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.
TrustRadius Insights
Disappointed in Wave Accounting
Wave Accounting has become unreliable
Wave has all you need for basic acounting
Awesome and easy-to-use software that unfortunately you can't use if you hire a good bookkeeper
Good Accounting Software for SME's
Wave accounting FRAUD and malicious practices.
Wave Accounting Review
Wave was a great option for my marketing consulting business.
Wave is user friendly - easy to use!
Wave Accounting Software
I will never use this free software -they just cancel features!!!
Avoid Waveapps if you are a non-profit
Wave Accounting - great for micro businesses
Awful Software and Support
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Awards
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Popular Features
- Bank reconciliation (64)8.585%
- Standard reports (68)8.585%
- Dashboards (69)7.171%
- Accounts receivable (68)6.464%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
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.
Product Demos
How To Use Wave Accounting App | Get a hold of your Money! | Ibukun Awosika
Wave Accounting Demo
Features
Payroll Management
Provides for pay calculation and benefit plan administration, in addition to managing direct deposit, salary revisions and payroll tracking.
- 7.1Pay calculation(23) Ratings
Pay calculation provides for computation of employee pay with state and federal deductions.
- 7.5Benefit plan administration(4) Ratings
Benefit plan administration is administration of health insurance plans and 401k plans, and other benefits.
- 1.2Direct deposit files(20) Ratings
Direct deposit is the ability to electronically transfer pay to an employee’s personal bank account.
- 7.7Salary revision and increment management(12) Ratings
Salary revision is the ability to modify individual employee pay.
- 7.4Reimbursement management(8) Ratings
Reimbursement management provides cash reimbursement for employee expenses related to business travel or other.
Customization
This addresses a company’s ability to configure the software to fit its specific use case and workflow.
- 9.9API for custom integration(9) Ratings
An API (application programming interface) provides a standard programming interface for connecting third-party systems to the software for data creation, access, updating and/or deletion.
- 7Plug-ins(11) Ratings
A number of third-party plug-ins are available to expand the core functionality of the software.
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.
- 8.5Single sign-on capability(31) Ratings
The software system supports a centralized authentication mechanism allowing the user to access multiple systems with a single, centrally managed password.
- 8.4Role-based user permissions(35) Ratings
Permissions to perform actions or access or modify data are assigned to roles, which are then assigned to users, reducing complexity of administration.
Reporting & Analytics
Users can report on and analyze usage, performance, ROI, and/or other metrics of success.
- 7.1Dashboards(69) Ratings
Users can create, customize and share dashboards, which provide an overview of the most important metrics.
- 8.5Standard reports(68) Ratings
The software offers pre-built reports with metrics standard to the category.
- 5Custom reports(35) Ratings
Users can create custom reports.
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Financial management solution, including capabilities for general ledger and configurable accounting
- 6.4Accounts payable(57) Ratings
This includes the automation and tracking of payment to vendors and suppliers, with features such as payment scheduling, check printing, open purchase order alerts, document management, direct ACH bill payment, and vendor records.
- 6.4Accounts receivable(68) Ratings
This includes the management and automation of invoices and collections, with features like statements, invoices, receipts, payment reminders, customer records, auto billing, and refund checks.
- 8.5Cash management(60) Ratings
The software provides a complete picture of a company’s cash flows, streamlines payment processing, and includes cash forecasting.
- 8.5Bank reconciliation(64) Ratings
The software connects to a company’s financial institutions in order to reconcile accounting records with checking, savings and credit card accounts. Often month and year closing capabilities are included.
- 8.5Expense management(62) Ratings
The software can log and track business expenses and reimbursements, including travel-related expenses, with the ability to tie them to particular projects.
- 9.6Time tracking(11) Ratings
The software can track billable and non-billable employee time by project.
- 9.6Fixed asset management(12) Ratings
This includes the ability to track fixed assets (e.g., laptops), including location, check-in and check-out, maintenance scheduling, audit history, specialized property tax period reports, cost and depreciation.
- 10Multi-currency support(19) Ratings
The software supports transactions across multiple currencies.
- 7.1Multi-division support(9) Ratings
The software is flexible and supports bookkeeping practices along multiple dimensions such as locations, branches or products.
- 6.8Regulations compliance(15) Ratings
The software helps users adhere to typical accounting standards and regulations such as IFRS, GASB, or GAAP.
- 5.9Electronic tax filing(14) Ratings
The software provides a full electronic interface for the filing of repeatable taxes, such as payroll or sales tax.
- 1.7Self-service portal(39) Ratings
The software provides online portals for certain stakeholders to find information relevant to them, such as employees, vendors and customers.
- 9Global Financial Support(2) Ratings
Account using multiple ledgers, multiple currencies, and multiple entities
- 7Primary and Secondary Ledgers(4) Ratings
Record and report across multiple currencies and accounting standards with primary and secondary ledgers
- 4Intercompany Accounting(5) Ratings
Automatically balance and reconcile GL for intercompany transactions
- 5.2Localizations(3) Ratings
Meet reporting requirements with country-specific localizations
- 8Journals and Reconciliations(29) Ratings
Automate and synchronize ledgers and processes
- 4Enterprise Accounting(7) Ratings
Create accounting for disconnected ERP and non-accounting source systems
- 5.5Configurable Accounting(16) Ratings
Configure accounting rules and segments for each chart of accounts
- 1Centralized Rules Framework(3) Ratings
Integrate disparate ERP and transactional systems into single ERP instance
- 6.9Standardized Processes(18) Ratings
Centralize financial management to facilitate standardized financial processes
Inventory Management
The ability to track and manage the flow of goods or materials into and out of an inventory.
- 5.6Inventory tracking(8) Ratings
The software syncs orders and stock to maintain a real-time picture of inventory and supports multiple methods such as LIFO and FIFO.
- 9.9Automatic reordering(5) Ratings
The software can be set up to automatically reorder a good when it falls below a certain threshold.
- 8.1Location management(2) Ratings
The software can track multiple goods across multiple locations.
- 9Manufacturing module(1) Ratings
The software helps track and manage raw materials, work-in-progress items, and finished goods.
Order Management
The ability to process orders, and track them from quote to cash.
- 9.9Pricing(26) Ratings
Users can set up complex and unique pricing requirements.
- 10Order entry(18) Ratings
Users can enter an order once, and the data flows to all the necessary units such as fulfillment and billing.
- 2.3Credit card processing(45) Ratings
The software facilitates credit card processing.
- 10Cost of goods sold(33) Ratings
The software calculates the direct costs attributable to a finished product, such as materials and labor, and includes roll-up pricing.
- 5.8Order Orchestration(5) Ratings
Define and execute order fulfillment processes for products as well as services on the same order.
- 8.2End-to-end order visibility(4) Ratings
Get updates on orders, inventory, shipments, planned supply, and invoices, and improve the quality of decisions through in-context analytics
- 7Order exception Resolution(2) Ratings
Monitor fulfillment tasks and resolve issues, view and evaluate varios options via what-if analysis and define and enforce change order rules
Product Details
- About
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Wave Accounting?
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 Systems | Unspecified |
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Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(176)Community Insights
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
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 80)- Offers free version
- Reasonably easy to set-up
- Works similar to Xero
- Reporting is more than adequate
- Journal entries are not as fluid as QBO
- Hard to customize reporting
- Difficult to customize Chart of Accounts
- Slightly remedial - not good for large organizations
Disappointed in Wave Accounting
- 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
Wave Accounting has become unreliable
- Easy to work
- Used to be available
- Familiar
- MAINTENANCE
- Reliability
- Poor Customer Service
Wave has all you need for basic acounting
- Reconcile
- Categorize
- Reporting
- Access to submit question
- customer service
Awesome and easy-to-use software that unfortunately you can't use if you hire a good bookkeeper
- 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)
Good Accounting Software for SME's
- 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
Wave accounting FRAUD and malicious practices.
- Lure people in
- Lie
- Misrepresent the product
- company needs to be shut down!
Wave Accounting Review
- 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!
- Sending Invoices
- Expense Tracking
- Invoice Tracking
- Managing Accounts
Wave is user friendly - easy to use!
- Invoicing
- Expenses
- Reporting
- No areas that I currently see
Wave Accounting Software
- 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.
- Easy to use
- Free version
- Customer service, bot chat only or email
- Changed/cancelled payment services without warning
Avoid Waveapps if you are a non-profit
- 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.
Wave Accounting - great for micro businesses
- 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.
Awful Software and Support
- Cloud-based
- Connects to external accounts for transaction import
- Customer Service
- Software Upgrades that negatively affect bookkeeping past and present
- 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.
Very Affordable Accounting Software
- Very affordable.
- Easy to use!
- Connection issues with bank accounts and credit card accounts
- Learning curve to understanding the accounting software is large.
A great, cheap option for small organizations!
- Affordable accounting software.
- Not too overwhelming.
- Their reports have gotten a lot better, but are still not able to do month to month comparisons.
- It does not handle inventory well at all.
Robust, Easy Accounting Software - And It's Free!
- Easy to record income and expenses.
- Easy to search for a particular entry when I need it.
- Nothing to improve on, to be honest. It's excellent free accounting software.
Great tool for small business, non profits and entrepreneurs
- 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.
- 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.
Easy to use for someone without accounting or business experience
- 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.
Wave has helped me grow my business by saving me time and helping my invoices get paid
- Accept payments online.
- Easy invoice creation.
- Overall accounting.
- More integration options.
- More options in mobile app.
Riding the Wave (Accounting)
- Invoices
- Reports
- UI/UX
- For people who aren't experienced with accounting, it can be a little confusing. I wish the help were a little more extensive.
Free Wave Accounting hits the spot for small businesses
- 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.