New: Other Income and Cost of Goods Sold

At FreshBooks, we’re always listening to customer feedback in order to improve and build new features to help you pursue your passion.

New this month: Other Income and Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). These features work independently in FreshBooks to make it even easier for you to capture and categorize transactions with precision.

Let’s take a closer look!

Other Income: Capture All Revenue from a Single Place

Many small business owners need to record their non-invoice income. Perhaps they’re a tradesperson who picks up a small cash job, or a blogger who also has an affiliate income, or even a photographer who also makes sales to a stock photography site.

Very often, other income comes in drips and drabs. But, over time, it all adds up. And we all know how pesky those small amounts can be when tax time is looming.

Just as it’s important to track every expense, no matter how big or small, it’s important to track every cent coming into your business. After all, it helps you:

• Know accurately where your business stands
• Save time and energy wondering about things slipping through the cracks
• Stay on the ball for tax time

So, it’s absolutely no surprise that Other Income has been one of the most requested feature enhancements.

Other Income turns the sticky-note-pile-random-email-chain-workaround-nightmare into a 3-click dream. You’ll be able to see exactly where your revenue is coming from, empowering you to make sound strategic decisions as you grow your business.

Diversified Income Key to Success

Think Other Income doesn’t apply to you and your business? It might be worth reconsidering. Now that you have this handy dandy feature at your fingertips, why not think about how you might use it?

Diversifying your income is also a great way to future-proof your business. Instead of relying on a single service and a handful of clients, having income from a number of different sources can make or break you in the long run.

So, diversify when you can, then accurately capture those revenue insights securely from a single place—the place you already use to master small business accounting: FreshBooks.

How to Log Other Income in FreshBooks

Step 1: Logging Other Income in FreshBooks is simple and intuitive. Click on the Payments section.

Step 2: Then click on the Other Income tab.

FreshBooks not only keeps track of all your entries, but also color-codes them for easy skimming.

Step 3: Next, click on the plus icon next to All Other Income.

Make sure that when you’re filling the fields, be as specific as possible. That way, when it comes time to look at your reports, you’ll get heaps of helpful insights about where your income is coming from.

Want more info on Other Income? Check out this helpful FAQ.

COGS: An Easier Way Categorize Your Spending

And here’s another tool to add to your organization roster, COGS. This addition helps you track and categorize your expenses more accurately.

So, what does that mean for your business?

You’re in the middle of a project and keep racking up expenses on behalf of your client. Instead of worrying about being out of pocket, you can now simply track your spending on-the-go and categorize it as COGS.

Once the project wraps up, you’ll be able to easily rebill the receipts back to your client and even add a markup. Plus, with your expenses properly organized, your reports will be meticulous, which makes tax season breezy and your accountant happy.

Want to learn more about COGS? Learn more about expense categories.

This post was updated in October 2021.