Wave Accounting is part of an integrated set of online small business finance tools that also include Invoicing, Payroll and Receipts. Noting that most small business accounting software is usually actually designed for larger businesses, Wave focuses on serving businesses with nine or fewer employees.

All of the Wave apps are free.

From my research, the company turns a profit by serving up ads from companies that offer business supplies, computers, financial services and other products and services that are specifically for a small business. There is also a Wave Pro directory of accountants that can work with the Wave services and the small business owner.

Wave Accounting is designed to be simple and uncluttered, downloads transactions from banks, Paypal and other financial institutions, generates financial reports, works seamlessly with the Invoicing and Payroll apps.

The Invoicing app lets you choose from templates to create an attractive invoice with your logo. Invoices can be emailed and, for a small fee, can include a “Pay Now” button to allow customers to pay via credit card. The Payroll app includes direct deposit at no cost. Receipts is a mobile app for taking a photo business receipts with an iPhone (the Android app is currently in beta) and uploading receipts as transactions to the Accounting app where they are approved.

Watch the training videos below for using Wave Accounting.

Many self employed people like to manage personal finances alongside their business accounting, and Wave Personal can track your personal finances and investments, and be used to create a budget.

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