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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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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Wave Accounting is a reliable tool for staying up to date with accounting tasks such as creating invoices, tracking payments, and managing …
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Disappointed in Wave Accounting

1 out of 10
January 19, 2024
I am an artist and the only user. In trying to reconcile sales tax in wave to what I report to the state by quarter using the P&L, all …
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Good Accounting Software for SME's

9 out of 10
January 13, 2022
We use Wave Accounting for all the financial data of the organization (SME.) The payroll, however, was outsourced. The product addresses a …
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Wave Accounting Review

1 out of 10
August 17, 2021
Went from Rave to RIOT over payout holdups. [It seems like] they've delayed my money countless times. They suspend payment, asking for …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 44 features
  • Bank reconciliation (63)
    9.5
    95%
  • Accounts receivable (67)
    9.5
    95%
  • Standard reports (67)
    9.5
    95%
  • Dashboards (68)
    9.4
    94%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Unavailable

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…

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Alternatives Pricing

What is Xero?

Xero is an online accounting software product for small businesses and personal finance. Its features beyond general ledger and double-bookkeeping include quotable invoicing, bank reconciliation, purchase order and expense management, and tax management. Third party apps can extend its features…

What is QuickBooks Online?

QuickBooks Online is a SaaS version of the QuickBooks product. It contains all of the features found in the local version. Higher-priced plans include greater automation, payment management, inventory and time tracking, and analytics features.

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Product Demos

How To Use Wave Accounting App | Get a hold of your Money! | Ibukun Awosika

YouTube

Wave Accounting Demo

YouTube
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Features

Payroll Management

Provides for pay calculation and benefit plan administration, in addition to managing direct deposit, salary revisions and payroll tracking.

6.2
Avg 7.5

Customization

This addresses a company’s ability to configure the software to fit its specific use case and workflow.

8.5
Avg 7.1

Security

This component helps a company minimize the security risks by controlling access to the software and its data, and encouraging best practices among users.

9.5
Avg 8.0

Reporting & Analytics

Users can report on and analyze usage, performance, ROI, and/or other metrics of success.

8.2
Avg 7.6

General Ledger and Configurable Accounting

Financial management solution, including capabilities for general ledger and configurable accounting

6.9
Avg 7.4

Inventory Management

The ability to track and manage the flow of goods or materials into and out of an inventory.

8.1
Avg 7.0

Order Management

The ability to process orders, and track them from quote to cash.

7.6
Avg 7.4
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Product Details

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 Competitors

Wave Accounting Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

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.

QuickBooks Online, FreshBooks, and Xero are common alternatives for Wave Accounting.

Reviewers rate Multi-currency support and Order entry and Cost of goods sold highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of Wave Accounting are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(172)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Wave Accounting is a reliable tool for staying up to date with accounting tasks such as creating invoices, tracking payments, and managing financial obligations. Users appreciate how Wave Accounting simplifies these processes, eliminating the need for manual tracking. The software offers an intuitive interface and essential accounting features that make it a popular choice for small businesses. It has been commended for its ability to quickly generate professional estimates and invoices, as well as provide performance insights through flow graphs and profit and loss graphs. Although some users have experienced drawbacks such as limited customer support and lengthy credit card acceptance processes, overall, Wave Accounting has been highly recommended by users who find it valuable for organizing their businesses. It is particularly useful for tracking inventory purchases, sales, expenses, managing independent contractor businesses, and is considered an affordable and powerful solution by accounting professionals in service-based industries.

Comprehensive and Versatile Software: Users have found Wave Accounting to be a comprehensive and versatile solution for bookkeeping and budgeting. It has been praised for its ability to effortlessly track and categorize financial transactions, streamline invoice creation without redundant data entry, as well as generate various financial reports.

Cloud-based Accessibility: The cloud-based nature of Wave Accounting is highly appreciated by users, providing them with easy accessibility from any computer while eliminating concerns about computer glitches or server problems. This feature has been mentioned by numerous reviewers.

Powerful Invoicing Feature: Users have lauded the invoicing feature in Wave Accounting for its power and user-friendliness. They can easily create and send invoices, keep track of due dates, and mark off paid invoices. The software also provides automatic invoice numbering, facilitating quick reference to different invoices.

Horrible Reconciliation Process: Users have expressed frustration with the reconciliation process in Wave, describing it as horrible. They find it difficult to match transactions and suggest a simpler method for reconciliation.

Lack of Customer Support Options: Many users complain about the lack of customer support options in Wave. They mention the absence of phone or chat lines and express frustration with the frequent response to read documentation. Users desire more personalized assistance and quicker ways to resolve their issues.

Limited Reporting Features: Users feel that the reporting features in Wave could be more robust and flexible. They report issues with exporting general ledger items and mention the need for improvements in sorting options for reports. Some users desire preset date options for reports and request further development of this aspect in Wave.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 79)
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Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Site is nicely done
  • It's easy to read
  • In my experience, by quarter reports do not show the same totals
  • They closed the community support page
  • In my opinion, chat bot is useless for anything that isn't simple
  • Reporting on sales tax, I need to print 3 different reports to get the info I need
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • 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)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • 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
August 17, 2021

Wave Accounting Review

Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • 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!
Rachelle Smith | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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
  • 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.
Magdalene van der Walt | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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.
Vin Campbell | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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.
Ashley Mumm | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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.
Andrea Mitchell, MSW, APSW | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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.
Patrick Contreras | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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.
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