Today's Best Tech Deals
- Mint
- What Is The Best Financial Management Software
- Free Financial Software For Mac
- Best Financial Management Software For Mac
- Business Financial Software For Mac
Picked by Macworld's Editors
Top Deals On Great Products
First on our list of 20 best accounting software for small business is an accounting solution known for making financial management an easy undertaking. FreshBooks helps users address recurring invoices and subscription easily. Created specifically for the needs of churches, Elexio Church Accounting Software was designed to manage church accounting simply and powerfully. Fulfilling the needs of your financial committee and providing scalable add-ons to create the financial and accounting software package that works for you is easy with this cloud-based software solution.
Picked by Techconnect's Editors
Intuit QuickBooks for Mac 2014
Read Macworld's reviewCognito Software MoneyWorks Gold 7 (Mac)
Acclivity AccountEdge Pro 2014
Marketcircle Billings Pro 1.6
- Personal finance software helps users to balance their bank account. Has reviewed You Need A Budget, Moneydance, Buxfer, BankTree, and more to find the best. Find out how we test personal finance software and discover which packages are the best at helping you manage your m.
- The Ecosystem – While this article is written through the lens of our favorite personal finance app for the Mac, we realize that not all financial management activity will take place there. In fact, our survey showed that only 46% of respondents preferred to track expenses on their Mac.
- Mprofit is one of the best portfolio management and accounting management software for investors, traders, advisiors, corporates, family offices and CAs to manage your stocks, MFs & other assets.
If home is where your heart is, then there’s a pretty good chance that home—or at least your Home Folder—is where you prefer to keep your business’ financial information. While there are plenty of excellent Web-based apps you can use for tracking your business finances, if you’re uncomfortable with the idea of working within a browser and keeping your business’ financial information in the cloud, a traditional Mac application is your best option.
I looked at four apps for managing your business invoicing and finances: Cognito Software’s MoneyWorks Gold, The Acclivity Group’s AccountEdge Pro, Intuit’s QuickBooks for Mac, and Marketcircle’s Billings Pro. The first three are traditional invoicing and accounting applications, while Billings Pro offers compelling features, but also requires additional software to complete the package. Though all of these apps offer excellent tools for managing your business finances, MoneyWorks Gold stands above the rest, for an excellent user interface.
Top choice: MoneyWorks Gold 7
If you’ve been around the Mac accounting game for any length of time you’re likely already aware of the more well-known players, QuickBooks and AccountEdge. The one application that probably hasn’t made it onto your radar—but should have—is Cognito Software’s MoneyWorks Gold (; $499). MoneyWorks Gold is a solid, full-featured business accounting application that is networkable, supports multiple users, and works on both Macs and PCs.
MoneyWorks uses a flowchart-like interface similar to what’s used by both AccountEdge and QuickBooks for Mac. The application’s interface consists of a sidebar with navigation links to MoneyWorks’ collection of financial tools and a larger main window that displays a flowchart that changes depending on which item you’ve selected in the sidebar. As is the case with both AccountEdge and QuickBooks 2014, the flowchart attempts to create a visual relationship between various business activities. While this makes all of these applications a bit more interesting visually, in practice I’ve rarely used the flowchart to figure out how the many aspects of a business are related.
Most of the tools you’ll use on a regular basis appear in the navigation section entitled Day-to-day. Here you can create quotes, sales orders, and invoices, reconcile your bank accounts, create and receive purchase order items, and review accounts payable. Each of these same tasks are also available in other areas of the application and selecting other Navigation options provides you with access to a deeper set of tools and features. For example, when you select Items and Inventory you have tools for receiving stock on items you’ve ordered, viewing a journal list of all the stock you have on hand, and building new stock items from items you have in your existing inventory.
MoneyWorks includes just under 100 reports, including sales tax reports for Canada and VAT reports for the U.K. If none of the application's existing reports fit your specific needs, you can create custom reports of your own. Reports are available either from the Reports menu or from the main application window when you’ve selected a specific navigation area. For example, selecting Chart of Accounts from the navigation sidebar provides you with links for a number of account-related reports.
Two features make MoneyWorks a standout: Multiuser network capabilities and cross-platform client applications. (Features also found in Acclivity’s AccountEdge product.) Sharing your MoneyWorks file on the network is as simple as opening the Sharing and Users settings and putting a check in a box to turn on sharing. (A Datacenter version allows access by iOS devices and multicompany hosting) By default the application allows access to anyone on the network, so to limit access you also need to password protect your data file. Once you do so you can add users and limit their access to features. Unfortunately, there is no group option for managing user access to data, so every user you create needs to have access managed individually.
Top contender: AccountEdge Pro
Depending on how you look at Acclivity’s AccountEdge Pro (; $399 new, $159 single user upgrade, $249 multiuser upgrade) it is either a little stale or as consistent as it has ever been. The basic idea behind the application’s flowchart interface has been around since it was first released well before Mac operating systems were named after cats. Little has changed about the way the AccountEdge looks in nearly a dozen years, but, in terms of accounting capabilities, it remains a solid application.
AccountEdge has long been an application that allowed you to do your business in a networked environment on both Macs and PCs and, like MoneyWorks, gives you control over who has access to specific parts of your company’s financial data. The program still provides excellent tools for securing your data while still providing access to your accounting and inventory data in a multiuser, multiplatform environment.
While not much has changed on the front end, AccountEdge has added a few new features for 2014, including the addition of master inventory items that allow you to create dozens of varieties with out having to create distinct inventory items for each variety. So, for example, you can create a category called Whole Bean Coffee that can then be broken down into more specific varieties such as specific roasts in caffeinated or decaf, all of which makes it much easier to manage your inventory. Acclivity has also rebranded and updated its AccountEdge Web front end, offering features in the cloud, including options for creating invoices and other transactions from a webpage.
The rest of the pack
Billings Pro 1.6.5
Marketcircle’s Billings Pro (; $0/$5/$10 per month per user plans, or $99 per year per user) is beautifully-designed application that uses a subscription-based service with some Web-based features, but with which you create invoices, estimates, and collect time-billing information using your Mac OS or iOS device. Everything you do is created and managed locally and then synced with using a database that is hosted on Marketcircle’s servers.
I’ve used the Mac and iOS versions of the original Billings application for years and, like many, was disappointed when Marketcircle dropped the standalone application in favor of a client-server subscription model. That said, after about a month of using Billings Pro instead of the standalone application, I found it to be better than the old standalone version.
Mint
Billings Pro is not an accounting application, but you can export Billings Pro data directly into QuickBooks for Mac or MoneyWorks 6. (At present, MoneyWorks 7 is not supported, but Marketcircle states that support is forthcoming.) What makes Billings a standout is integrated time billing and what are probably the most beautiful, customizable documents you will ever see in a program of this type. The key here, though, is time billing. While almost every business accounting package you’ll find offers a way to enter time billing information into time sheets, Billings Pro lets you track your time in the field, and create an invoice directly from the collected information. This may sound like a small deal, but it’s integral to the way many people bill for services, and a feature missing from all of the other applications mentioned here.
While I do love Billings Pro, it’s not perfect and requires you to discover the “Billings Pro workflow” before you can use it. In the Billings Pro world everything you do needs to be part of a project, so no matter what you’re doing, you have to set up a project first and then add Working Slips to those projects and bill based on information collected in the slip. This isn’t a huge problem, but may be an unnecessary step for some businesses.
QuickBooks Mac 2014
QuickBooks Mac 2014 got a full review in Macworld (; $250) last December... well, no surprise, there haven’t been any changes.
While this business accounting application has made it easier to get your data to and back from your accountant, it is still incapable of working in mixed Mac and PC environments. Sad, but true. But that doesn’t mean that it’s a poor accounting application. QuickBooks for Mac will take good care of your business finances, as long as you understand its limitations.
A new user interface gives QuickBooks a look and feel similar to Intuit’s Mint.com and the new Web interface for QuickBooks Online. This new look gives you a great overview of your financial status at a glance. While not everything you might want, QuickBooks for Mac 2014 still gives you what you need to take care of business.
Bottom line
Color me surprised. While AccountEdge remains an excellent application for managing your business finances, and remains one of my personal favorites, MoneyWorks Gold offers all the accounting features you’ll need, though it is more expensive than AccountEdge. And while it doesn’t offer any true accounting features, Billings Pro is the only invoicing application available that allows you to create invoices from time billing information you collect. For me, that’s a necessary feature missing from all of the other applications. QuickBooks, while good, still lags behind the others because it lacks the cross-platform capabilities necessary for any fully networked cross-platform business environment.
Editor's note: Updated on 4/10/14 to correct MoneyWorks Gold pricing.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.
Intuit QuickBooks for Mac 2014
Read Macworld's reviewCognito Software MoneyWorks Gold 7 (Mac)
Acclivity AccountEdge Pro 2014
Marketcircle Billings Pro 1.6
No doubt, Quicken is one of the best money management software around. Not only does it enable you to manage your money easily, it also comes with plenty of useful features such as setting up bill reminders, creating budgets and manage your investment portfolio right within the dashboard.
If there is anything to complain about, it has to be the price and the compatibility issue with Linux OS. While Quicken is good, it comes at a price range from $39.99 to $99.99 and it only works in Windows does not have a native version for Linux. (Update: Quicken does work in Windows and Mac, thanks to Mulder for rectifying my mistake).
Luckily there are many free software options out there that works in various platforms and have the capabilities to become an alternative to Quicken.
1. GnuCash
Of all the free money management software out there, GnuCash is the most complete and also the closest alternative to Quicken. Not only can it be used as a personal finance manager, it also functions well as a small business accounting package. It aims to keep things simple, yet maintains the true accounting principles.
Useful features found in GnuCash include double-entry accounting, schedule recurring transactions and support for Quicken files (OFX/QFX) import/export.
Gnucash is available for Windows, Linux and Mac.
2. Grisbi
The best thing about Grisbi is its simple, intuitive and clean interface that makes organizing your finances a breeze. All the options are arranged in tabs and can be accessed quickly. While it is simple and easy to use, it is never short of features. Reconciliation, scheduling future transactions and creating a budget are just some of the many features found in Grisbi.
The default currency used in Grisbi is Euros, but you can easily change that to other currencies. If the exchange rate is supplied, it can even adjust the currency to the base value automatically.
What Is The Best Financial Management Software
The most powerful thing about Grisbi is its ability to generate reports and present the data in numerous ways. You can export your report in CSV or HTML format, or even clone it and export them to another machine.
Grisbi is available for Windows, Linux and Mac.
3. Home Bank
Home Bank is a small and lightweight money manager that works in multi-platforms. It is simple in design and does not take up plenty of resources. If you have completely no experience in using money management software and have no wish to learn complicated stuff, then Home Bank is most suited for you.
Home Bank is available for Windows, Linux and Mac.
4. jGnash [No Longer Available]
jGnash is a Java based software. This means that you can use it in almost any platform, as long as you can install and run Java in that platform.
When you first start jGnash, you might be surprised to find a blank screen staring at you, with very little instructions on how to get started. However, if you are patient enough to explore around, you will find that there are actually plenty of interesting features. Other than managing your own finances, jGnash also allows you to track your investment account and transactions. If you are geeky enough, you can even create your own javascript and run it in jGnash.
jGnash is available as long as you can run Java in your platform.
5. Money Manager Ex
Apart from GnuCash, Money Manager Ex is another software that is used and liked by many people. The unique thing about MMEx is not about its features, but its big screen that allows you to see at one glance where all your money has gone to.
Money Manager Ex runs on Windows and Linux and an experimental build is now available for Mac OS X.
(Note: The Money Manager Ex package for Ubuntu found at the download page is not an English version. I have not figured out where the download link for the Linux English version is though.)
Free Financial Software For Mac
What software do you use to manage your financial accounts?
Best Financial Management Software For Mac
![Best finance software for mac Best finance software for mac](/uploads/1/2/6/6/126611024/820858028.png)
Explore more about: Money Management.
Business Financial Software For Mac
- I was surprised that you didn't mention KMyMoney (https://kmymoney.org/). I'm looking into Quicken alternatives, and it has received a fair amount of attention on the Web. It's multi-platform, open-source, and the reviewers say it is full-featured and easy to use. Worth a look.
- I recently signed up for a Mint.com, and it seems very nice.
- While it's not free, I recommend Fortora Fresh Finance as a great alternative to Quicken. It's really simple to use, and best of all it's available for both the Mac and PC. Check it out at http://www.fortora.com. The license lets you use it on up to 3 computers too.
- Full Disclosure: BudgetPulse.com is another alternative that is a great tool for users. It's a manual tool so no security risks and has international compatibility. We released our revamped brand new site today. Please feel free to check it out and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
- I AM LOOKING FOR A PROGRAM LIKE QUICKEN BUT ONE THAT IS CORRECT WITH REPORTS.
I HAVE BEEN USING QUICKEN SINCE THE MID 80'S. I WANT ALL THE ABILITY I HAVE WITH QUICKEN BUT MORE.
NEED EXTRA ACCOUNTS IN THE MY STOCK ACCT. HAVE TO BREAK DOWN MINE MY HUSBAND IRAS AND OUR JOINT ACCOUNT. I AM NOT SMART WHEN IT COMES TO COMPUTERS SO I NEED HELP AT DIFFERENT TIMES. I HAVE A QUESTION WITH QUICKEN THAT THEY CANNOT ANSWER AND THAT IS WHEN RECEIVING MY YEARLY IRA WITHDRAWAL I NEED TO REMOVE FROM STOCK ACCT TRANSFER TO BANK THEN POST INTO INCOME FOR THE IRA INCOME AND EXPENSE OUT TO TAX. CAN THIS PROGRAM GIVE ME THAT.
- How about http://www.mint.com ? It's one good free personal finance that's worth the try.May I also suggest this software directory: all-finance-software.com. There should be some nice free or cheap financial apps there as well.
- Works perfectly for me thanks for sharing this post.
- May I also recommend:
OnlineCheckRegisterWorks great both on the desktop web browser AND a mobile phone! - Thanks for the great article. The UK has been poorly served by personal finance software since both Microsoft and Quicken withdrew support for their products. Finally some decent alternatives that don't force you to put all your personal information on someone else's web server.
- You can download the English .deb package from [Broken Link Removed]