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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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Pricing

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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 7.2

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.

6.8
Avg 7.9

Reporting & Analytics

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

6.5
Avg 7.5

General Ledger and Configurable Accounting

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

7
Avg 7.3

Inventory Management

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

8.1
Avg 6.7

Order Management

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

7.6
Avg 7.3
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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

(177)

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.

Reviews

(1-2 of 2)
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Great product in the sea of changes to cloud

Rating: 8 out of 10
June 08, 2016
PB
Vetted Review
Verified User
Wave Accounting
3 years of experience
We have several clients that use Wave Accounting and utilize our bookkeeping services monthly. We set the client up in Wave train them and for some handle monthly work.
  • Great collaboration tool between our clients and the bookkeeping team
  • Wave Receipts is extremely helpful for getting source information details
  • The invoice capability is highly valued by our clients
  • We have started using the payroll feature and find it easy to implement
It depends on the size of the business. This great for a service business.
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting (7)
82.85714285714286%
8.3
Accounts payable
70%
7.0
Accounts receivable
90%
9.0
Cash management
100%
10.0
Bank reconciliation
90%
9.0
Expense management
80%
8.0
Regulations compliance
70%
7.0
Self-service portal
80%
8.0
Inventory Management (1)
100%
10.0
Automatic reordering
100%
10.0
Order Management (1)
40%
4.0
Cost of goods sold
40%
4.0
Payroll Management (3)
90%
9.0
Pay calculation
90%
9.0
Direct deposit files
90%
9.0
Salary revision and increment management
90%
9.0
Reporting & Analytics (3)
70%
7.0
Dashboards
80%
8.0
Standard reports
70%
7.0
Custom reports
60%
6.0
Customization (2)
80%
8.0
API for custom integration
70%
7.0
Plug-ins
90%
9.0
Security (2)
85%
8.5
Role-based user permissions
90%
9.0
Single sign-on capability
80%
8.0
  • Easy onboarding of clients
  • Have received quite a few leads from the pro services push
  • Support has been excellent
It fits a niche of clients that are tech savvy, often self employed and want to manage business and personal finances. We are finding that even as these companies grow new features are allowing them to stay in Wave.
5
Once they out grow what is ability to move up to a more robust system?

Wave Accounting Review

Rating: 8 out of 10
June 08, 2016
RO
Vetted Review
Verified User
Wave Accounting
3 years of experience
Wave is being used for my entire organization as we use it for the general ledger, A/R and payroll. It automates many tasks saving our organization time and money. With other software we spent considerable time entering payroll, writing cheques to employees and submitting government remittances. Wave has streamlined this process since employees are paid directly to their bank accounts and government remittances are automatically paid.
  • The payroll module is fantastic. The entire process is automated and saves considerable time throughout the process.
  • The automatic download of bank and credit card transactions into the general ledger saves a considerable amount of time with data entry.
  • Allowing customers to pay invoices by credit card directly through Wave allows for faster collection of receivables.
This software is suited for small owner managed businesses. The payroll automation and importing of bank and credit card transactions save users a significant amount of time when maintaining their records. The software only works for clients who are able to keep their records up to date and perform regular reconciliations. This software loses much of its functionality if the records are not kept up to date.
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting (12)
46.66666666666667%
4.7
Accounts payable
70%
7.0
Accounts receivable
70%
7.0
Cash management
100%
10.0
Bank reconciliation
100%
10.0
Expense management
100%
10.0
Time tracking
N/A
N/A
Fixed asset management
N/A
N/A
Multi-currency support
N/A
N/A
Multi-division support
N/A
N/A
Regulations compliance
N/A
N/A
Electronic tax filing
60%
6.0
Self-service portal
60%
6.0
Inventory Management (4)
N/A
N/A
Inventory tracking
N/A
N/A
Automatic reordering
N/A
N/A
Location management
N/A
N/A
Manufacturing module
N/A
N/A
Order Management (4)
47.5%
4.8
Pricing
50%
5.0
Order entry
50%
5.0
Credit card processing
90%
9.0
Cost of goods sold
N/A
N/A
Payroll Management (5)
100%
10.0
Pay calculation
100%
10.0
Benefit plan administration
100%
10.0
Direct deposit files
100%
10.0
Salary revision and increment management
100%
10.0
Reimbursement management
100%
10.0
Reporting & Analytics (3)
46.66666666666667%
4.7
Dashboards
70%
7.0
Standard reports
70%
7.0
Custom reports
N/A
N/A
Customization (2)
N/A
N/A
API for custom integration
N/A
N/A
Plug-ins
N/A
N/A
Security (2)
100%
10.0
Role-based user permissions
100%
10.0
Single sign-on capability
100%
10.0
  • Increased staff efficiencies
  • Increased customer service
Wave accounting does not have as many features as Quickbooks or Sage 50 but it holds it's own with the market it serves. I use Wave primarily for the payroll functionality and i have recommended that clients who use Sage 50 or Quickbooks use Wave for it's payroll. The importing of the bank transactions is also a great feature but the other competitors have caught up to Wave on this feature. Overall it is a great tool, but only for the right type of client.
1
0
  • Vendor implemented
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