay in more than one. | | | |
| Sales tax calculation, if you sell taxable goods in several states. | | | |
Questions to ask in the demo
- Show me a bank feed for my bank, and what happens when a transaction is duplicated.
- How does my accountant get access, and what can they change without my approval?
- Show me the audit trail for one edited invoice.
- What is in the export when I cancel, and does it include attachments?
- What does my plan cost after the introductory period, and what is the price if I add two users?
- Which payroll and payments providers connect, and who supports the connection when it breaks?
Back to the guide, with the reasons behind each item and the vendors described from their own pages.