7+ Best Accounting Software For Medium-Sized Businesses

Are you searching for the best accounting software for medium-sized businesses? If so, you’re in luck, as I’ve compiled the top 7+ software that surely can serve your business needs and save time.

Accounting errors are inevitable, but there are excellent ways to prevent them. This is where I discover the wonders of reliable accounting software.

It accurately streamlines and automates my accounting process, making it easier for my team to accomplish each task in a timely manner. If you’re looking for one that fits your needs and accounting skill level, here are my top 7+ recommendations.

What Is The Best Accounting Software For Medium-Sized Businesses?

If you’re in a hurry, here’s a short comparison of my top 3 picks: Zoho Books, FreshBooks, and QuickBooks.

4.8	4.6	4.2
Best overall. Long-term platform support with over 70 million global customers. Starts at $10/month.	Easiest to use. Intuitive dashboards and menus for all of its features. Starts at $13.50/month.	Most features. Highly customizable and powerful features for user flexibility. Starts at $90/month.
Try Zoho Books	Try FreshBooks	Try QuickBooks

Let’s start the comparison of 7+ best accounting software for medium-sized businesses and find out which is the right option available for you.

1. Zoho Books – Top Pick

Scalable Cloud-Based Accounting Software With Collaboration & Automation Features [Free | $10 a month/organization]

Finding the best accounting software for medium-sized businesses that can quickly adapt to your business (as it grows) can be challenging.

Zoho Corporation makes it easier by launching its scalable accounting software called Zoho Books. It’s built with a cloud-based platform to make it accessible for everyone.

This also makes backing up data and collaboration convenient.

Highlighting more collaboration, Zoho Company provides shareable dashboards and report data. This is an excellent way to keep everyone (involved in the business) informed about the latest updates.

Collaborating with people from all locations can pose risks to your data security.

This is prevented by adding role-based access. Currently, there are four available user roles.

If the exact functions you desire are not included on the list of standard roles, you can create a custom role.

You can do so by specifying the role name and selecting any of the following access levels:

• Edit
• View
• Delete
• Create
• Full access

You also have the option to tick any of the following checkboxes:

• Allow users to add, edit, and delete the vendor’s bank account details
• Allow users to handle the data and transactions for assigned customers only

On top of that, the platform is designed customizable to ensure it will fit your team/business’s needs. By default, it displays the interface in the English language. 

But don’t worry if you’re a non-English speaker because Zoho Books supports 10 more languages.

Simply go to the settings tab > Organization Profile and switch it with your preferred language.

Zoho Books boasts tons of excellent accounting functionalities.

Automation is usually the standard feature included, saving time from manual, repetitive tasks. It simplifies the process without sacrificing accuracy.

You need to input the information once, and Zoho Books’ system will automatically extract the data whenever required.

Did you know you can also automate tax calculations?

Yes, you can. You can even manage all other tax-related tasks in one secure place, like:

• Calculations
• Transactions
• Generating reports
• Filing processes (including GST returns)

Speaking of reports, there are 50+ extensive reports available inside Zoho Books.

All come with embedded analytics to give you a complete view of your business’s financial health. Also, this helps you make a smart, data-based decision.

Other highlights of their accounting solution are listed as follows:

• Budgeting
• E-Invoicing
• Online payments
• Bank reconciliation
• Warehouse management
• Multi-GSTIN management
• Income tax, PF, LWF, PT, ESI
• Serial number and batch tracking

Pros And Cons Of Zoho Books

Pros	Cons
Provides an individual secure portal for vendors and clients	Payroll function only available as an add-on
Includes online/offline payments and multilingual invoicing	Importing bookkeeping from other sources isn’t great
Offers 50+ extensive reports	Can only create 25,000 invoices in a year
Shareable dashboards and report data for easy collaboration with team members	No available mobile app for Android mobile devices

Zoho Books Pricing Plan

Zoho Books is offered in four subscription plans (monthly and annual), and it started with a free plan. This plan allows you to manage your revenue up to 50,000 and invoices of up to 1,000 (both per year).

You can also add one user and accountant.

On the other hand, the paid plans are designed per number of organizations added. Here’s what you can expect to get:

• Standard ($10/organization/mo.): Invite 3 users and manage up to 5,000 invoices. You can also use all the free features and additional advanced features like predefined user roles, transaction locking, and more.
• Professional ($20/organization/mo.): Invite 5 users and create 10 workflow rules. You can also get multi-currency handling, stock tracking, and more.
• Premium ($30/organization/mo.): Invite up to 10 users, manage custom domains, create 200 workflow rules, and tons of advanced accounting features.

If you want to add more users, you can get its add-ons at $2.50/user/mo. Other add-ons you can expect to purchase are listed as follows:

• Branches: This one costs $10/branch/mo.
• Snail Mails: And as for this one, you can get it for $2/credit.
• Advanced Autoscans: As for this add-on, it’s priced at $8 (50 scans/mo).

Please note that add-ons are only available on the paid plans.

Get started by signing up for the 14-day free trial version to explore all the premium plan’s features.

2. FreshBooks – Easiest To Use Accounting Platform

Cloud-Based Accounting Software Best For Tracking Time & Expenses [Starts at $13.50/mo]

FreshBooks is one of the popular household names known for small business accounting software.

But of course, its creator and team didn’t limit their platform for that purpose and continuously developed it. Now, they have successfully become one of the best accounting software for medium-sized businesses.

It may not have offered an all-in-one solution like Zoho Books, but it still provides a broad range of accounting features.

Tracking time and expenses are two of its best features. And the best part of it, you can do both tasks without leaving the platform.

Let’s focus first on its time tracking function.

Currently, you have the option to track time for your team by project or client.

You can get started upon adding users. Each user is given an individual timer; they can start the timer when they begin working and end it after completing their work for the day.

If you’re using your mobile or web, you have the option to install Chrome Timer (extension).

You can import all the time logs when the project is completed. FreshBooks is built with a simple board to import, manage, and view your users’ time logs (weekly and monthly views).

Here are the things you can do when managing the time logs:

• Add detailed time entry notes
• Import time logs to your invoice
• Automatically bill for tracked hours
• Daily breakdowns of your tracked work hours

Aside from proposals and invoices, FreshBooks also provides you with tools to create estimates.

Through this feature, you’re able to present the quantity of work and resources needed for the entire project to your clients. Once the client accepts the estimates, they can approve them with a single click of a button.

To save time and effort, FreshBooks also includes an easy conversion of estimates into an invoice.

Here are other benefits you can enjoy:

• Add a discount
• View and respond to client feedback
• Clients can accept an estimate online
• Set estimates in your preferred currency
• Customize the estimate to reflect your brand
• Preview estimates and quotes before sending
• Tracking estimate status (from viewed to accepted)
• Create and email an estimate using the FreshBooks mobile app

Are you asking for more?

Here are the other accounting features best to highlight:

• Collaboration tools
• Auto-billing function
• Create automatic reminders
• Provide a wide range of payment options and financial reports
• Create professional-looking invoices using an invoice generator

If you’re interested in how FreshBooks compare to other software platforms similar to its role, check out our article on FreshBooks vs Xero or FreshBooks vs Wave

Pros And Cons Of FreshBooks

Pros	Cons
Accessible on all devices (desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone)	Not suitable for anyone looking for per-usage subscription plans
No automatic upgrading to paid plans when the free trial ends (all data are also securely stored until you upgrade)	Data migration services and removal of FreshBooks branding (from client emails) only offered at the highest subscription plan
Add and accept e-Signatures for your proposals	Payroll function only available through Gusto

FreshBooks Pricing Plan

FreshBooks accounting software for medium-sized businesses is offered in four subscription plans, monthly and annual.

All include a 30-day trial version where you can enjoy unlimited access to their features.

Here’s a glance at each subscription plan:

• Lite ($13.50/mo.): This provides unlimited capacity for tracking expenses and sending invoices and estimates to 5 billable clients.
• Plus ($22.50/mo.): The Plus plan allows you to send unlimited invoices, estimates, and proposals to 50 billable clients.
• Premium ($45/mo.): This one lets you manage and support unlimited billable clients with additional advanced features like customized email signatures and templates, get paid with checkout links, and more.
• Select (Custom Pricing): This plan equips your business with all specialized accounting features and a higher level of security.

You can get started with the Select plan by requesting a demo or contacting the sales team to get a personalized price quote.

3. QuickBooks – Most Features

All-In-One Accounting Software For Businesses Of All Types [Starts at $90/mo]

From freelancers to enterprise-level companies, Intuit Inc. has the perfect accounting solution to offer.

For medium-sized businesses, they offer two products – QuickBooks Online Advanced and Enterprise. Their primary difference is the type of users.

QuickBooks Online Advanced is best for professionals, business owners, education services, and subcontractors.

While QuickBooks Enterprise is perfect for general contractors and any growing businesses that are part of the following industries:

• Retail
• Wholesale
• Manufacturing

Let’s take an in-depth look at the QuickBooks Online Advanced.

As standard, you can add users to your account and assign them custom roles. Intuit Inc. also provides you with on-demand online training through Priority Circle to ensure new users can quickly learn the ins and outs of the platform.

If you hire accountants, you can grant them access to your account.

Intuit Inc. allotted three seats for accountants. But you can also use these seats for bookkeepers, tax preparers, and other accounting professionals.

Like most accounting software, the QuickBooks Online Advanced platform is customizable to fit your business or brand.

You can add custom fields into the reports for quick tracking. Or, add more field types to ensure you’ll meet all the applicable regulatory needs.

You can also create custom workflows and automate them to save time.

Other accounting features are focused more on the following functions:

• Security
• Reporting and insights
• Manage money and tax
• Inventory and job costing
• Expenses and transactions

As the name implies, QuickBooks Online Advanced runs purely in the cloud and provides online backup and restore.

QuickBooks Enterprise is focused more on providing advanced features for reporting, inventory, and pricing. This way, you can streamline your business processes with only minimal time spent.

Through its Field Service Management, you can also get more control over your cash flow, customers, costs, and employees.

Here, you can efficiently perform the following tasks:

• Shuffle schedules
• Create invoices on the spot
• Provide real-time updates for everyone in the field
• Schedule jobs (with and without GPS and mapping)

Fulfilling and tracking sales orders are challenging tasks.

QuickBooks Enterprise provides you with excellent order management systems to optimize your inventories and automate order management.

Unlike with QuickBooks Online Advanced, Enterprise accounting software is available to manage in the cloud or remote access-hosting.

Quickbooks also has an e-Signature integration with DocuSign which ultimately makes signing legal documents a lot faster and more convenient for any client or supervisor.

Pros And Cons Of QuickBooks

Pros	Cons
Includes customizations to stay in control and maintain a high level of security	Sales forms and purchase orders are limited with 10 active custom fields
Desktop Enterprise software provides remote access-hosting (so you can run your business from anywhere)	Industry-specific reports only available on the Desktop Enterprise software (a total of 120 reports to choose from)
600+ third-party apps available for integration	Quality of support needs improvements
Payroll feature charges fees per employee

QuickBooks Pricing Plan

QuickBooks accounting software is offered in two subscription plans. As of writing, Intuit Inc. offers a discounted price.

Here’s what you can expect from each subscription plan:

• Advanced ($90/mo. for 3-month use): This includes an online backup and restore, add up to 25 users, use automated batch invoicing, and more.
• Enterprise ($112.50/mo. for the 1st year): This one provides options for using the cloud or remote access-hosting, add up to 40 users, use custom user permissions, and more.

All subscription plans include a 30-day free trial version, so you have ample time to explore its functionalities.

You can also get a free product tour by submitting a request form.

4. BlackLine Continuous Accounting Platform – Centralized System

Unified Cloud-Based Platform For Finance & Accounting [Custom Pricing]

BlackLine is not your average accounting software. Its unified cloud platform is perfect for managing your business’ entire accounting and finance lifecycle.

This is delivered by designing an Intercompany Hub.

This hub serves as a clearinghouse where you can interface all the company’s ERP, accounting, and finance systems. As a result, it centralizes all your intercompany accounting activities, making them easier to manage.

Currently, there are three ERP systems and 40+ accounting and finance systems available for integrations.

As standard, you’re guaranteed to get the following functionalities:

• Streamline accounting workflows
• Automation of accounting processes
• Extensive view of your processes and tasks (monitor inaccuracies, fraud, etc.)
• Maintain control of your finance and accounting tasks (close cycles, reconciliation standardization, etc.)

Good news for SAP users. BlackLine Inc. built their Smart Close directly in SAP to help you automate and standardize the financial close.

You can also gain all data in SAP and use its user roles, authorizations, and more.

When it comes to security, BlackLine Inc. won’t disappoint you because it provides enterprise-level of security.

As of writing, the security features available are listed as follows:

• IP whitelisting
• Network protection
• Security monitoring
• Disaster recovery and backups
• Physical Security, including environmental controls, fire detection and suppression, etc.

Pros And Cons Of BlackLine Continuous Accounting Platform

Pros	Cons
Built with an end-to-end intercompany accounting management hub	Setting up your account and executing changes may take time (Due to tons of advanced features included)
Financial close’s robotic process automation is built directly within SAP	No option to delete inactive accounts
100% cloud-based (no available mobile app or third-party software installation)
Excellent customer support via phone, email, community, and online resources (self-service help)

BlackLine Continuous Accounting Platform Pricing Plan

You can get the BlackLine Continuous Accounting Platform by contacting their sales team and requesting a personalized pricing quote based on your business needs.

You can also request a demo if you want to explore its functionalities first before purchasing.

5. Acumatica Cloud ERP – Full Suite Of Accounting Functions

Web-Based Enterprise Resource Planning Software With Industry-Specific Solutions [Custom Pricing]

If you need a complete Cloud ERP solution to take care of all your business management needs, Acumatica is the recommended choice.

It provides flexible deployment options (private and public cloud) for full control. It’s also designed with personalized dashboards with role-based views to ensure all data are accessible to the whole team.

Acumatica Cloud ERP has tons of good qualities, but the one that stands out is its ability to customize each solution per industry.

This is intended to ensure the software can support your business’s unique needs. Currently, it offers ERP solutions for the following industries:

• Education
• Non-profit
• Chemicals
• Healthcare
• Construction
• Transportation
• Equipment rental
• Energy and utilities
• Food and beverage
• Telecommunications
• Travel and hospitality
• Property management
• Agriculture and farming
• Government contractors

They also offer solutions for financial management, which includes a full suite of accounting functions.

It covers all the standard accounting functions like bookkeeping, account payables and receivables, auditing (external and internal), and more.

It also includes a wide variety of companion modules to add the following functionalities:

• Fixed assets
• Payroll management
• Intercompany accounting
• Deferred revenue accounting
• Recurring revenue management
• Cash, currency, and tax management

Still not satisfied?

Acumatica Cloud ERP supports tons of third-party applications for integration. Sync them all into your account to get consistent and accurate results every time.

Pros And Cons Of Acumatica Cloud ERP

Pros	Cons
Enterprise-grade security and accounting solutions for small and medium-sized businesses	Complex and time-consuming set up
Includes direct links for easy tracking of journals and reports’ activities
265 apps available for integration
Flexible deployment options

Acumatica Cloud ERP Pricing Plan

Acumatica, Inc. is one of the companies that offer pay-per-usage pricing plans. If interested, contact their sales team and request their detailed pricing information.

You can also request a free demo to learn how it can support your business.

6. Sage Intacct – Feature Deep Accounting Capabilities

Accounting & Financial Management Software [Custom Pricing]

Sage Intacct isn’t as popular as the other software I’ve discussed above. However, it remains one of the best accounting software for medium-sized businesses because of its incredible performance.

It can consistently handle a high volume of application requests, API calls, and financial records.

On top of that, it offers stable and all-inclusive accounting and financial management solutions. From bookkeeping to inventory tracking, Sage Intacct got you covered.

However, if you’re looking for financial risk management tools to use for your business, Sage Intacct can be a bit lacking in that regard.

While some accounting software requires third-party integration to add payroll functions. You can save valuable time because Sage Intacct’s payroll is directly built into the platform.

This includes tax filings, real-time reporting, and more.

Just like with Acumatica, all solutions offered are developed specifically per industry type.

As of writing, here are the industries they cover (including the solutions offered):

• Biotech & Life Sciences: It provides visual dashboards and flexible reporting to get a complete view of the operation (profit-and-loss by business/service, customer type, etc.)
• Construction & Real Estate: It also enables tools for smart cash flow management (spending vs. budget) and auto-capture of billable and non-billable transactions.
• Franchise: Sage Intacct includes all financial management solutions with additional features for franchise management, asset management, payroll, and payment applications.
• Healthcare: It offers HIPAA- and HITECH-compliant healthcare financial solutions with dynamic dashboards to gather multi-entity insights and more.
• Hospitality: It even provides hotel and restaurant accounting tools with added tax management/filing, POS accounting, and more.
• Nonprofits: It also has features like a dimensional general ledger, accounts payable and nonprofit revenue recognition automation, extensive grant tracking and billing, easy-to-create reports, and an audit trail.
• Professional Services: Sage Intacct has tools to automate project accounting and simplify multi-entity management and global consolidation.
• Subscription & SaaS: It includes billing and financial management features, SaaS metrics and dashboards, Salesforce integration, and complies to multiple regulatory requirements (ASC 606, FP&A, and HR).
• Wholesale Distribution: It provides tools to quickly generate stock orders, inventory tracking, streamlining approvals, and reports (combined with wholesale e-commerce and distribution data).

Pros And Cons Of Sage Intacct

Pros	Cons
Provides industry-specific dashboards	Writing a report can be intimidating
Can handle more than 50 billion financial records	Request needed to see add-on prices
Includes excellent payroll system	User interface on mobile view requires improvements (no mobile app is available)
Consistently provide annual version updates that include up to 50 new features per release (average)

Sage Intacct Pricing Plan

Sage Intacct accounting software is offered with a free product demo for you to get a live overview of the product’s functionalities. Fill up and submit the request form and wait for a sales representative to get back to you.

After getting the demo, you can directly ask the sales representative about the available pricing plans.

Here are a few of the essential factors they may consider when giving you a quoted price:

• Industry type
• Business size
• Exact features and level of customization you need

Assuming that you don’t want to get the free demo, you can instead request the pricing plans.

7. NetSuite ERP – Feature Cash Management Solution

All-In-One Business Management Software [Custom Pricing]

NetSuite is another ERP software on my list that boasts superior accounting solutions.

Its cloud-based platform is packed with a high level of security and meets various regulatory financial compliance requirements (ASC 606, GAAP, SOX, etc.).

Compared to Acumatica Cloud ERP, NetSuite ERP is developed with three simple goals in mind:

• Generate accurate reports
• Enhance financial controls
• Achieve effective financial close process

Of course, all of these are achievable because all tools are neatly organized inside NetSuite’s unified platform. They are also categorized based on functionalities.

There are a total of seven categories, and these are:

• General ledger
• Accounts payable
• Tax management
• Cash management
• Accounts receivable
• Payment management
• Fixed assets management

I’ll focus on the last two features since they are NetSuite’s unique offerings.

Fixed assets management helps you manage the complete lifecycle of all business assets (depreciating and non). It includes asset tracking tools to ensure you’ll gather all the detailed records of each asset throughout its lifecycle.

After successfully tracking them, you can assign the assets by department, facility, region, or other reporting segments.

For managing depreciating assets, you can use built-in templates or create custom depreciation scenarios to specify how and when you want to implement depreciation.

On the other hand, cash management helps you simplify the reconciliation process and account management. You can properly do so using automation.

It also provides automatic imports.

You can do this task by setting up your account (bank or credit card). Successfully doing so will provide you with a complete view of your cash flow insights.

Pros And Cons Of NetSuite ERP

Pros	Cons
Compliant with all applicable accounting standards	Not the easiest software to use, setup, implement and maintain
Provides role-based dashboards	Challenging to navigate and find answers via self-service online help
Simple automation of tedious manual accounting processes	Pricey add-ons

NetSuite ERP Pricing Plan

NetSuite ERP is available in a quotation-based pricing plan. Contact the sales representative to get a personalized pricing quote or request a free product demo.

8. AccountMate – Best For Complex Inventory Management

Best Business & Financial Management Software [Custom Pricing]

AccountMate may have a steep learning curve, but still, it’s undeniably one of the best accounting software for medium-sized businesses.

It’s best known for its effective management of extensive inventories.

Since complexity is only one of the many challenges of inventory management, AccountMate resolves these by providing multi-dimensional inventory management.

These contain different modules to ensure they will cover every process.

The inventory control module allows you to assign serial numbers to each item in the inventory. Also, it specifies all the important details of each item in the list, like units of measure, warehouse and bin locations, and more.

Creating categories is an excellent way to organize the inventory items.

You can do so by using its inventory specification module. The best part of this module, you can track the items by the assigned categories.

Adding kitting capability is also made possible using its dedicated module.

Here, you can sell kit items by customizing each order or using a predefined formula. You can track the sold items individually or as components.

“AccountMate is also known for its flexible installation options (choose based on your budget and needs). There are three options available: local deployment, Software-as-a-Service, and hosted on a remote facility.”

Burkhard Berger

Pros And Cons Of AccountMate

Pros	Cons
Multiple installation options are available – Saas, local, and hosted	Limited reporting tools provided
AccountMate for LAN uses an SQL server to hold payroll data	Creating task shortcuts can be challenging
Easy to use and integrate with other platforms

AccountMate Pricing Plan

AccountMate is available with custom pricing. This is intended to ensure you’re only paying for what you need and use.

You may contact the sales team to request a pricing quote, trial version, or book a demo.

Conclusion

Every business comes with different accounting needs. All the accounting software I’ve provided is worth using for anyone with medium-sized businesses or fast-growing small businesses.

But if I have to pick one, I’ll choose FreshBooks as the best accounting software for medium-sized businesses.

The primary reason is its proven ease of use, setup, and implementation. You can also access your account and collaborate efficiently from anywhere and on all devices.

It’s affordable too.

You can get started using its 30-day trial version or purchase any of its subscription plans with a starting price of $13.50/mo. (billed annually).