Insights
Best practices and tips on spend management, automated expense tracking and corporate debit cards for Australian SMB and enterprise businesses.
How to compare accounting software for Australian businesses in 2026
When you compare accounting software options, you're making one of the most consequential decisions for your Australian business. The wrong choice means wasted time on manual workarounds, compliance headaches during BAS season, and switching costs that can reach thousands of dollars. The right choice transforms your financial operations, giving you real-time visibility, automated workflows, and confidence that you're always ATO-compliant.
Yet most business owners approach this decision overwhelmed by marketing claims, confused by pricing tiers, and uncertain which features actually matter versus which are just nice-to-haves. Should you prioritise Australian tax compliance or global integrations? Is that entry-level plan truly sufficient, or will you outgrow it in six months? How do you objectively evaluate software that all claim to be "the best"?
This guide provides a systematic framework for evaluating accounting software based on your actual business needs, not vendor marketing. You'll learn which features are non-negotiable for Australian businesses, how to calculate the true cost of ownership, and how to avoid the common traps that lead to expensive switching decisions down the track. We'll also explore how purpose-built expense management tools like Budgetly can completely replace or complement your accounting software to create a complete financial ecosystem.
Let's cut through the noise and find the accounting software that truly serves your business.
In this guide:
- What to look for when you compare accounting software
- How to compare accounting software step-by-step
- How Budgetly stacks up against other competitors
- How expense management enhances your accounting system
- The Budgetly advantage
- Making your final decision
- FAQs about accounting software
Why your accounting software choice matters more than ever
The accounting software landscape has transformed dramatically. What once was simple bookkeeping software now serves as the central nervous system of your business's financial operations. Getting this decision right impacts everything from daily efficiency to strategic growth opportunities.
Regulatory complexity keeps increasing
Automation has become table stakes
Real-time visibility drives better decisions
Waiting until the month-end for financial reports means making major decisions with outdated information. Cloud-based accounting provides live dashboards showing your current cash position, outstanding receivables, and profit trends. This real-time visibility changes how you operate.
Should you take on that new project? Can you afford to hire? Is that marketing campaign generating positive ROI? These questions demand current data, not last month's numbers. The right accounting software provides answers when you need them, not when it's too late to act.
Remote work requires cloud accessibility
The days of finance teams clustered around a single desktop computer are gone. Modern businesses need accountants working remotely, bookkeepers collaborating from home offices, and business owners reviewing finances whilst travelling. Cloud accounting enables simultaneous access from anywhere whilst maintaining security and version control.
This flexibility extends beyond convenience; it's now essential for attracting skilled finance professionals who expect remote work options and for maintaining business continuity when circumstances prevent office access.
What to look for when you compare accounting software
When you compare accounting software platforms, certain capabilities stand out as essential rather than optional for Australian businesses. Understanding these core requirements helps you filter out platforms that won't serve your needs.
1) Australian tax compliance built in
Your accounting software must handle Australian tax requirements natively, not through third-party workarounds. Software built for international markets often lacks these features or implements them poorly, creating compliance gaps that surface during audits or tax time. The "we support Australia" claim means little if you're still manually adjusting reports to meet ATO requirements.
GST management
Goods and Services Tax compliance is non-negotiable for Australian businesses. Your accounting software needs to automatically calculate GST on sales and purchases, apply the correct tax treatment (GST-free, input-taxed, or taxable), and track your GST liability in real-time.
Look for software that handles:
- Multiple GST rates including the standard 10% rate and GST-free items
- Automatic GST calculation on invoices and bills based on item or customer settings
- Separate tracking of GST collected on sales versus GST paid on purchases
- Ability to assign tax codes to different transaction types (capital purchases, expense claims, imported goods)
- Real-time GST liability reports showing your current position before BAS lodgement
Quality platforms learn from your categorisation patterns, suggesting appropriate tax codes for recurring transactions and reducing the risk of miscategorisation that triggers ATO queries.
BAS preparation and lodgement
Business Activity Statement preparation should be straightforward, not a month-end scramble. Your software needs built-in BAS reports that match ATO requirements exactly, eliminating manual calculations and reducing lodgement errors.
Essential BAS features include:
- Pre-populated BAS worksheets pulling data directly from your transactions
- Reconciliation tools that identify discrepancies before lodgement
- Quarter-by-quarter comparison to spot unusual variations
- Integration with the ATO's online services for direct lodgement (where available)
- Audit trail showing which transactions contribute to each BAS label
The best platforms also provide BAS forecasting, showing your estimated liability before the quarter ends so you can manage cash flow and avoid surprises on lodgement day.
PAYG withholding compliance
If you have employees, an integrated payroll that handles tax withholding correctly is essential. Manual PAYG calculations risk costly errors that damage employee trust and attract ATO scrutiny.
Your accounting software should automatically:
- Calculate tax withholding based on the current ATO tax tables
- Update withholding rates when the ATO publishes changes
- Generate payment summaries for employees
- Prepare PAYG withholding reports for BAS lodgement
- Track year-to-date withholding amounts per employee
Superannuation tracking and reporting
Superannuation guarantee compliance grows more complex each year with changing rates, contribution caps, and reporting requirements. Your accounting software should remove the guesswork.
Look for platforms that:
- Calculate super guarantee at the current rate (11.5% in 2025, increasing to 12% in July 2025)
- Track contributions per employee with running totals
- Alert you when contributions are due to avoid late payment penalties
- Generate SuperStream-compliant payment files for super funds
- Provide contribution statements for employees
Strong super tracking prevents the costly penalties and back-payments that result from missed contributions, whilst reducing the administrative burden of managing multiple super funds across your workforce.
2) Cloud-based architecture
Cloud accounting should be your baseline requirement in 2026. The benefits over traditional desktop software are too significant to ignore, fundamentally changing how you interact with your financial data and collaborate with your team.
Anywhere access and flexibility
Cloud platforms store your data on secure internet servers, meaning you can access complete financial information from any device, like desktop computers, laptops, tablets, or smartphones. Whether you're at the office, working from home, meeting with clients, or reviewing finances whilst travelling, your complete accounting system is available through a web browser or mobile app.
This flexibility matters for:
- Business owners who need to check cash flow before making purchasing decisions, whilst out of the office
- Bookkeepers working remotely or servicing multiple clients from different locations
- Accountants accessing your books for real-time advice without waiting for file transfers
- Team members collaborating on financial tasks without being in the same location
Automatic updates and maintenance
Built-in security and backup
Cloud platforms provide enterprise-grade security and backup that would be cost-prohibitive for individual businesses to implement. Your data is automatically backed up multiple times daily to geographically distributed servers, protecting against hardware failures, natural disasters, or accidental deletion.
Security features typically include:
- Bank-level encryption for data in transit and at rest
- Multi-factor authentication to prevent unauthorised access
- Regular security audits and compliance certifications
- Automatic logout after periods of inactivity
- Granular user permissions control who can access specific functions
Desktop software requires you to manage your own backups, and most businesses only discover their backup strategy was inadequate after data loss occurs.
Real-time collaboration
Cloud architecture enables true simultaneous access by multiple users. Your bookkeeper can reconcile accounts whilst you create invoices and your accountant reviews the previous quarter—all working in the same system at the same time without file locking or version conflicts.
This collaboration extends to external partners. You can grant your accountant view-only access to your books, eliminating the need to export files, email reports, or schedule meetings just to share financial information. They see the same real-time data you do, enabling faster advice and year-end processing.
3) Bank feed automation
One of the most powerful features of any budget template is its ability to compare budgeted amounts with actual performance. As you input real figures each month, the template should automatically calculate variances and provide visual indicators of performance. This feature helps identify trends and areas requiring attention before they become significant problems.
How bank feeds work
Bank feed technology securely connects your accounting software to your business bank accounts and credit cards. Each day (or in some cases, multiple times daily), the software imports new transactions automatically, bringing in:
- Transaction dates and processing dates
- Merchant names and transaction descriptions
- Debit and credit amounts
- Running account balances
- These transactions appear in your accounting software, awaiting categorisation and approval, but the data entry work is already complete.
- You're simply reviewing and confirming rather than manually typing.
Benefits beyond time savings
Bank feed automation delivers advantages beyond the obvious time savings:
Reduced errors: Manual data entry introduces typos, transposed numbers, and missed transactions. Bank feeds eliminate these human errors by pulling data directly from bank systems.
Faster reconciliation: Traditional reconciliation meant matching paper statements to manually entered transactions, a time-consuming process prone to discrepancies. Bank feeds provide automatic matching suggestions, often reconciling 80-90% of transactions with a single click.
Real-time cash position: Instead of waiting for statements or logging into multiple bank websites, your accounting software shows current bank balances for all accounts in one dashboard, updated daily.
Earlier problem detection: Because transactions are imported daily, you spot unusual transactions, unauthorised charges, or bank errors within days instead of discovering them weeks later during month-end reconciliation.
Smart categorisation and learning
Modern bank feeds don't just import data—they intelligently categorise it. The software analyses transaction descriptions and suggests appropriate expense categories, GST treatment, and tracking codes based on:
- Your previous categorisation of similar transactions
- Pattern recognition across merchant names
- Common categorisation rules (e.g., Australia Post → Postage)
Over time, the system learns your business patterns. That weekly coffee supplier is automatically categorised as "Meals & Entertainment" with GST included. Your monthly software subscription is assigned to "Software Expenses" with the appropriate tracking code.
Australian banking coverage
Not all accounting platforms support Australian banks equally. When you compare accounting software, verify that your specific financial institutions are supported with direct feeds, not manual CSV imports that defeat the automation purpose.
The best platforms support:
- All major Australian banks (Commonwealth, Westpac, ANZ, NAB)
- Regional banks and credit unions
- Digital banks (Up, 86 400, Xinja)
- Business credit cards and charge cards
- Payment platforms (PayPal, Stripe) as pseudo-bank feeds
Some international platforms claim Australian banking support but require third-party integration services that add cost, complexity, and potential security concerns.
4) Scalability for growth
When you compare accounting software options, consider how each platform accommodates growth without forcing you to switch mid-expansion:
- User capacity: Can you add team members as you grow without prohibitive per-user fees?
- Transaction volume: Are there limits that might affect you during peak periods or as sales increase?
- Multi-entity support: If you establish trusts, separate companies, or subsidiaries, can the software handle consolidated reporting?
- Feature expansion: Can you add payroll, inventory management, or project tracking as you need them?
Starting with software that scales prevents the disruptive and expensive process of migrating to new systems just when your business is gaining momentum.
5) Integration ecosystem
Your accounting software doesn't operate in isolation. It needs to connect seamlessly with other business tools to create an efficient, automated workflow where data flows between systems without manual intervention.
Payment processor integration
If you accept online payments through Stripe, Square, PayPal, or similar platforms, integration with your accounting software eliminates manual sales entry and reconciliation headaches.
Quality integrations are automatically:
- Create sales invoices or receipts when customers pay
- Record payment method fees as expenses
- Match payments to bank feed deposits
- Apply appropriate GST treatment to sales
- Track revenue by product, service, or sales channel
E-commerce platform connections
- Individual sale details with line items and quantities
- Shipping fees and handling charges
- Marketplace fees and commissions
- Refunds and returns with appropriate accounting treatment
- Inventory adjustments based on sales
Point-of-sale system synchronization
- Daily sales summaries by payment method
- Cash, card, and digital wallet breakdowns
- Integrated payments matching bank deposits
- Sales tax collected by rate
- Voided and refunded transactions
CRM and customer data syncing
- Invoice status to sales pipelines
- Payment history to customer records
- Outstanding receivables to account managers
- Customer profitability analysis combining sales and financial data
Expense management integration
Platforms like Budgetly that automate expense tracking and approval workflows need seamless accounting integration to eliminate manual expense entry.
Quality integration means:
- Transactions sync automatically with appropriate GL codes
- Receipt images attach to accounting records
- Expense categories map to your chart of accounts
- GST amounts extract and categorise correctly
- Approved expenses post without data re-entry
This integration transforms expense management from a month-end reconciliation nightmare into a real-time, automated process.
Evaluating integration quality
When you compare accounting software, don't just check whether an integration exists—test how well it works. Quality integrations are:
Bi-directional: Data flows both ways, keeping systems in sync rather than requiring manual updates in multiple places.
Automated: Transactions sync on schedules (hourly, daily) without manual intervention or regular CSV exports.
Detailed: Complete transaction data transfers, not just summary totals lacking the detail needed for proper accounting.
Reliable: Syncing happens consistently without frequent failures, error messages, or data mismatches requiring manual correction.
Mappable: You can control how data maps between systems, ensuring categories, GL codes, and tax treatment align with your accounting structure.
Poor integrations often require middleware services (like Zapier) that add cost, introduce failure points, and limit the data that can transfer. Native, platform-built integrations typically deliver superior reliability and functionality.
6) Mobile functionality
Your business doesn't stop when you leave your desk. Quality mobile apps enable you to:
- Photograph receipts immediately before they're lost
- Create and send invoices from your phone
- Review and approve expenses on the go
- Check bank balances and cash flow position
- Monitor key metrics through mobile dashboards
The best mobile apps don't just provide limited access—they deliver core functionality designed specifically for mobile use cases. Test mobile apps thoroughly during trials, as this functionality varies dramatically between vendors.
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Access free Budgetly tools to reduce admin and improve expense tracking. |
How to compare accounting software step-by-step
Comparing accounting software effectively requires a structured approach that keeps you focused on what matters. This four-step framework ensures you make decisions based on business needs rather than sales pitches.
Step 1: Document your specific requirements
Before you compare accounting software platforms, list exactly what you need:
- Business structure: Sole trader, partnership, company, trust, or multiple entities?
- Industry needs: Specific requirements for retail, trades, professional services, or hospitality?
- Transaction volume: How many invoices, bills, and bank transactions monthly?
- Team access: How many users need access, and what permission levels do they require?
- Current pain points: What specific problems are you trying to solve?
- Growth plans: Where will your business be in 12-24 months?
This requirements document becomes your comparison checklist, helping you evaluate whether each platform actually delivers what you need rather than what vendors want to sell you.
Step 2: Evaluate core features against requirements
Once you understand what you need, assess how well each platform delivers:
- Feature completeness: Does the base plan include everything on your requirements list, or do you need premium tiers?
- Australian optimisation: How well does the platform handle local tax, banking, and compliance requirements?
- Automation capabilities: What percentage of your routine tasks can be automated?
- Reporting flexibility: Can you generate the specific reports you need for decision-making?
- User experience: Is the interface intuitive, or will you need extensive training?
Create a simple scoring system (1-5 or Yes/No) for each requirement across your shortlisted platforms. This objective comparison prevents you from being swayed by impressive features you don't actually need.
Step 3: Compare accounting software costs accurately
The advertised monthly fee rarely tells the full cost story. Calculate total costs including:
- Base subscription: What's included in standard pricing versus premium tiers?
- Per-user fees: How much will additional team members cost as you grow?
- Essential add-ons: Are payroll, inventory, or multi-currency features extra?
- Transaction limits: Will high-volume periods trigger additional charges?
- Integration costs: Do key integrations require paid tiers or third-party middleware?
- Support access: Is phone support included or a paid add-on?
- Migration costs: If switching from existing software, what's the data migration cost?
When you compare accounting software pricing, look beyond the headline rate to understand true ownership costs over 12-24 months.
Step 4: Test real-world usage thoroughly
Free trials are critical—use them properly:
- Week 1: Setup and initial configuration, import sample data, connect bank feeds and integrations
- Week 2: Daily operations—create invoices, record expenses, reconcile transactions
- Week 3: Month-end simulation—generate reports, prepare BAS, analyse trends
- Week 4: Team feedback—gather input from all users on experience and usability
Test complete processes:
- Import actual data using real transactions and contacts, not sample data
- Connect to your actual bank, payment processors, and other tools
- Involve bookkeepers, accountants, and regular users
- Run complete workflows from transaction capture to financial reporting
- Simulate month-end close procedures
- Contact support to evaluate response times and quality
- Test mobile apps on phones and tablets
A proper trial takes several hours but saves you from discovering critical limitations after committing to annual subscriptions.
How Budgetly stacks up against other competitors
Different businesses have varying needs when it comes to budgeting, and understanding the types of budgets available helps you choose the approach that best serves your specific situation. The right budget type depends on your business maturity, industry characteristics, and management requirements.
Feature comparison table
|
Criteria |
Weight |
Budgetly |
Competitor A |
Competitor B |
|
Core accounting features |
15% |
4/5 |
4/5 |
3/5 |
|
Reporting & analytics |
10% |
4/5 |
3/5 |
5/5 |
|
Integrations & ecosystem |
15% |
5/5 |
5/5 |
2/5 |
|
Scalability / growth fit |
10% |
4/5 |
3/5 |
4/5 |
|
Ease of use / adoption |
10% |
5/5 |
4/5 |
4/5 |
|
Cost structure |
10% |
4/5 |
5/5 |
4/5 |
|
Support, training & vendor |
10% |
5/5 |
4/5 |
3/5 |
|
Compliance & security |
5% |
5/5 |
4/5 |
3/5 |
|
Industry/regional features |
5% |
5/5 |
3/5 |
2/5 |
|
Customisation & automation |
10% |
4/5 |
4/5 |
4/5 |
|
Total score |
100% |
— |
— |
— |
Using the comparison framework
You can fill in the scores based on your evaluation and trials, then pick the highest scoring option whilst also judging qualitative factors like team fit and ease of use. This systematic approach ensures you make decisions based on actual performance across weighted criteria rather than marketing claims.
What does this mean when you compare accounting software
When evaluating accounting platforms, apply these same principles:
- Prioritise Australian-built or Australian-optimised solutions that treat local compliance as core functionality, not an add-on
- Test integrations thoroughly during trials, as "integration available" doesn't guarantee seamless data flow
- Calculate costs in AUD, including all necessary add-ons, to avoid budget surprises
- Value local support that understands your compliance context and operates in your timezone
- Consider the ecosystem of complementary tools like expense management that work seamlessly with your accounting platform
- Use a weighted scoring system to objectively compare features that matter most to your business
How expense management enhances your accounting system
Whilst accounting software records and reports on financial data, purpose-built expense management platforms like Budgetly prevent problems before they enter your accounting system and streamline the entire expense lifecycle.
The expense management gap in traditional accounting
Most accounting software handles expense tracking reactively: employees submit receipts weeks after purchases, finance teams chase missing documentation, approval workflows happen through email, and by the time everything's recorded in your accounting system, your budget's already blown.
This creates several problems:
- Delayed visibility: You discover overspending after it's too late to prevent it
- Manual reconciliation: Hours spent matching receipts to credit card statements
- Compliance gaps: Missing receipts and inadequate documentation for ATO audits
- Policy violations: Expenses that should never have been approved slip through
- Productivity drain: Finance teams spend days on admin instead of analysis
How Budgetly transforms expense management
Budgetly shifts expense management from reactive recording to proactive control:
Prevent overspending before it happens: Corporate cards with preset spending limits and category controls mean policy violations can't occur. Budget caps at the card or employee level ensure spending stays within approved parameters.
Eliminate manual data entry: Every transaction on Budgetly cards flows automatically into your expense system with merchant details, amounts, and timestamps. AI extracts GST information from receipt photos and matches them to transactions instantly.
Real-time budget visibility: Unlike accounting software showing historical data, Budgetly provides live dashboards displaying current spending against budgets. Finance teams see exactly where money is going as it happens, not at month-end.
Streamlined approvals: Expenses route automatically to appropriate approvers based on amount, category, or department. Approvers receive notifications with transaction details and can approve or reject from their phones in seconds.
Seamless accounting integration: Through Xero integration, transactions sync automatically with correct GL codes, tax codes, and supporting documentation. Your accounting reconciliation changes from hours of manual matching to minutes of review.
Modern spend management revolves around payment methods
Modern spend management revolves around payment methods that capture data at the point of transaction:
Corporate cards provide:
- Real-time transaction visibility as spending occurs
- Preset spending limits per card or category
- Automatic receipt capture requirements
- Individual card assignments for accountability
- Instant card suspension if needed
Virtual cards add:
- Unique card numbers for specific vendors or purchases
- One-time or recurring use flexibility
- Automatic merchant locking to prevent misuse
- Easy cancellation without affecting other cards
- Enhanced security for online purchases
Together, these tools transform expense management from a month-end reconciliation nightmare into a proactive control system that prevents issues before they impact your financial reports.
The Budgetly advantage
Whilst you're evaluating accounting software, it's worth understanding how Budgetly transforms the entire financial management equation for Australian businesses. Unlike traditional accounting software that only records what's already happened, Budgetly gives you control before spending occurs—preventing budget overruns rather than just reporting them.
Complete expense management built for Australian businesses
Budgetly helps Australian businesses bring financial clarity and control to everyday accounting and expense reporting. Traditional financial statements only show what happened last month or last quarter, but Budgetly gives you real-time visibility into your finances so you can act immediately.
With Budgetly, SMEs can:
- Automate expense management with intelligent tracking that ensures every cost is captured and categorised accurately. No more chasing receipts or manually entering credit card transactions.
- Gain live insights into spending through smart expense tracking and instant budget reporting, so you always know where your money is going—not weeks later during reconciliation, but as transactions happen.
- Control team spending with corporate cards and virtual cards, setting limits and managing budgets before costs impact your bottom line. Budget caps prevent overspending rather than just reporting it after the fact.
- Simplify supplier payments using streamlined bill payments integrated directly with your budgets, eliminating the disconnect between approval workflows and accounting records.
- Integrate seamlessly with Xero and other accounting tools, keeping your Statement of Financial Performance accurate and up-to-date without manual data entry or reconciliation headaches.
Why leading Australian businesses choose Budgetly
- Proven by key stakeholders across your organisation: Your bookkeeper saves hours on reconciliation with automatic transaction imports and receipt matching. Your finance team gets real-time budget visibility instead of discovering overspending at month-end. Department heads can track their own spending against budgets without waiting for finance reports. Business owners gain confidence that spending stays within approved parameters automatically.
- Purpose-built for Australian compliance: GST extraction from receipts, ATO-compliant documentation, BAS-ready categorisation, and seamless Xero integration mean you're always audit-ready without additional admin burden.
- Complete integration ecosystem: Unlike accounting software that operates in isolation, Budgetly connects your payment methods, expense capture, approval workflows, and accounting records into one seamless system. Every transaction flows automatically from card swipe to financial statement.
- Proactive control, not reactive reporting: Traditional accounting software tells you what happened. Budgetly prevents problems before they occur through preset spending limits, automated approval workflows, and real-time budget alerts that stop overspending before it impacts your bottom line.
- Scalable from startup to enterprise: Whether you're a 5-person team or a 500-person organisation, Budgetly grows with you. Add users, cards, and budgets without platform limitations or forced migrations to "enterprise" versions.
By connecting daily spending to your accounting system, Budgetly transforms traditional reporting from a reactive task into a proactive financial management tool—giving you automated tracking, instant insights, and complete control over every dollar your business spends.
The result? Finance teams spend less time on admin and more time on strategy. Budget owners gain real-time visibility into their spending. And business owners get confidence that financial controls work automatically, not just as policies in a handbook.
Ready to see the difference? Budgetly integrates with whichever accounting platform you choose, enhancing rather than replacing your existing financial systems to create the complete financial ecosystem Australian businesses need in 2026.
Making your final decision
Choosing accounting software requires balancing multiple factors: functionality, cost, ease of use, and future scalability. Follow these final steps to make a confident decision.
Create your shortlist
Based on your systematic evaluation, narrow choices to 2-3 finalists that:
- Meet all your non-negotiable requirements
- Fit within your budget, including necessary add-ons
- Have proven Australian compliance capabilities
- Offer integration with other tools you need
- Scale to accommodate your growth plans
Run parallel trials
Test your finalists simultaneously:
- Week 1: Setup and initial configuration, import sample data, connect bank feeds and integrations
- Week 2: Daily operations—create invoices, record expenses, reconcile transactions
- Week 3: Month-end simulation—generate reports, prepare BAS, analyse trends
- Week 4: Team feedback—gather input from all users on experience and usability
Involve key stakeholders
Get input from everyone affected:
- Bookkeepers/finance staff: Daily usability and workflow efficiency
- Business owner: Reporting capabilities and strategic insights
- Accountant: Compliance features and year-end requirements
- Department heads: Budget tracking and approval workflows
Different perspectives reveal issues you might miss evaluating solo.
Consider the ecosystem
Your accounting software is just one component of your financial management system. When you compare accounting software, consider how it works alongside:
- Expense management platforms like Budgetly that control spending and automate data flow into accounting
- Payment processing tools for customer payments and vendor bill payments
- Payroll systems if not handled within your accounting platform
- Inventory or project management tools specific to your industry
The best accounting software serves as the hub connecting these tools seamlessly, not a silo requiring manual data transfers.
Make the switch
Once decided:
- Schedule implementation during a slower period, not during quarter-end or tax time
- Plan data migration, including what historical data to transfer versus archive
- Configure settings including the chart of accounts, tax codes, and user permissions
- Train users on their specific workflows before going live
- Run parallel with your old system for 1-2 months to ensure accuracy
- Audit results by comparing outputs from both systems before final cutover
Frequently asked questions about comparing accounting software
What's the most important factor when comparing accounting software?
How do I compare accounting software features objectively?
Create a requirements checklist before evaluating any platform. List your non-negotiables (Australian compliance, bank feeds, user capacity), nice-to-haves (inventory, project tracking), and deal-breakers (price limits, missing integrations). Score each platform against these criteria using a weighted system. This prevents impressive but irrelevant features from swaying your decision.
Should I compare accounting software based on price alone?
No. When you compare accounting software costs, calculate total ownership costs over 12-24 months, including base subscription, per-user fees, essential add-ons (payroll, multi-currency), transaction limits, integration costs, support access, and migration expenses. The cheapest entry-level plan often becomes expensive when you add necessary features.
How long should I trial software when comparing accounting software options?
Dedicate at least 2-4 weeks to properly test each finalist. Import actual data, not samples. Run complete workflows from transaction entry to reporting. Involve your bookkeeper, accountant, and any regular users. Test month-end procedures, including BAS preparation. A few hours of clicking through demos won't reveal the limitations that surface during daily use.
What makes Australian-specific accounting software better than international platforms?
When you compare accounting software built for Australian businesses versus adapted international platforms, Australian-specific solutions handle GST calculations correctly from day one, provide BAS reports matching ATO requirements exactly, integrate natively with Australian banks, include local support familiar with compliance obligations, and price transparently in AUD without conversion surprises.
How do I compare accounting software integration capabilities?
Don't just check whether an integration exists—test how well it works during trials. Quality integrations are bi-directional (data flows both ways), automated (syncing happens without manual intervention), detailed (complete transaction data transfers), reliable (consistent syncing without failures), and mappable (you control how data maps between systems). Poor integrations require middleware services that add cost and complexity.
Can I compare accounting software if I'm not a finance expert?
Yes. Focus on usability and workflow efficiency rather than technical features. Can you easily create invoices? Do bank feeds categorise transactions intelligently? Are reports understandable without accounting training? Test the software yourself during trials—if the interface confuses you now, it won't get easier with daily use. Involve your bookkeeper or accountant for technical evaluation, but trust your own judgement on ease of use.
How does expense management factor in when comparing accounting software?
When you compare accounting software, consider how it handles expenses. Most accounting platforms record expenses reactively—after spending occurs. Purpose-built expense management like Budgetly prevents overspending proactively through corporate cards with preset limits, automated receipt capture, real-time budget tracking, and seamless accounting integration. The best financial ecosystem combines accounting software for recording with expense management for control.
What if I choose the wrong accounting software?
Switching is possible but disruptive, typically taking 2-4 weeks and costing hundreds to thousands in migration expenses, training time, and productivity loss. This is why thorough comparison before committing is crucial. If you must switch
Communicate budget information effectively
Ensure relevant team members understand budget information and their role in achieving financial targets. This might involve simplified budget summaries for non-financial staff or detailed variance reports for managers responsible for specific budget areas.
Regular communication about budget performance helps build financial awareness throughout the organisation and ensures everyone understands how their actions impact overall financial results.
Implementing these best practices transforms budgeting from a necessary chore into a competitive advantage that drives better business performance and more informed decision-making.
Ready to improve your financial performance and reduce admin across your team?
Schedule a demo with us today, or watch a 10-minute recorded demo!


