How are Wave Accounting and inDinero different?

Wave Accounting is a free, web-based application that actually has the ability to add GL accounts, add bills (but not write checks), process payroll (at least Canadian payroll right now, with US payroll coming) and run a full, double-ledger accounting system for small businesses. Because it is FREE business owners get to see advertisements across the top of their screen (!!), but it's a minor nuisance to be able to run a somewhat coherent set of books when just starting out. As far as I can tell there is no current ability to reconcile accounts however, which makes producing valid, accurate reports a challenge. But if - like most business owners just getting started - almost all financial activity is run through a bank account and/or credit cards Wave Accounting can help get the data to the right GL account and produces great looking reports. The company is based in Canada, so they naturally consider FX features/functionality - as well as multi-company capabilities - so that's a definite plus!

inDinero produces great looking reports and dashboards as well, but it is more like Mint.com in the sense that - while it links to your bank account and reports on transaction activity - it doesn't have the double-ledger accounting functionality behind it. So you don't really enter vendor bills, and don't really create sales invoices/income that tie to accounts receivable and accounts payable GL accounts. Plus, to get any kind of robust functionality at all, you have to upgrade and that costs money. inDinero is based in the United States (in San Francisco).

Accountants need to remember that all these web-based tools - while great for small business owners - are still not really designed for an accountant, and are still missing a lot of functionality that accountants take for granted now with apps like Quickbooks. But hey, getting small business owners organized and dealing with or looking at financial data in ANY format is better than nothing, and cloud apps like Wave Accounting are filling a major need in the small business accounting space!