Accounting based on clouds has inherent advantages like offering access from anywhere at any time and collaboration. Needs of small and medium business enterprises vary according to the nature of their business and what is good for one may not be good for the other. The most expensive or fully featured one is not necessary if inexpensive Cloud based Accounting software will serve the purpose. Take a look at some of the cloud based accounting software for SMBs. Intuit, Sage and QuickBooks have been on the scene since ages and have cloud based offerings but these are expensive. You may want to consider cloud based accounting software that helps you get the job done without leaving you light in the pocket.

FreshBooks

FreshBooks is available as free trial and subscription plans at $ 19.95 per month onwards, quite cheap considering QuickBooks Pro 2013 costs $ 149.95 after discount. It is purpose made for small businesses, letting you carry out online invoicing, billing and accounting. You can track payments, generate reports, account for sales tax and carry out all those functions normally required for small enterprises at a low, low cost; even free with an indefinite trial period.

FinancialForce Accounting

Launched with the backing of salesforce.com, a leading cloud service provider, this package offers accounting, resource planning, professional services automation in a comprehensive Financial Management system. It is 100% real time, offers flexible chart of accounts, multi-dimensional analysis, global tax, multicurrency facility and is native to Salesforce CRM platform.

QuickBooks Online Simple Start

Online Simple Start is tailor made for small enterprises and costs only $ 12.95 per month. This compact package allows you to track sales and expenses, banking functions, business data and also create invoices and print checks. You can use any mobile device for these functions and take it a step further by adding Payroll Bundle and merchant service app to enhance its functionality still more.

Kashoo

Kashoo lets you carry out accounting through a web browser or an iPad, connecting to your bank account, letting you print invoices, organize sales, income and expenses and generate tax reports. Kashoo operates on a double entry accounting method, allowing reconciliation of bank and financial statements. It costs only $ 16 a month while the free version has limited functionality.

Outright

Outright seems to have been made with small e-commerce business in mind. It helps you track sales and manage finances. Outright allows linking of credit cards, PayPal, eBay, webstore, bank accounts and FreshBooks, import transactions and organize as well as generate tax reports, simplifying accounting. You can use the free version or an enhanced Plus version at $ 9.95 a month.

Xero

Xero offers online accounting with a dashboard style interface. You can view bank balances, bills, expenses, interactive graphs to show inflow and outflow and monitoring of data. Importantly, Xero allows online collaboration. An owner can collaborate with employees and his accountant and make financial management easy. Xero allows online invoicing, schedule bill payments and track all of these.

Intacct

Intacct is a bit more complex, offering a package of integrated financial management applications. These include vendor management, financial reporting and inventory management, making it ideal for medium enterprises. Intacct offers multi-ledger accounting solution and the power of cloud ERP for financial management. Intacct is flexible and customizable, and grows as your business expands.

With cloud accounting, small enterprise owners gain a lot in terms of ease of use, functionality and collaboration. Whether you go in for something complex like Intacct or a simple one like Kashoo or Freshbooks, there is a package that suits you and your operations.