Accounting for Freelancers

When it comes to being a freelancer, you’re on your own when it comes to handling your funds! One of the first steps to making sure that you’re successful in your freelance career is to make sure that you’re making money! To do this, you’ll need to track your income as well as your expenses. Accounting can be hard. Freelance designers are used to doing just that, designing. But there are a few websites/apps out there that I have found make it a lot easier! I actually like all three of my suggestions, and the only reason I’ve switched between them all is that certain agencies I freelance for prefer specific ones for their processes!

accounting for freelancers

1. Freshbooks

Currently, Freshbooks is what I use for not only my general accounting but also a few other things! This site allows you to track your income and expenses, as well as send invoices to clients. You can customize your workspace, even adding your own logo and colors to the Freshbooks dash. It also allows for time tracking for hourly-pay from clients. This is a great feature for freelancers since most of the time there’s no time clock on the wall to punch! Freshbooks also has an app that allows for time tracking on-the-go or whenever you’re away from your computer. At the end of a project, I can easily send an invoice for the billable hours worked. Instead of going over things and taking lots of your time to review your month, Freshbooks creates reports for you! These reports are easy to print and file. This site has a free trial period, with pricing plans following.

2. Wave Accounting

This software was one of the most recommended to me for accounting for freelancers. Once I signed up, it was pretty easy to see why! I love the modern interface and the ease of use. As a freelancer, sometimes my money comes in from various places/sources and various accounts. I love Wave’s efforts to track ALL of my expenses everywhere, with linking to my accounts as well as manual entries. My favorite feature of Wave (on its app) is the Receipt feature that allows you to snap a picture of your receipts and files them for you. No more wads of receipts cluttering up my purse! Wave Accounting is free for use but does have some “Pro Features” that cost. For a solo freelancer, though, most of those wouldn’t be needed!

3. Intuit Quickbooks

This site + app seem to somewhat be an ultimate mix of both of the previous accounting sites mentioned! It features the nice design that Wave has, mixed with the freelancer-small business capabilities of Freshbooks. Not only does it have its own app, but it also integrates with several other popular apps on the market. It has great reminders, to help you realize when a client is late with a payment or if there are any errors.  Quickbooks also has its own tax programs, so of course, there’s easy transfer of information from this platform when tax season rolls around! Quickbooks has a free trial, with a choose-only-the-features-you-need style paid plans option.

Overall, I have had pleasant experiences with all three of these sites! I recommend playing around with each, and deciding which one will ultimately be best for you. In general, I just want all of my fellow freelance designers (or whatever it is that you do freely) to take accounting seriously so that you can continue to grow and live out your dreams without being hit by a financial setback!

What’s your favorite way to do accounting for your freelance or small business? View more of my freelance resources !

– xoxo, Lindsey