So far in this series we've looked at straight up accounting programs like Quickbooks and Freshbooks. Now let's look at CRMs that includes bookkeeping features.

Business Management Software

You’ve probably heard of programs like 17hats, Dubsado and Honeybook. How do these compare to a program like Quickbooks?

Think of Quickbooks Online as the back-end hub for all things accounting. Programs like 17hats, Dubsado and Honeybook are going to be your front-end, client-facing center. They do have an accounting feature, but this is not the main purpose of the software and therefore it is rather limited on the accounting side.

BUT…even though Quickbooks Online and a program like Honeybook have different purposes, they can actually work together to create a streamlined accounting system.

How do they work?

The integration is a one- way sync from the CRM to Quickbooks. Invoices and payments are pushed from Dubsado to Quickbooks and recorded. This means you will be doing all of your recording and tracking in Quickbooks. Once you have the sync set up and you are using Quickbooks, you won’t need to really use the accounting section of your CRM at all. You can simply create invoices and record payment in your CRM and let Quickbooks take care of the rest of your accounting and reporting.

Want to know more about CRMs and Quickbooks? Check out our bookkeeping resources for photographers here.

Next we’ll talk about CRMs that are photography-specific.