Wave Accounting

Best accounting software to grow as a small business

Comments: The overall experience with Wave has been very good. With some hiccups on the roadmap, Wave has evolved by leaps and bounds from a pretty basic software to quite a powerhouse, even for the free version. If my business grows and I will feel the need to add more features such as payroll and tax advisor use, I will still remain a Wave believer!

Pros:

I've used Wave since 2009!!! I feel like my company grew with it. It's helped me understand all I was doing right (and wrong!) financially in my business. It helps tremendously when filing monthly sales taxes. I keep a habit of staying organized, verifying all transactions and reconciling with my bank accounts. All of this, plus categorizing everything the right way makes tax time an absolute breeze - my taxes are done in two days and I don't need to freak out about it because everything is organized ahead of time and all I do is input expenses and sales.

Cons:

What I least like about Wave is that a few years ago they stopped support for free accounts. Absolutely no human support whatsoever. Disagree with that big time!!! Sometimes also a bank connection will be interrupted and you cannot reconnect for many many months and since there is no support, you are left without any help. I am a small business of one person and I do not need any of the paid features that Wave offers so I could be upgraded to paid support, so I am always stuck in no human support land. It doesn't feel good, especially to someone who has used this software for as long as I have.

Wave Accounting

Comments: I was able to quickly send professional estimates and invoices on go and I didn't have to keep a lot of envelopes with receipts any more, I could just scan receipts and attach them to a bank transaction. Before I even get an accountant, I would easily see the performance of the business from the cash flow graphs and profit and loss graphs.

Pros:

Setting reminders to be sent to clients for payment is the most important feature from wave in my opinion. Also being able to create recurring invoices you you don't have to do the same thing every week or every month. My other favorite is customer statements. Pulling out customer statements and sending to your clients gives you points in terms of professionalism. I also appreciate that when Wave stopped operating in South Africa they recommended Zoho and gave us a year of free use of Zoho. Even though I did not like changing, this was a very thoughtful move by wave.

Cons:

For some reason wave starting giving limited access to its South African customers and partnered with Zoho for customers to migrate. Even though the apps are similar, they're not the same and it took a little bit of time to now learn Zoho a new app.

Pathetic Customer Service and Return Policies

Comments: Very poor customer service. Never available. Only send you to "articles" to read when you DO get the opportunity to speak to someone live. If you are disappointed in the paid-for service, they do not issue a refund.

Pros:

Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all. We are fully disappointed.

Cons:

New users require support to appropriately navigate the software. However, the "support" is chatbot only most of the time. When you "do" get to "chat", again only online, no actual phone to call, you are repeatedly directed to "articles" to read. I don't know about you, but I am very busy running my business, and certainly do not have time to be directed to article after article to read what they can simply explain to me in a fraction of the time. However, the most upsetting was the persistent pressure to pay for the Payroll Service that my company was test driving. When we finally decided to just pay for it and move ahead, we couldn't use it as it was, again, more complex than we had bargained for. Unfortunately, however, there was no customer service available, and the "chatbot"stated it could take XXX # of days to get a response. As I needed to pay my contractors, we ended up using a completely different service. When we asked for our money back as this software nor the customer service is a good fit, they refused. We are absolutely disgusted with this company. Think carefully before using.

Wave is a WONDERFUL!

Pros:

Wave is easy to setup, navigate, use and the features are incredibly robust! A a non-profit founder, I was looking for a cost-effective solution that would allow me to create a general ledger, track and categorize spending, create estimates and invoices, track AP/AR, and easily build financial reports. Wave does ALL of this, and it's FREE. I can't believe how good it is!

Cons:

I literally haven't a single dislike about this software. Truly.

I love what it does, wish it could do more!

Comments: I love the feeling of it, it is very comparable to QuickBooks online and other more expensive type of user oriented software. I just wish the chart of account and the check printing were more flexible.

Pros:

This software is a game-changer for free or low cost needs. It can 100% cover the needs of a non profit organization, or in my case our home owner's association needs. It is very easy to create accounts, or modify the already existing ones, and it is very easy to send invoices out. Also, it offers electronic payments which is very convenient for those who wish to pay electronically.

Cons:

The software does not allow for check printing through it. All expenses need to be recorded and checks to be entered manually. This causes a feeling of "double entering" or doing twice a process that could have been simplified. The fact that the software will not be able to make payments is a little outdated.