Zoho Books

What Is Zoho Books?

Zoho Books is an online accounting software from Zoho Corporation. It covers invoicing and banking along with inventory and expenses reporting. The software helps accounting firms manage bookkeeping and tax work along with daily financial tasks.

Its main areas include receivables for invoices and quotes, and payment collection. Payables cover bills and recurring expenses whereas projects support budgets and client billing. Reports provide financial reports with scheduled delivery. Multi-currency support is also available for businesses that work with different currencies.

Zoho Books works on web and mobile devices along with Windows desktop. It connects with Zoho CRM and Zoho Inventory along with Zoho Payroll and Zoho Expense, and Zoho Billing.

What Is Zoho Books Best For?

Zoho Books stands out for Zia – its AI assistant – which lets users ask questions about their financial data in plain language. It can help analyze data and identify trends along with creating reports and answering accounting questions. This gives users another way to review financial information without going through the data manually.

How Much Does Zoho Books Cost?

Zoho Books pricing starts at $20/org/month for its Standard plan. The plan includes progress invoicing, sales and use tax tracking, divisional reports with reporting tags, and more. The vendor also offers the following plans:

• Free: $0
• Professional: $50/org/month
• Premium: $70/org/month
• Elite: $150/org/month
• Ultimate: $275/org/month

The vendor offers the following add-ons (not included in the Free plan except Advanced Autoscans):

• Users: $3/user/month
• Advanced Autoscans: $10/50 scans/month
• Locations: $12/location/month
• Expense Claim: $9/active user/month
• BillPay: $69/month

Users frequently describe Zoho Books as competitively priced for small businesses, noting predictable monthly costs, flexible add-ons, and better value than many accounting competitors at similar tiers.

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change.

Zoho Books Integrations

In addition to the broader Zoho ecosystem, Zoho Books facilitates an easy integration with different third-app party applications, including:

• PayPal software
• Stripe
• Google Drive
• Slack software
• Twilio software
• Paystack

How Does Zoho Books Work?

Here is a how users from different industries can start working with Zoho Books software:

• Sign up for a 14-day trial or log in to an existing Zoho Books account
• Import opening balances and customer records along with vendors and items. This should be done with previous transactions when moving from another system
• Set up your organization and users with roles and currencies and taxes templates
• Add customers and vendors along with products and services and price lists
• Create quotes and sales orders with invoices and recurring invoices and retainers and credit notes
• Record expenses and bills with purchase orders and vendor payments and vendor credits
• Connect bank and credit card accounts to receive transaction feeds and reconcile transactions
• Approve employee transactions through configured approval workflows
• Track project time through timesheets and bill customers based on recorded hours
• Store receipts and other documents and attach them to related transactions
• Record journals and manage the chart of accounts with currency adjustments and locked transactions through the accountant module
• Collect customer payments online or record them against invoices manually
• Monitor receivables and payables with cash flow. Also monitor income expenses and banking activity from the dashboard
• Generate more than 40 business accounting and tax reports to review financial activity

Who Is Zoho Books For?

The software is used in different industries and businesses, such as:

• Engineering
• Information technology
• Financial services
• Agriculture
• Consultancy firms

Zoho Books Use Cases

Based on our review of Zoho Books features, it fits the following accounting use cases:

Small Businesses Leaving QuickBooks After Rising Subscription Costs

Small businesses considering a move from QuickBooks can use Zoho Books to transfer their existing accounting data. This means they do not have to rebuild their financial records from the beginning. The option is useful for companies with several years of records that want to change accounting software while keeping their existing data.

International Businesses Managing Frequent Multi-Currency Sales And Payments

Companies that invoice overseas customers or pay vendors in other currencies can use Zoho Books for these transactions. The software supports different currencies and applies exchange rates when transactions are recorded. This suits businesses where foreign-currency sales and expenses are a regular part of accounting.

Small Accounting Firms Managing Books For Growing Client Portfolios

Accounting firms managing books for several clients can use Zoho Books to keep each client's financial records separate. User roles let accountants control access to accounting information for different users. This can suit smaller firms that manage several client accounts without using separate practice-management software.

Retailers And Wholesalers Keeping Inventory And Accounting Records Aligned

Retailers and wholesalers deal with frequent purchases and sales that affect both stock levels and financial records. Zoho Books connects inventory activity with purchasing and sales transactions so businesses can keep these records together. This makes it relevant for product-based companies that need accounting records to reflect ongoing inventory movements.

Nonprofits Separating Restricted Donations From Operating Revenue

Nonprofits can use Zoho Books to keep donations and restricted funds separate from operating income. Its nonprofit accounting options support fund and donation categorization based on the organization's accounting needs. This can suit smaller nonprofits that manage different funding sources and activities.

Is Zoho Books Right For You?

Zoho Books may suit businesses that want day-to-day accounting along with newer AI-assisted features. Its Zia-powered report insights can provide summaries from financial reports. AI custom fields can also extract and organize information from images. Recent addition of time-based report filters offers user-level controls for specific bank accounts.

Businesses that work with independent contractors can use Zoho Books for W-9 collection and 1099 reporting. Users can collect W-9 forms from vendors and map accounts to 1099 boxes. The software can also identify vendors that meet reporting thresholds and support e-filing for 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC forms with the IRS.

Beyond basic bookkeeping, Zoho Books can help businesses manage recurring accounting tasks and keep transactions organized. Automated workflows and bank reconciliation can support regular payment activity while multi-currency accounting suits businesses that work with international transactions. Businesses that accept in-person payments can also use connected terminals and dynamic QR codes.

Zoho Books received the Expert's Choice Award and User Experience Award from FinancesOnline in 2019. Its accounting features and recent updates make it worth considering small and growing businesses that need broader financial management and reporting options.

Still unsure whether Zoho Books is the right choice for your business? Contact us at (661) 384-7070 to guide you in making an informed decision.