Business Accounting Programs 1

Hello, everyone. Today we’re going to work on our first practice file, and I’m pretty excited for
this one. And this will just be me talking about different kinds of tools that small businesses can
use. And in this you can also – it will be a great way for you to practice looking up some
company names online, and just a few things like that.

We’ll keep it pretty simple. It will be probably about five minutes, and just a chance for you to
type some stuff out and get used to transcribing. And I apologize. I can talk kind of quickly, but
you'll have to do that as well for other files. So we’re going to start off talking about accounting
software.

And I’m kind of a numbers gal sometimes. So I’ve looked at a bunch of different accounting,
and some of this I’ve – I’ll talk about what I use for transcription, but I have to clarify: my
husband also owns a small company, which I help him with now and then. So this is also some
things that I’ve either used all these or done the trial on these different kinds of software. So let’s
just get into talking about some software.

The first one I’m going to talk about is QuickBooks and QuickBooks Online. So QuickBooks
Online is a software that you've probably heard of. It starts off fairly cheap, like $12-$15 a
month, and then it can go up to $40 a month. If you use other things on top of it like time
tracking, or they have an online payment system, or payroll, those can be more expensive.

It has what’s called – it’s based on double-entry accounting, which is traditional accounting with
debits, and credits, and a chart of accounts, and all that. It’s built for businesses which are a little
heavier into their accounting, and especially if you have inventory it can be nice, and things like
that.

It’s also good because most accountants are used to QuickBooks or QuickBooks Online. And so
if you need help with your taxes or you need to share some files, it’s pretty easy to share with
your accountant. So that is QuickBooks Online. The next one I’m going to talk about is a newer
player to the field. It’s called Xero.

Xero also is a double-entry type of accounting software. Now in this one, since it’s newer,
accountants aren't as familiar with it, and so you might need to find an accountant who is
familiar with it or teach them about it a little bit yourself. The pricing is a little bit different on
this one, because it has a smaller offering, but then it also if you have, I believe, a few employees
it is $80 a month for accounting software for payroll and for things like that.

It looks like you can have a starter package of $9 a month. The standard package is $30 a month,
and then if you are doing payroll with more than one employee it goes up to $70 a month. And
those also include invoices, although the invoices are limited at the starter level. So that is some
on Xero. It integrates with a lot of mobile apps, and this is something that QuickBooks Online
does as well, but Xero has a few more integrations and sometimes it’s a little bit easier, I think.

It also has more online payment options. So if someone is paying you an invoice online, or
different things like that, they can choose different things like Stripe or they have some banking,
like ACH payments, that you can do. I don't know if they have PayPal or not, but they might. So

How to Become a Transcriptionist

 Business Accounting Programs 2

they do have more – and cheaper, I should say – online payment options than QuickBooks
Online does.

The next one, FreshBooks, is a great option for freelancers, and it’s not quite double accounting,
but most freelancers don’t really need that. It will keep track of all your invoices. It will also
keep track of your expenses, and all three of these integrate with bank accounts so you can
reconcile against your bank and just import transactions that way.

And so FreshBooks is actually really slick for invoicing. That’s one of its strongest features, and
it can set up recurring invoices. It can also integrate with a lot of other mobile apps and a lot of
payment processors, again. So FreshBooks is another one to look at.

And then what I use for transcription is – I’m pretty old school. I just use Excel. I already own it,
and I can just keep track of all my invoices, total them up so I know at tax time if what I have
matches what the company sends out. I don’t have that many expenses as a transcriptionist, and
so it’s very easy to just kind of jot them down, make sure I keep the receipts. And I can have
everything just in one free-to-me thing on Excel. So I use Excel.

Now, the next thing I’m going to talk about is time tracking software. And what I use mostly for
transcription is called [TimeKeeper]. It’s by the same company that puts out Express Scribe, and
it’s downloaded. It’s just on my desktop, and it’s just really handy to know how much time I’m
spending on certain files, so how much I’m actually making per hour on those files and how
much I make in a week’s time or a month’s time.

So I don’t use it all the time, but if I want to track my productivity it’s something I’ll bring out
and I’ll use. Also, it can be a good incentive to go a little bit faster, be a little more productive if I
can see how much time I’m actually spending. And then another one is Toggl. And this is
actually online, and it’s free as well. There’s paid versions, and it’s pretty handy as well.

It has some reports and different things. So that might be something to look at, and so let’s just
keep it around five minutes. So I guess we’re just going to talk about accounting software, and
thanks for joining me today. Bye.

How to Become a Transcriptionist