FreshBooks

Category: Cloud Accounting: Online billing and bookkeeping for Entry Level Accounting Solutions, Small to Medium Businesses (SMB)

Freshbooks Website

Best Fit

  • Small businesses with 1-25 team members
  • Sole proprietor, Schedule C Filer
  • Service-based businesses that charge for their projects or time, send invoices and need to manage expenses
  • Entrepreneurs and Freelancers: Graphic design, Trades, IT Consulting/Development, Web Design, Consulting

Strengths

  • Ease of use – designed for small businesses that do not need more extensive accounting and reporting
  • Saves time – create and send invoice quickly
  • Online payments – clients can pay online in seconds with credit cards and PayPal payments, FreshBooks clients get paid on average 14 days faster
  • Professional invoices and estimates with personalized company logo and branding
  • Mobile options for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and Windows
  • Secure access to FreshBooks account from any computer with Internet access
  • Online

 

Brief Product Description and Pricing

FreshBooks helps small businesses stay on top of their books, get paid faster, and improve cash flow with invoicing, time tracking, expense management, and other functionality small business clients need to run their businesses in the cloud.

The application is designed as an time and expense tracking tool with invoicing that is easy enough for clients to use to organize their business information. FreshBooks retrieves bank and credit card transactions from thousands of financial institutions across the US and Canada, and provides an easy interface for clients to classify these imported transactions into expense categories.

A full-featured FreshBooks mobile application is available for smartphones and tablets running the iOS and Android operating systems.  The app allows small businesses to work on the full range of FreshBooks tools for invoicing and expense management from anywhere.  Clients can take pictures of receipts and other documentation with the application for smartphones and tablets, which are then attached to the related items in the FreshBooks online database.

Small businesses with more complex requirements can also add a wide range of integrated third party add-on solutions, including tools for time tracking, customer support, payroll, customer relationship management, expense reporting, merchant services, e-mail marketing, and project management.  The company offers unlimited concierge-style support to small businesses so that your clients can get the help they need without worrying about unexpected invoices from software consultants – in short, it lets them run their business instead of worrying about accounting software complexity.

FreshBooks is not a double entry accounting program which is designed for every complex accounting problem faced by practitioners – rather, it is a client-facing tool which helps small business owners and managers gather and organize their data online in a digital format.  The solution lets accounting professionals and their support teams focus on providing high value accounting and tax advice rather than organizing, entering, and analyzing a shoebox full of paper received at the last minute once a year.   The application is so easy for clients that they can get organized and stay organized online with your help, and your team can export their data from FreshBooks into your preferred software solution at any time.

Accounting professionals in public practice are eligible to attend complimentary CPE-qualified training for practitioners and receive membership in the FreshBooks Accountants Network (“FAN”).  The training results in becoming a “FreshBooks Certified Accountant”, which includes a listing in the accountant directory on the FreshBooks website so local companies using FreshBooks can find and engage your team for accounting and tax services.  FAN also offers discounts to practitioners and their clients, free educational webinars, and a e-mail newsletter to help you make the most of your accounting and tax practice.

Subscription plans are available starting at $9.95 per month, For more details, you can visit their website below.

FreshBooks Website

Technical Specifications

FreshBooks is a cloud-based solution; all that is needed is a computer and high-speed reliable Internet connection. Frequent releases mean improvements and updates at no charge that happen automatically for all customers. It works on PC and Mac systems as well as iPhone/iPad, BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Mobile smartphones.

Data security encryption is provided with Cisco-powered firewalls, vulnerability scanning, intrusion detection, and encrypted database storage. All information traveling between your browser and FreshBooks is protected from eavesdroppers with 256-bit SSL encryption. The lock icon in your browser lets you verify that you aren’t talking to a phishing site impersonating FreshBooks and that your data is secure in transit. FreshBooks’ servers are scanned for vulnerabilities regularly by AlertLogic, a managed security provider.

These scans test FreshBooks servers both from the Internet and from inside the corporate network and any newly identified problems are addressed as quickly as possible. All of the traffic entering and leaving FreshBooks’ network is monitored by an Intrusion Detection System (IDS). Any unusual behavior is analyzed by AlertLogic’s CISSP-certified security experts, and responses are coordinated between them, Rackspace, and the FreshBooks’ system administration team.

The FreshBooks infrastructure uses redundant storage and servers to keep the application and your data available in the case of hardware failure, and another set of servers and storage in a geographically separate datacenter in case the primary datacenter is unavailable for any reason.

The data in your FreshBooks account is replicated across multiple database servers in two geographic locations to prevent a single failure from causing data loss. Additionally, that data is backed up nightly to tape and stored in a secure offsite location to ensure that, even in the event of a catastrophe like a tornado or flood, your information will be safe, and your records can be quickly restored. FreshBooks contracts with Rackspace for hosting needs.

Integration with Accounting and Ease of Setup

FreshBooks integrates with Sage Peachtree, Xero, Kashoo, and Outright as well as other accounting packages. With over 50 other business systems integrated with FreshBooks, clients experience increased efficiency and visibility into their data and their business.

System requirements

Developers can integrate directly with FreshBooks. To find out more about how to setup the API, visit below.

FreshBooks Developers Website

Public Accountants can set up an account for clients in minutes with online dedicated support team available. To sign-up, click the button below.

FreshBook Sign-up Page

Company History and Contact Information

Founded in 2003 in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) FreshBooks started with three founders and is now over 60 employees and growing. The company has enjoyed 6 years of double digit MOM growth and over 2 million users worldwide.

You can find more about FreshBooks at http://www.freshbooks.com/manifesto.php or Accountants’ Direct Line: 1-877-262-5122, accountants@freshbooks.com.