Eric Gerard Ruiz, CPA

Wave is a popular accounting software known for its user-friendly approach to tracking invoices and managing bills. With the introduction of its paid tier, Wave Starter is now limited to a single seat and no longer supports bank account connections. Meanwhile, Wave Pro offers unlimited user access and includes premium features like automated invoice reminders….

The best QuickBooks training courses offer flexible training sessions for students (the option of live or self-paced classes), are expert-led, and come with supplemental resources — such as reference manuals, study guides, and instructional videos. You’ll find some free courses, but you usually have to pay a fee to access premium lessons and maximize your…

Xero is online accounting software for self-employed individuals, small businesses, and growing companies. It can help you track and pay bills, manage inventory and invoices, claim expenses, and store files. It even integrates with Gusto for your payroll needs. You can try Xero for free for 30 days and then subscribe to any of the…

Think of owner’s equity like a leftover pie after everyone you owe has taken their slice—it’s what’s truly yours as the owner. Unlike a company’s fair market value, owner’s equity doesn’t reflect a company’s overall worth. Instead, it shows how much capital the owners have invested in the business and how much of the business’s…

Quicken and QuickBooks Online serve mostly different purposes, but there is some overlap. Quicken is primarily a personal finance app while QuickBooks Online is a very popular small business bookkeeping software. Quicken focuses on personal finance features, such as budgeting, investment tracking, and bill management. It also has features to track the income and expenses…

The best accounting software for freelancers must be easy to use, especially for users with limited accounting knowledge wanting to focus more on managing the business. It should have essential general accounting features, such as expense tracking and reporting, and tools useful to freelancers, like mileage and invoice tracking. Here are the six best accounting…

Sage 50 Accounting (formerly Sage 50cloud) is scalable, on-premise accounting software that automates administrative tasks such as invoicing, payments, and inventory management. Its features include a cash flow manager, bank reconciliation, job costing, payroll, and reporting. Pricing starts at $61.92 per month for a single user. You can sign up for the 30-day test drive…

NCH Express Accounts is a desktop accounting software that works without an internet connection. It can account for invoices and perform bank reconciliations. When I tested the free version of the software, I liked its bank reconciliation feature. The only downside is it doesn’t connect with bank feeds, which means I have to manually upload…

Debits and credits represent the left and right side of the account, respectively. There’s actually no complex definition behind these two pillars of double-entry bookkeeping—and saying that debits are inflows and credits are outflows is a common misconception and misapplication of the debit-credit theory. When I was still studying college accounting, it took some time…

The last-in, first-out (LIFO) method is an inventory cost flow assumption where the most recently purchased items are considered sold first, directly impacting the cost of goods sold (COGS) on the income statement. This means newer inventory costs are used to calculate COGS, while older inventory costs remain on the balance sheet as inventory. In…

Microsoft Excel offers powerful functions that help accountants handle complex calculations that many bookkeeping software packages can’t handle. It isn’t ideal as a primary bookkeeping system, but it works well for filling in gaps, such as reconciliations and specialized computations. This guide outlines practical ways to use Excel to enhance accounting work and includes templates…

Melio and Ramp offer distinct approaches to assist small businesses with achieving financial efficiency. Melio excels in simplifying A/P processes and offers a basic A/R solution, while Ramp focuses on optimizing expense management through corporate cards and expense tracking tools. In my Ramp vs Melio comparison, I will explore the unique features of both platforms….