Introducing: Industry-Standard Double-Entry Accounting Features

As your business begins to grow, it’s important to find ways to track your progress so you can learn from your mistakes and build on your success.

Maybe you’re a music teacher who doesn’t know that a piano tune-up isn’t an expense, and you misrepresent your margins. Maybe you’re a photographer who sells an image to a stock website and you find yourself wishing there was an easy way to track Other Income. (Spoiler alert: There is.) Bottom line: You’re missing opportunities to increase your growth potential.

To help, FreshBooks has added new double-entry accounting features that open up a world of business insights, make it easier to collaborate with accounting professionals, and give you the kind of financial precision that can’t be beaten at tax time.

What Is Double-Entry Accounting?

Double-entry accounting is the industry-standard practice for recording transactions. Every transaction must have matching debit and credit entries that affect at least 2 accounts. This helps to paint a more complete and accurate picture of your books.

Double-entry accounting allows you to understand exactly how much money you’re making versus spending. For example, if you buy a computer, you’ve both spent money and gained a computer. Double-entry accounting tracks both sides of the transaction so that your books balance out.

How Can Double-Entry Accounting Benefit My Business?

With a more thorough breakdown of your financial activity, FreshBooks double-entry accounting gives you a complete picture of where your business stands. This allows you to confidently make more informed decisions like setting aside enough money for tax time, hiring a new employee, or making a big-ticket purchase.

While single-entry accounting is useful for tracking revenue and expenses, double-entry accounting can also help track your assets, liabilities, and equity.

Who Is Double-Entry Accounting For?

FreshBooks double-entry accounting is for anyone who wants to know:

• Where your money is being spent
• Where you can find savings
• How your business is performing
• How to forecast the health of your business.

And if you’re a FreshBooks Plus, Premium, or Select customer, you automatically have access to it!

What Are FreshBooks’ Double-Entry Accounting Features?

• General Ledger: A complete record of all your company’s financial transactions.
• Trial Balance: A statement of all the debit and credit balances in your chart of accounts.
• Chart of Accounts: A list of all accounts that help you categorize the transactions of your business.
• Accountant Access: A personalized login for your accountant for easy collaboration and data sharing.
• Bank Reconciliation: A tool that helps you match transactions in your bank to entries saved in FreshBooks. It helps ensure that your books are in alignment with your bank balances.
• Balance Sheet: A full aggregate record of your business’s finances—including assets, equity and liability.

Need Help with Double-Entry Accounting?

There’s a lot to dive into with industry-standard double-entry accounting. If you need any help, reach out here.

This post was updated in November 2022.