2018 Review of Freshbooks – AR Functions

FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting product best suited for freelancers, start-ups, and very small businesses. FreshBooks is an excellent choice for those that need to track time and billing, and also offers a mobile app that works with iOS and Android smart phones and tablets.

Setting up customer information (called a client) in FreshBooks takes only a few moments, with users required to enter only basic information about each client. Available in the Plus and Premium versions of FreshBooks, users can easily customize client setting to automatically send payments reminders to their clients, as well as charge late fees for any overdue invoices. Users can also specify the intervals that they wish to send reminders. Personalized messages can also be included on any payment reminders sent. Default currency and language options are also chosen during the initial setup process.

Users can choose to invite both employees and contractors to join FreshBooks, enabling them to easily submit time worked directly to the business user for accurate client billing.

FreshBooks allows users to easily accept online payments via credit card, and clients can easily pay online directly from their invoice. Payments can be accepted through FreshBooks Payments or Stripe. Users can also pay through Apple Pay or PayPal, and the product also allows payment through integration with eCommerce sites such as Magento and Shopify. Integration with Square is also available, allowing users to accept payments anywhere.

Users can access outstanding balances along with invoice and payment history from the Client Account Statement. Users can also easily modify invoices from this area as well. Client account statements can also be exported to Microsoft Excel if necessary. Users can easily apply payments received to multiple invoices by simply marking each invoice as paid.

Credits can easily be to a client invoice, with users able to easily apply any outstanding credits prior to posting additional payments. Users can also offer clients a payment schedule, with the ability to schedule up to 12 payments, along with the specified amount or percentage of payment due for each particular date.

As a complete accounting application, all FreshBooks features work together. The product also offers integration with more than 65 third-party applications including Gusto, Fundbox, Zapier, Avalara TrustFile, Collbox, Eventbrite, Square, Salesforce, and WordPress, and Constant Contact.

The multi-currency feature in FreshBooks allows users to offer goods and services globally, with the application able to process invoices and accept payments in a variety of currencies.

FreshBooks offers a decent selection of reports and dashboards that highlight vital information, including an Accounts Aging Report, Expense Report, and Payments Collected Report. Dashboard reporting includes a breakdown of overdue invoices, outstanding invoices, total profit and spending details. All FreshBooks reports can be easily exported to Microsoft Excel for further customization.

Designed for the freelancer or small business owners, FreshBooks true sweet spot is time and expense tracking, but the product also offers decent accounts receivable capability; allowing users to easily keep track of invoices and balances, while offering good client follow-up options as well. FreshBooks offers three editions of its product, with all editions including a mobile app for smart phones and tablets. FreshBooks Lite supports five clients and runs $15.00 per month. The Plus version supports 50 clients and runs $25.00 per month. A Premium version that supports 500 clients is also available for $50.00 per month.

2018 Overall Rating – 4.25 Stars