How to choose the best accounting package for your business

There is no single best accounting package for every Australian business. The right one for you reports Single Touch Payroll and pays super each payday if you employ people, connects to your bank, suits the way you sell (stock, projects or billable hours) and lets your bookkeeper in without an extra fee. Five platforms clear that bar for different businesses: Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, Reckon and Zoho Books.

Getting the choice right matters. Plenty of Australian businesses still do parts of their bookkeeping by hand. In an October 2025 OFX survey of more than 500 SME accountants and finance decision-makers, 80% said they reconcile out-of-pocket expenses partly or entirely manually. Others spend each day fighting a platform that does not fit their business.

Choose the wrong bookkeeping software and it chews up time you could spend on the business, or leads to accidental compliance mistakes. This guide gives you a checklist to compare packages against, a neutral look at the five most common options, a way to weigh Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks against each other, and a six-step setup that avoids the usual problems.

What the best accounting package for a small business depends on

Before you compare brands, answer five questions about your own business. They decide which plans are even in the running.

• Do you pay people? If yes, you need STP Phase 2 reporting and Payday Super, either built in or through a payroll integration. If no, do not pay for a payroll tier.
• Are you registered for GST, and on which basis? Every package here handles GST and BAS, but the cash or accrual basis has to be set correctly from day one (see the setup steps below).
• What do you sell? Products need stock tracking. Services need job or project costing and time billing. A sole trader invoicing a handful of customers needs neither, and an entry plan will do.
• Who else needs access? A second owner, a manager who approves bills, and your bookkeeper or accountant. Multi-user access and permissions are where entry plans run out first.
• What else does it need to talk to? Your bank, your payroll system, and your point of sale, ecommerce or practice management software.

A sole trader with no staff and simple GST can run on the lowest plan of most packages. An employer needs the payroll question answered first. A business with several people touching the numbers should weigh approval workflows, audit trails and reporting above the monthly price.

A checklist for comparing accounting software

Let’s get straight into what you need to keep in mind when shopping around for bookkeeping software. We recommend that you check vendors’ websites, trusted review sites like Capterra or G2, and schedule a time to talk with their sales team.

Here are some considerations you may want to include in your new bookkeeping software checklist:

Compliance support

• [ ] Supports STP Phase 2 directly or via a reliable payroll integration (a must-have for payroll in Australia)
• [ ] Supports Payday Super, which from 1 July 2026 requires super to be paid each payday and reach the employee’s fund within 7 business days of payday in most cases (longer periods apply in some situations, such as a new employee’s first contribution)
• [ ] Built to handle GST, including BAS reporting
• [ ] Updated regularly to reflect ATO rule changes
• [ ] Allows you to lock reporting periods to prevent accidental changes

Connected bank feeds and reconciliation

• [ ] Has a connection to Australian banks
• [ ] Provides a clear audit trail
• [ ] Allows for automated feeds rather than manual imports
• [ ] Makes reconciliation simple, with clear matching and error flags
• [ ] Supports automations for recurring transactions

Invoices and quotes

• [ ] Creates professional invoices and quotes
• [ ] Allows you to make custom invoice and quote templates
• [ ] Converts quotes to invoices easily
• [ ] Supports recurring invoices and online payments
• [ ] Supports multi-currency transactions
• [ ] Tracks overdue invoices and customer balances

Payroll workflows

• [ ] Includes payroll or integrates cleanly with payroll software
• [ ] Supports superannuation, leave balances, and pay conditions
• [ ] Lodges STP reports to the ATO directly from each finalised pay run

Inventory or billable hour management

• [ ] Tracks stock levels accurately (if you sell products)
• [ ] Supports job or project costing (if you sell services)
• [ ] Handles cost allocation without workarounds
• [ ] Provides basic profitability reporting

Usability and pricing

• [ ] Allows multiple users with different permission controls
• [ ] Lets you set approval steps for bills and payments, with a log of who approved what
• [ ] Lets you export your data and keep backups outside the platform
• [ ] Includes accountant or bookkeeper access at no extra cost
• [ ] Has transparent pricing, including add-ons
• [ ] Can scale as your team or transactions grow

You may not need all of these requirements for your business, so pick and choose what matters most to your team. Once you have your shortlist of requirements, check it over with people in your business who will need to access the software to ensure you haven’t missed any key details.

The 5 best accounting packages for small business in Australia

Prices and plan inclusions change often, so check each provider’s current pricing page before you decide. The accounting package you choose can either add hurdles to your day or quietly do its job in the background. These five platforms are commonly used by Australian small businesses. Each helps reduce errors, simplify day-to-day bookkeeping, and give you faster, more reliable financial reporting.

An overview of the top 5 options

Software	Best for	Does it offer STP payroll?
1. Xero	Businesses that want something easy to use with lots of integrations	Payroll included on Grow plans and above (number of people paid varies by plan)
2. MYOB	Businesses with inventory, jobs, or more complex needs	Lite and Pro: paid payroll add-on; AccountRight Plus/Premier: included; Solo: no STP payroll
3. QuickBooks	Businesses looking for a well-established platform	Paid add-on (QuickBooks Payroll powered by Employment Hero)
4. Reckon	Small businesses comparing accounting and payroll plan inclusions	Payroll Essentials, Plus or Premium, or combined Ultimate plan
5. Zoho Books	Businesses already using Zoho tools	No built-in Australian payroll; needs a separate payroll integration

1. Xero

Xero is one of the most widely used cloud accounting platforms among Australian small to mid-sized businesses. It’s great if you want simple, cloud-based bookkeeping that you can integrate with other platforms.

The platform covers all your essentials well, including invoicing, bank feeds, expense tracking, and reporting, all in one place. It’s also easy to access from anywhere, works across desktop and mobile app, and allows you to share access with your bookkeeper or adviser.

Xero’s features, like automated reminders, transaction matching, and customisable dashboards, help reduce manual work. Its AI assistant is branded JAX, and payroll is included on Grow plans and above.

2. MYOB

MYOB has been around since 1991, and since it’s a long-established platform, most accountants have experience using it. The MYOB software is a good fit for small to mid-sized businesses that need a more structured system. Its range runs from Solo (for sole traders) through MYOB Business Lite and Pro to AccountRight Plus and Premier, with different payroll inclusions. Solo has no STP payroll. Lite and Pro charge extra for payroll ($3 per employee per month as checked on 9 October 2026; Lite is limited to two employees). AccountRight Plus and Premier include payroll. Check current prices and inclusions; a price change is announced for 1 November 2026.

The platform covers all your core accounting functions, including invoicing, bank reconciliation, payroll, and accounts payable and receivable. They also offer detailed reporting and permission settings, which can be useful as teams grow or financial complexity increases.

3. QuickBooks

QuickBooks Online is sold in Australia on four plans (Simple Start, Essentials, Plus and Advanced), from new and small businesses up to mid-sized ones that need more advanced features and tighter controls.

Businesses use QuickBooks for easy invoicing, expense tracking, inventory management, and reporting. Its extra features, like customisable reports, secure user permissions, and dashboards, are great for giving businesses a better view of their finances. Payroll is a paid add-on, QuickBooks Payroll powered by Employment Hero, which supports STP.

4. Reckon

Reckon is a good option for small businesses that want a simple, affordable bookkeeping platform without paying for features they don’t need. It’s particularly well-suited to sole traders and small teams looking for basic accounting tools at a lower cost than larger platforms.

Small businesses like it for its no-nonsense invoicing, online access, and reporting. Compare Reckon’s current Accounting Plus and Premium plans, Payroll Essentials, Plus and Premium plans, and the combined Ultimate plan. Payroll employee limits and accounting features depend on the plan; do not assume each feature is a separately selectable module. Check the current plan inclusions and payroll support before choosing.

5. Zoho Books

Zoho Books is a good fit for small to mid-sized businesses that want affordable, cloud-based bookkeeping, especially if they already use other Zoho products.

Zoho Books covers the core accounting basics, including invoicing, recurring billing, bank reconciliation, expense tracking, and reporting, all managed from a single dashboard. Zoho offers a free plan in Australia for businesses with revenue under A$50,000 a year, and it connects with the wider Zoho ecosystem. It has no built-in Australian payroll, so you will need a separate payroll product that supports STP.

Xero vs MYOB vs QuickBooks: how to compare them

These three come up in almost every shortlist, and none of them is the wrong answer. Rather than reading reviews, compare them on six criteria with your own numbers to hand.

1. Payroll inclusion. Included in the plan, a paid add-on, or a separate product? Count the people you expect to be paying in two years, not today, and check that number against the plan’s limit.
2. Who uses it day to day. The owner, an office manager or a bookkeeper? Trial the tasks that person will repeat most: reconciling the bank, raising an invoice, approving a bill.
3. Your accountant’s and bookkeeper’s familiarity. Most Australian practices work across all three, but ask. A team that knows the package well will get more out of it than you will.
4. Integrations you already rely on. List the systems that touch money in your business and confirm each has a supported connection, not a workaround.
5. Plan ceilings. Users, employees, invoices, bank accounts and currencies. The cheapest plan that fits today is often the one you outgrow first.
6. Getting your data out. Check how you export the full file, including attachments and the audit trail, before you put anything in.

Run a short trial of your top two with a month of real transactions. The package that gets your bank reconciled and your BAS figures right with the least friction is the best accounting package for you, whatever a review site says.

How to set up your accounting software in six steps

Once you’ve decided which accounting package to use, here is a simple process you can follow to get it set up.

1. Input the basics

Start by entering your business details into the software. This usually includes your business name, ABN, and whether you’re registered for GST.

Next, you’ll need to choose how you want the software to handle GST. You’ll usually see two options:

• Cash basis: GST is counted when money actually hits your bank account (or when you pay a bill).
• Accrual basis: For ordinary taxable sales on the non-cash basis, attribute GST to the earlier period in which you issue an invoice or receive any consideration. Purchases use the corresponding earlier invoice/payment rule, subject to holding a tax invoice and any special rules. This GST timing is separate from revenue recognition in management accounts.

You can use the cash basis if your aggregated turnover is under $10 million; otherwise you generally use the accrual basis. If you’re not sure which one applies to you, check your last BAS or ask your bookkeeper or registered BAS agent.

2. Set up your chart of accounts

Your chart of accounts is a list of categories your money gets sorted into, like income, rent, software, wages, equipment, and more.

Most modern systems come with a standard chart already set up, and it is a sensible starting point. Adjust it so it answers the questions you actually make decisions on, for example a separate income account for each service line, or costs split by location. Keep in mind that adding too many custom categories early on can confuse things, not make them clearer.

3. Add your opening balances

Opening balances tell the software where your finances are starting from. This usually includes your bank balance, credit cards, loans, and any money the business already owns or owes.

Your opening bank balance is the bank statement balance at your conversion date. Enter any payments or deposits that had not yet cleared the bank as separate outstanding items, or the first reconciliation will not balance, and your reports will never fully line up.

If you are moving from other software, reconcile before you switch off the old system: check that the trial balance, bank balances, and the amounts customers owe you and you owe suppliers match in both systems at the changeover date. Keep an export of the old file. The ATO generally requires business records for five years, including records in retired software. Fair Work employee records and company financial records generally require at least seven years; some tax and other records need longer. Export usable records and their audit trails, verify you can retrieve them, and apply the longest relevant retention period before cancelling old access.

4. Connect your bank accounts

Next, connect your business bank accounts and credit cards so transactions can flow into the software automatically.

Once this is connected, you can set up simple rules to handle repeating transactions, like rent, internet, or software subscriptions. This will help reduce manual work and keep your records up to date.

5. Set up payroll

If you have employees, you’ll need to add their details, pay rates, and benefits information. The software should also be connected to the ATO so payroll reports are sent through Single Touch Payroll (STP) on or before each payday. From 1 July 2026, under Payday Super, super must be paid for each payday too, and STP reports must include each employee’s qualifying earnings and super liability.

This step is especially important to get right, as payroll errors can be time-consuming to fix later.

6. Set up access, approvals and backups

Give each person their own login with only the access they need, turn on multi-factor authentication, and set an approval step for bills and payments so no one person can both enter and pay a bill. Export your key reports and data regularly so you have a copy outside the platform.

How to troubleshoot common problems

Even when you do everything right, you may find unexpected quirks in your system. Here are some common ones we see and how you can easily fix them.

My bank feed is not syncing

The first thing you should do is check whether the bank connection has expired or needs re-authorising. Trying to log back in and refreshing the feed usually resolves this. If this doesn’t work, reach out to the support team because the feed should work smoothly.

We keep getting duplicate transactions

Before deleting anything, compare both entries with the actual bank statement and source document, including dates, amounts and references. Two entries may be a duplicate import, a genuine duplicate payment, or a bank-feed item waiting to be matched to an existing ledger transaction. Remove only a confirmed duplicate using the software’s documented procedure, retain the audit trail, and reconcile again. If imports and feeds overlap, correct that overlap; a genuine duplicate payment needs recovery or adjustment, not deletion.

My GST looks wrong

The first thing to do is investigate the transaction, so click into it to get more details. From there, you may notice that your GST code was incorrect. For example, the system may have mixed up GST-free with standard GST.

Our opening balances don’t match

More often than not, this is because the dates aren’t matching up. Find the conversion date you started from in the software and check the bank statement balance on that day. Enter any payments or deposits that had not yet cleared the bank at that date as separate outstanding items. If there are any numerical or date-based errors, edit them so they match.

My accountant can’t see everything in my system

This can happen when access settings aren’t correctly configured. Go to the settings in your system and find where to change your access settings. You’ll want to edit this so that your accountant has access to everything they need.

Ready to have more confidence in your numbers?

Bookkeeping software can organise your numbers, but it can’t tell you what they mean or how to act on them. That’s where Visory comes in.

Visory runs bookkeeping, payroll, and accounts payable and receivable for growing businesses, inside the accounting software you already use, so your file stays yours. A dedicated team does the work, with help from Delphi, our AI, which that team oversees. Visory Insights and your Business Performance Partner then turn the numbers into clear financial insights you can act on.

This helps your business:

• Understand how revenue and expenses are trending month by month
• Set realistic yet ambitious goals and develop a plan to achieve them
• Make confident calls on when and how to invest, hire, or grow
• Bring insights into daily business conversations and decision-making
• Run board or leadership meetings with a clear, shared view of financial performance

If you’re ready to get financial insights that help you grow your business, book a discovery call.

FAQs

What is the best accounting package for a sole trader?

For a sole trader with no employees, the best accounting package is usually the entry plan of a mainstream product: invoicing, GST tracking, bank feeds and BAS figures, without paying for payroll. Pick one that lets you move up a plan rather than switch products when you take on staff or stock.

Is bookkeeping software different from accounting software?

In practice the terms describe the same products. Bookkeeping is the recording of transactions and accounting is the reporting and interpretation built on top of it, and the packages above do both. Vendors, accountants and search results use the two words interchangeably.

How long does setup take?

For a very simple business, the basic setup can take only a few hours. However, for more complex businesses with payroll, multiple accounts, or historical data, you may need to clean up your data first, which can take a few days to get everything in place.

Can I switch accounting software mid-financial year?

Yes, and many businesses do. It’s straightforward to switch mid-year, as long as opening balances and GST are set up correctly from the changeover date. A changeover at the start of a BAS period (a month or quarter) makes reconciliation easier.

What happens to my historical data if I switch?

You don’t have to lose it. It’s a good time to clean it up and bring it over to the new system. Each provider on this list publishes guidance or tools for migrating data from other software or spreadsheets, but how much history comes across varies, so keep a full export of your old file and reconcile the balances after the move.

What integrations matter most?

You’ll want integrations with software you already use and plan to keep using that touches your finances. This could include payroll software, POS or ecommerce platforms, payment gateways, expense management tools, inventory or stock systems, CRM tools, and more.

Do I need accounting software if I outsource my bookkeeping?

Yes. A bookkeeping service works inside your own accounting file, so the records stay yours and you can see them at any time. If you would rather not choose and run the software yourself, a provider will usually recommend a package it works in every day. Compare the ways to get your books done.

Do people like MYOB or Xero better?

There isn’t one clear ‘better’ option. Depending on who you ask, you’ll get a different answer, as both platforms have avid fans.

MYOB has been around since 1991, and Xero launched later as a cloud-first platform. Both now offer cloud-based software. The better choice depends on your industry, the integrations you need and who will use the software day to day, so trial both with your own data before you commit.

Can I learn to use Xero by myself?

Yes, and this is partly why Xero has had so much success. The platform is made for sole traders and owners of small businesses who aren’t accounting professionals. You’ll notice it offers simple and clear dashboards and onboarding flows that help people go from Xero-novices to Xero-experts without a degree in finance.