Wave Accounting
Wave Accounting
Wave Accounting
Overview
What is Wave Accounting?
Wave Accounting is a free, cloud-based accounting platform exclusively for small businesses. It supports double-entry bookkeeping and permits unlimited user access, invoicing, and expense management. Wave Accounting integrates with Wave's invoicing, receipt scanning, payment processing and payroll apps.
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Popular Features
View all 44 features- Accounts receivable (67)7.474%
- Bank reconciliation (63)7.474%
- Standard reports (67)7.272%
- Dashboards (68)7.171%
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Pricing
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- No setup fee
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- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting / Integration Services
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Features
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Product Details
- About
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Wave Accounting?
Wave Accounting is a fast growing, free, cloud-based accounting platform exclusively for small businesses (less than 9 employees) offered by Wave in Toronto. It supports double-entry bookkeeping and permits unlimited user access to always-available records and reports, as well as unlimited invoicing and expense management. Wave integrates with expense tracking software Shoeboxed. The software is mobile-accessible.
Wave Accounting integrates with Wave's invoicing, receipt scanning, payment processing and payroll apps, into one relatively comprehensive package. However, the automated payments and payroll functionality must be purchased; the payments addition bills per transaction, and the payroll feature bills by number of employees over a flat rate. To support the free platform, Wave integrates advertisements from business partners. Thus these are a necessary facet of the service.
Wave Accounting integrates with Wave's invoicing, receipt scanning, payment processing and payroll apps, into one relatively comprehensive package. However, the automated payments and payroll functionality must be purchased; the payments addition bills per transaction, and the payroll feature bills by number of employees over a flat rate. To support the free platform, Wave integrates advertisements from business partners. Thus these are a necessary facet of the service.
Wave Accounting Video
Grow Your Business With Wave
Wave Accounting Competitors
Wave Accounting Technical Details
Operating Systems | Unspecified |
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Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Wave Accounting is a free, cloud-based accounting platform exclusively for small businesses. It supports double-entry bookkeeping and permits unlimited user access, invoicing, and expense management. Wave Accounting integrates with Wave's invoicing, receipt scanning, payment processing and payroll apps.
Reviewers rate Multi-currency support and Order entry highest, with a score of 10.
The most common users of Wave Accounting are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Reviews and Ratings
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November 19, 2022
Wave has all you need for basic acounting
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I use it for personal and business account. My bookkeeper has access and will update my accounts and generate financial statements and use it to communicate with my accountant at year end. Its nice that it imports all my financial statements from my banks allows me to categorize transactions and view my transactions and a recolcile my books as well. its easy enolugh for me to use as well and I have no finance background. The reports are helpful from P&L and balance sheets and more.
- Reconcile
- Categorize
- Reporting
- Access to submit question
- customer service
August 29, 2022
Awesome and easy-to-use software that unfortunately you can't use if you hire a good bookkeeper
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
As a somewhat accounting-illiterate owner of a small business, Wave has been easier to use than Quickbooks. It's made my finances accessible and easy to understand. Also the invoices that go out, along with the automatic reminders, look very professional. Best of all for a micro-business like mine, it's free!
The very consequential difficulty has come in finding bookkeepers or accountants who will use Wave. This has frankly led me to hire a sub-par bookkeeper who did such a poor job that someone else had to straighten things out. This is because all the talented bookkeepers wouldn't touch Wave. They complain that it's not properly set up for what they normally do, and that they have to transfer all the numbers from Wave to Quickbooks, anyway, which isn't worth their time.
The very consequential difficulty has come in finding bookkeepers or accountants who will use Wave. This has frankly led me to hire a sub-par bookkeeper who did such a poor job that someone else had to straighten things out. This is because all the talented bookkeepers wouldn't touch Wave. They complain that it's not properly set up for what they normally do, and that they have to transfer all the numbers from Wave to Quickbooks, anyway, which isn't worth their time.
- Invoices with automatic reminders
- If you're willing to manually issue payroll, it's by far the cheapest payroll service
- Transactions easily categorized
- Bookkeepers won't use it, making it only useful for small business owners who do their own books
- Customer service is pleasant, but limited (understandable since it's a free service)
January 13, 2022
Good Accounting Software for SME's
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Wave Accounting for all the financial data of the organization (SME.) The payroll, however, was outsourced. The product addresses a training problem within the organization as it is easy to use, and minimal training is required. We have a platform where we can invoice, bill, track all our expenses and manage our finances with the reports produced by the system. It is very user-friendly.
- Invoicing
- Billing
- Generate reports
- Recurring invoice numbers not consecutive
- Payment speed needs to be faster when making payments
- Updates completely changing formats of certain functions
November 08, 2021
Wave accounting FRAUD and malicious practices.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Accounting
- Lure people in
- Lie
- Misrepresent the product
- company needs to be shut down!
August 17, 2021
Wave Accounting Review
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Went from Rave to RIOT over payout holdups. [It seems like] they've delayed my money countless times. They suspend payment, asking for "client contracts" to prove my [business] [is legitimate] after paying me for months! I have legal [business] docs, but they said [I needed to show] "client contracts, Social Media, or Website to review". I was OFFENDED [and refused to give] a client contract! And WHY NOT [ask for] THAT UPFRONT? Their "support" [is only] Mon-Fri 8-5! I buckled and applied for Wave Debit & instant payouts. Last [month] [my account] said "instant payout $500". Hadn't had one since before the suspend. Clicked to "instant payout" and [I felt like a] fool! Suspended, AGAIN! Waited for Monday to chat support and was told "new" debit card is why. [I think they are the] same two cards on account, [which they] paid [previously]. Then [support] emails others to "release" the suspension. Waited ALL DAY with no reply, I got worried they were closing, checked account [and] it was released. Currently [I've been] told to wait 7 business days (MAX time) on ACH client paid 7/27. They ALWAYS pay [out on] days estimated, [and it] was never more than five [days] before. I [am upset that] I didn't [change vendors] after the first problem.
- Site Layout is nice
- No charge to add a logo to your invoice
- Support hours and efficacy.
- Communication of timelines & support issues
- Tell me my money was released after suspending my account
- Don't tell me "You got paid" when my client pays an invoice. Say "Wave has your money," because [of the time it takes] to release a payer's finalized transaction. {I feel that] either don't want to, or you can't. And it's not the bank's fault or timelines.
- Tell me "You got paid" when [I did not receive my money for] 15 days after "You got paid" by my client!
Wave Accounting was very useful for managing all of the accounting for my marketing consulting practice. I was able to issue invoices, track expenses, and manage basic bookkeeping easily. The user interface was easy and intuitive and made the tedious task of accounting easier for someone who's not an accountant.
- Sending Invoices
- Expense Tracking
- Invoice Tracking
- Managing Accounts
May 03, 2021
Wave is user friendly - easy to use!
We use Wave Accounting for our everyday accounting system. We use it for invoicing, expenses, and payments.
- Invoicing
- Expenses
- Reporting
- No areas that I currently see
April 29, 2021
Wave Accounting Software
I have used Wave for eight years, and discovered it soon after starting my business. I am the owner, and use it weekly for my company. It helps with my accounting needs. I am a solopreneur, and it helps that it is so easy to navigate and use. There have been periodic product enhancement updates along the way, which have made my experience even better.
- Wave is very easy to use. I had not used cloud-based accounting software before using it, and mastered it with ease.
- Because it is cloud-based, I like being able to access is anywhere from any computer. When traveling, I still have interrupted access to it. I always know what is going on with the financials of my business.
- I like the fact that it can be integrated with other software and tools to make the accounting process easier.
- Wave Accounting has grown and evolved with me and my business.
- I have not been able to schedule recurring bills. I have had to log in and enter each bill monthly, as well as a payment date. It would be nice to schedule my bills to recur for the entire year.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
It is being used for my business to handle my accounting needs: invoicing, payments, bills.
- Easy to use
- Free version
- Customer service, bot chat only or email
- Changed/cancelled payment services without warning
December 03, 2020
Avoid Waveapps if you are a non-profit
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Used by a small chamber of commerce to handle credit card payments, payroll, and bookkeeping. Has a nice appearance but when we try to reconcile with our bank statement it gets bad. Usually, there are three Wave transactions for every bank transaction. Sometimes there are duplicates. I read their documentation, watched many videos, and sent emails. The answer was the same: either delete or merge transactions. I didn't know which to delete or which to merge. I finally paid $199 for an advisor to show me what to do. I had an associate at the Zoom meeting. The advisor talked way too fast, and after asking several times to slow down, he did not. He then started to say delete that or merge those two. I didn't understand why, and after over 30 minutes, he seemed perplexed by what he was seeing. I asked my associate if she was getting anything out of this and, like me, it was a "No." I asked to stop the session and then asked for a refund. They refused.
- Reconciliation is very difficult with multiple Wave transactions that need to be deleted or merged before it can be matched to a bank transaction.
- Payroll worked fine for us but took several days to get it set up. We have switched to another bookkeeping system and another payroll system. Canceling with Wave took several days and they charge $6 for something even though the month was paid for in advance.
- Credit card processing is nice and worked fine for us.
- Reconciliation is horrible. A user does not need to see multiple Wave transactions. I should see one Wave and one Bank transaction and if I think they are the same check a box and be done with it.
- No phone number to call and no chat line so all help is via email. Frequently the Wave person says to read the documentation and provides a link. I already did that and need help, not a mechanical response. On occasion, I did get a helpful and specific response but that was rare.
- Would like to have the ability to see each payroll by person pay stub and not just a summary by quarter.
March 16, 2020
Wave Accounting - great for micro businesses
As an accounting firm, we co-use the program with our smaller clients. We are invited to use the system on their side, and then managing their financial records, and accounting transactions remotely. For our clients, it addresses the problem of cost-efficiency for our smaller clients as it has a free version. For us, it allows us to work remotely without having to visit our clients at their office. This is important as we are a virtual accounting firm, meaning we do not have a physical office address, but rather work from our own individual homes from our PC's. Many site visits would increase costs for our clients, many of whom are small clients, and need their costs kept as low as possible for cash flow reasons.
- Bank upload and reconciliations (new feature).
- Reports are good for a free system.
- Good customer and supplier reconciliation features for a free system.
- I find the system to be quite sluggish at times, compared to other systems that we use.
- They are adding new features to the system, but it is still very behind other comparative systems.
- The payroll function is only currently available to USA and Canada.
March 03, 2020
Awful Software and Support
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We are a technology startup and began using Wave in 2015 for bookkeeping, an "upgrade" from our Excel bookkeeping efforts.
We were looking for something simple, that easily connected to our external bank and credit card accounts, in the cloud, and low-cost.
As the company evolved, we began using it for some invoicing and for payroll. We stopped using it for Invoicing, and recently stopped using it for Payroll.
We were looking for something simple, that easily connected to our external bank and credit card accounts, in the cloud, and low-cost.
As the company evolved, we began using it for some invoicing and for payroll. We stopped using it for Invoicing, and recently stopped using it for Payroll.
- Cloud-based
- Connects to external accounts for transaction import
- Customer Service
- Software Upgrades that negatively affect bookkeeping past and present
I am personally using Wave Accounting (free version) as the primary accounting app to run the backend of my business. I use the program to create, send, and track invoices to my clients, and I use the link to my bank account to track my expenses, profit and loss, sales tax, and general income vs. expenditures. Having a piece of software this comprehensive that is completely free is a pure lifesaver. I am on a generally tight budget, so this feature solves a huge problem for me and my company!
- Providing a comprehensive piece of accounting software for free
- Invoicing + receiving payments--super easy and intuitive on both fronts
- Bank account linking: They are working diligently to correct this, but it broke when they updated their system. Probably could have tested more banks prior to rolling out the upgrade
- If you don't fully track and reconcile your books, you'll see carry over numbers--needs a better way to handle this.
January 29, 2020
Very Affordable Accounting Software
The cool thing about Wave Accounting is that there is no cost to use their accounting software. Wave Accounting is very similar to QuickBooks Online without the monthly cost. Wave Accounting is an online accounting software that is pretty easy to use. If you have a basic accounting understanding then it should be no problem for you to set up your company and start using this software to manage your business finances. You can link all of your bank accounts to this including credit cards so that it will import all of your transactions and all you have to do is assign the transactions to the correct account. This accounting software is great because it is completely online which means that you can access it anywhere you have a laptop and the internet.
- Very affordable.
- Easy to use!
- Connection issues with bank accounts and credit card accounts
- Learning curve to understanding the accounting software is large.
December 17, 2019
A great, cheap option for small organizations!
I utilize it to do the bookkeeping for one small non-profit client, as well as oversee roughly 10 other clients that use it for their own bookkeeping. I like that it is free for small non-profits and startups and that it is generally easier to use than QuickBooks, but works the same way by pulling in bank account transactions and producing financial reports.
- Affordable accounting software.
- Not too overwhelming.
- Their reports have gotten a lot better, but are still not able to do month to month comparisons.
- It does not handle inventory well at all.
December 13, 2019
Robust, Easy Accounting Software - And It's Free!
It delightfully solves my accounting problems and meets my accounting needs for free. Wave Accounting is an excellent software that is smooth and easy to use. No Excel sheets for me!
- Easy to record income and expenses.
- Easy to search for a particular entry when I need it.
- Nothing to improve on, to be honest. It's excellent free accounting software.
December 05, 2019
Great tool for small business, non profits and entrepreneurs
Wave Accounting is used by the Bookkeeping and Accounting Department. It's a free tool that helps with invoicing, bookkeeping, financial projections, and accountancy reports. It's online so allows our remote team to access the information and update as needed. It also has a payment processor that we don't use at the moment.
- Reports: many options, easy to create, access and share.
- Invoicing: professional looking invoices.
- The feature to capture receipts is very easy to use.
- To improve bank connections to banks outside of USA and Canada
- Wave have recently added account reconciliation which was an issue.
As a one-woman consultation, I use Wave to manage my quotes as I bid projects. I use it as my main CRM as well to organize and keep track of current and potential clients. When bids turn into accepted projects, I convert them to invoices and track payments there as well. I've connected my bank accounts and have used the card terminal before as well. I like the mobile app function to monitor and track outstanding invoices.
- Bid to invoice conversion is great.
- Client information is easily added to documents.
- Financial reports are in-depth enough.
- Some design aspects could be improved upon in their document creation.
- Some aspects of the interface are hard to use, and are not as intuitive as they should be.
December 04, 2019
Easy to use for someone without accounting or business experience
I own a small business and Wave is used for all of our accounting and expense tracking. It is linked to my checking account and I like that all of my expenses are already listed and I just need to go in every once in a while and categorize them. I used to do everything myself but as we have grown I now have our Office Manager do some of the categorizing and it is super simple for her to learn and do.
- Links to bank account
- Allows me to create new categories while other apps do not
- It is completely free to use
- I'm not a big fan of the invoice feature and don't use it
- I haven't figured out a good way to get a full report of expenses at the end of the year for my tax accountant without having to make some tweaks.
- The predictive categorization is most often incorrect.
December 04, 2019
Wave has helped me grow my business by saving me time and helping my invoices get paid
Wave Accounting helps me keep track of my invoices and process payments from my customers. I don't have a large amount of time to spend, and Wave makes it very easy for me to do this. My customers can keep track of the invoices and easily pay online. It just works.
- Accept payments online.
- Easy invoice creation.
- Overall accounting.
- More integration options.
- More options in mobile app.
November 20, 2019
Riding the Wave (Accounting)
Wave Accounting is being used as a way to organize all purchases and money coming in and to quickly look at reports if need be. It's also a nifty tool to create quick invoices that are nice looking, functional, and time-saving, being that I don't have to send automatic follow-ups.
- Invoices
- Reports
- UI/UX
- For people who aren't experienced with accounting, it can be a little confusing. I wish the help were a little more extensive.
October 29, 2019
Free Wave Accounting hits the spot for small businesses
We are using Wave Accounting to provide us with all of our accounting needs except the accounts payables throughout our entire company. We provide invoices and estimates through Wave Accounting. We also accept credit card payments through Wave Accounting. Our payroll and tax liabilities for sales tax and payroll are all managed on Wave Accounting.
- Invoicing - The invoicing feature of Wave Accounting is pretty solid. We are able to enter our services and items that are available for our customers at the correct price point. We add the services or the items to the invoice and add the quantity ordered or used. Invoices can be sent electronically through Wave Accounting and once the customer receives the invoice, it can be paid using the links provided.
- Recurring invoices - This is a nice feature in Wave Accounting. With recurring invoices, you can enter invoices that will be sent to clients on a regular basis. Either monthly, quarterly or yearly, the invoice will be sent to the customer. Customers can then pay online with a credit card and also permit you to automatically pay the invoice upon submission.
- Payroll - This feature will allow you to run payroll on your schedule and Wave Accounting will determine your liabilities and submit all paperwork to the proper government agencies. Wave will also schedule and notify you when payments will be made to those government agencies.
- Invoicing - Unfortunately, once an invoice is paid, you can still go back and correct that invoice or revise that invoice. Once the invoice is paid, it should be locked so that it can not be revised.
- Bills - The bills part of Wave Accounting needs quite a bit of work. I would like to see the bill section be brought up to the level that the invoicing section is at. It would be nice to enter a bill and notify me when the bill is due. Or just some way of keeping track of bills that come into the business.
- Reports - I would like to see some improvements in the reporting areas. I think it does a good job with reports but business owners always like to see reports with more detail. I know I would like to run a report automatically every month of my accounts receivables and payables.
October 29, 2019
A Simple Invoicing Software for Freelancers
Wave Accounting is a simple invoicing solution for a one-person freelancing business. It has all the features I need and has some extra things like payroll, etc. in case I grow to need them. It's very easy to create a new invoice as well as duplicate an existing one and make changes to it. You can email it straight to your client or you can get a share link to embed in your own email.
- Easy to use/simple user-friendly interface.
- Multiple options to send invoices as well as set-up automatic reminders.
- Can create products so that creating new invoices is a breeze.
- One thing I'd like Wave to implement is for me to be able to pass along credit card fees to the customer. There are instances where I give people options if they'd like to pay by check or card and if paying by card, I have to manually add a "processing fee" to my invoice if I want the credit card fees to be passed along. I want this process to be automatic. It would be great if I could turn it on and off each invoice as needed.
I use Wave Accounting for all of my bookkeeping/accounting needs. I have all of my money accounts linked to it so that I don't have to keep track of my purchases and sales, it all automatically goes into my bookkeeping accounts. Then, at the end of each month, I categorize them and verify each income/expense. With the click of a button, I can see my revenue, expenses, and profit for the month! This also makes it super easy when tax time comes! I can just print a copy of my income report for the year and hand it over to the accountant who does my taxes. It couldn't be easier!
- Bookkeeping
- Invoicing
- Keeps income/expenses organized for tax time
- Quick at-a-glance stats for monthly budget/spending/revenue
- It does not integrate with my small credit union so I rarely use that account to purchase things because I have to remember to manually log it.
- Invoice line items must be something that is reoccurring or you have to create new "products" for each new project/service. I wish I could just add whatever I wanted to the item field on an invoice instead of having to choose from or create a new product
- It always logs transferring money out of my PayPal balance as an expense when I'm really just transferring it to my bank account. Easy fix, but always a bit annoying to wonder where that much money went (only to realize it just went to my bank account).
October 25, 2019
Quick-start your accounting!
We use wave for its essential accounting functions such as invoicing, payment receipts, and to track business-related purchases and expenses using the account connection feature. It's relatively easy to use and can copy and duplicate invoices, send reminders and gauge how often invoices are paid or not. It's primarily used by myself though I sometimes have my assistant send a simple invoice.
- Allows the user to set up customer profiles and manage the intricacies of account payable tracking.
- Allows the user to connect the app to a bank account thereby identifying purchases and business-related expenses. Awesome for tax time!
- Allows the user to create vendor profiles and manage payroll accordingly.
- Connecting the app to a bank that isn't listed in their database isn't seamless.
- Sending multiple invoices to one client that needs to use different payment methods raises a red flag.
- Receipts can't be exported as PDF's and must be sent from the email that was used during sign-up (can't be altered).