# 5 Top-Rated Financial Reporting Software for Small Businesses | Capterra > See which financial reporting software tools users rate the highest, with research on benefits and drawbacks, and guidance on how to choose. Source: https://www.capterra.com/resources/financial-reporting-software-for-small-business --- Accounting BasicsFinance & Accounting # 5 Top-Rated Financial Reporting Software for Small Businesses By Ashish Upadhyay Ashish Upadhyay Ashish Upadhyay is a writer at Capterra. He provides insights to help small businesses identify the right software for their needs by analyzing over 550,000 ... [See bio & all articles](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/aupadhyay/) Published July 12, 2023 7 min read Small businesses that can’t afford a dedicated financial team might find it difficult to ensure accurate and compliant financial reporting, especially when dealing with complex accounting standards and regulations. However, with [financial reporting software](https://www.capterra.com/financial-reporting-software/), they can overcome such challenges. The software enables businesses to analyze their revenue, profits, and expenses to get an accurate picture of their financial health. It also automates compliance and reporting processes, ensuring adherence to tax and SEC regulations.  This article highlights, in alphabetical order, the top five financial reporting software for small businesses based on user reviews. For each product, we include overall user ratings along with the highest-rated parameter, review excerpts from industry professionals, and product pricing. [Read more](#methodology). ## 1\. [BQE CORE Suite](https://www.capterra.com/p/141096/BQE-Software/) #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Highest-rated parameter Customer support - 4.63 #### Commonly used by Professionals in the architecture and planning, civil engineering, and accounting industries #### Starting price Available on quote #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of June 2023 **Here are some review excerpts from small-business professionals who have used BQE CORE Suite for financial reporting:** _"Core is easy to use for A/P, A/R, and project set-up and tracking. The support is its shining star, though, as smart, accountable, and educated professionals are always available by phone to answer any questions. If issues need escalating, they always follow-up and I'm on a first name basis with some of the best. After getting the runaround from QuickBooks, their support is a breath of fresh air!"_ _"Overall positive, I feel that if I am ever in need CORE would be quick to respond and very helpful. It has been easy to train staff to use CORE for invoicing and time tracking. We would love to learn to use more of CORE to get our productivity levels up."_ _"The customer service is outstanding and available 24-7. The software itself is easy to use as long as you put the time in to learn what it can do. Reports are great and very customizable and if you cannot find what you need there is an option to reach out for a custom report for a fee. Time entry is extremely easy to do whether you are in the office or on the go."_ [Read all BQE CORE Suite reviews here](https://www.capterra.com/p/141096/BQE-Software/reviews/). ## 2\. [FreeAgent](https://www.capterra.com/p/122008/FreeAgent/) #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Highest-rated parameter Customer support - 4.72 #### Commonly used by Professionals in the marketing and advertising, accounting, and design industries #### Starting price $10 per month for the first six months, then $20 per month #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of June 2023 **Here are some review excerpts from small-business professionals who have used FreeAgent for financial reporting:** _“A great product which is very easy to use. I like the fact that it learns from previous accounting entry explanations to offer good suggestions."_ _"Overall, I really like freeagent. It's a great way to manage your finances and keep track of your invoices, financial statements, and expenses. The interface is user-friendly and easy to navigate.”_ _"It's very intuitive and has amazing support and training for us and our clients. We use this software for our smaller sole traders who find it really easy to use. We do most of the setup and they basically just invoice their clients using the mobile app."_ [Read all FreeAgent reviews here](https://www.capterra.com/p/122008/FreeAgent/reviews/). ## 3. [Patriot Accounting](https://www.capterra.com/p/141644/Patriot-Accounting/) #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Highest-rated parameter Customer support - 4.76 #### Commonly used by Professionals in the construction; real estate; and health, wellness, and fitness industries #### Starting price $20 per month #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of June 2023 **Here are some review excerpts from small-business professionals who have used Patriot Accounting for financial reporting:** _"I appreciate this software in helping me organize and keep track of my expenses. I like the ease of having everything in its place when it’s time to do taxes. I enjoy the general ledger and being able to input a date and find the expense or invoice. I’m a first time software accounting user and patriot made it very easy!"_ _"I really like Patriot because it is extremely user friendly. I have a very small side business. I dont use alot of the features but to track daily income and expenses is great. I also do not have a ton of time to spend, so checking in weekly with the easy to use features is so nice. Customer support has been wonderful as well."_ _"Found the software to be easy to set up and use, and it was laid out in a way that you could get to what you needed simply by accessing your dashboard."_ [Read all Patriot Accounting reviews here](https://www.capterra.com/p/141644/Patriot-Accounting/reviews/). ## 4\. [Xero](https://www.capterra.com/p/120109/Xero/) #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Highest-rated parameter Ease of use - 4.43 #### Commonly used by Professionals in the accounting, IT and services, and marketing and advertising industries #### Starting price $13 per month #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of June 2023 **Here are some review excerpts from small-business professionals who have used Xero for financial reporting:** _"Easy to use, has great in-depth features for compiling company specific reports, managing channels and customers. Invoicing is a breeze, keeping track of invoices and bills is super easy and user management is also quite flexible."_ _"The software is easy to set up and use and really helps keep small business accounting under control in its basic package. In addition there is great room to grow all the way up to larger business sizes with the features available. Customizations are easy and the product is flexible."_ _"Xero makes managing the finances for a business really straightforward. The user interface is intuitive and it centralises all my accounts information. One of my favourite features is the the dashboard, which is clear and customisable, and gives a great summary of the position position at any time. The software also integrates really well to other platforms for things like receipt capture and detailed business analysis."_ [Read all Xero reviews here](https://www.capterra.com/p/120109/Xero/reviews/). ## 5\. [ZarMoney](https://www.capterra.com/p/147348/ZarMoney-Cloud-Accounting/) #### Trial/Free Version - Free Trial - Free Version #### Highest-rated parameter Value for money - 4.84 #### Commonly used by Professionals in the construction, wholesale, and nonprofit organization management industries #### Starting price $15 per user, per month #### Device Compatibilty \* Analysis Accurate as of June 2023 **Here are some review excerpts from small-business professionals who have used ZarMoney for financial reporting:** _"Easy to use, GREAT customer service. Real people will talk to you and help you resolve any questions or issues you have. It's like they actually care about you. I also love that they don't build in a bunch of "helpful" micromanaging features that you can't turn off. I love LOVE the absolute simplicity of this product."_ _"Excellent tool, easy to use, effective and when completed, the invoice emails directly to customer. Inexpensive and has great reporting functions as well. It has all you need for a small business.”_ _“Great choice for a small to mid-sized company over the higher priced options. Has all the bells and whistles for financial management and is easy to learn; plus a great customer service department."_ [Read all ZarMoney reviews here](https://www.capterra.com/p/147348/ZarMoney-Cloud-Accounting/reviews/). ## What features does financial reporting software offer? Financial reporting tools offer the following core features: **General ledger:** Maintain a centralized database of accounting records to track all financial transactions. **Income and balance sheet:** Create income statements showcasing earned revenue vs. outgoing expenses during a specific period. You can also create balance sheets detailing your business’s assets, liabilities, and equity at a certain point in time. **Profit and loss statement:** Generate a profit and loss statement that records and reports your organization's revenues, costs, and expenses over a specific period. All products listed in this article include the features mentioned above. Besides these core features, financial reporting software solutions also commonly tend to offer: -  Budgeting/forecasting -  Cash management -  Consolidation/roll-up ## How to choose the right financial reporting software for your small business Here are some factors to consider to shortlist the best financial accounting software for your small business: - **Check for automation features**. An ideal financial reporting tool should automate data collection from different sources, such as accounting systems, spreadsheets, and internal databases, to create quarterly and annual financial reports. It should also allow you to automate sharing reports with stakeholders via email. - **Assess data visualization capabilities.** Financial reporting software that offers data visualization options, such as charts, graphs, and dashboards, makes it easier to analyze and understand complex financial statements, such as cash flow or expense trends. - **Look for collaboration functionality**. Financial reporting tools should provide collaborative workflows that enable multiple users to access reports and comment or annotate on specific sections. This feature allows stakeholders to offer or request context, explanations, or clarifications on financial data. ## Common questions to ask vendors before purchasing financial reporting software for your small business Ask vendors the following questions to identify the best financial accounting software for your small business: What type of financial reports can the software generate? A financial reporting software solution should create reports such as the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement to track and analyze your business’s cash inflows and outflows. These reports also provide meaningful insights to monitor KPIs relevant to your organization’s financial goals. Does the software provide audit trail functionality? Inquire whether your shortlisted software offers audit trail functionality to track changes made to financial data or reports over a quarter or fiscal year. This feature is essential to maintain data integrity and compliance, and support internal or external audits mandated by regulatory bodies. What customization options are available for financial reports? Ensure the financial management software solution provides customization options to add or modify report templates, set up custom calculations and formulas, or tailor reports to match your branding or presentation requirements. * * * **Methodology** To be considered for this list, products had to: - Have at least 20 unique product reviews from financial reporting software users from small businesses (i.e., businesses with fewer than 200 employees), published on Capterra between May 2021-2023. We selected the five products with the highest ratings to feature in this article. - Offer the following financial reporting features: Balance sheet, profit and loss statements, and general ledger. To determine which industry each product is “commonly used by,” we check if at least 2% of reviewers come from a particular industry, and only then classify the product as having customers from that industry. Review excerpts are passages extracted from longer reviews written by verified reviewers. We obtain these excerpts by applying an algorithm that considers factors including, but not limited to, length, topic coverage, and thematic relevance. Excerpts are evaluated for positive or negative sentiment and receive a sentiment score. Excerpts represent user opinion and do not represent the views of, nor constitute an endorsement by, Capterra or its affiliates. Excerpts are not edited for clarity or grammar. Read more about our editorial independence. * * * Looking for Financial Reporting software?Check out Capterra's list of the [best Financial Reporting software](https://www.capterra.com/financial-reporting-software/) solutions. ### Was this article helpful? * * * ## About the Author [### Ashish Upadhyay](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/aupadhyay/) Ashish Upadhyay is a writer at Capterra. He provides insights to help small businesses identify the right software for their needs by analyzing over 550,000 Capterra user reviews and nearly 48,000 interactions between Capterra software advisors and buyers. 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