5 Best Restaurant Accounting Software for 2023

• Robust integration options with POS systems: Restaurant365 can integrate with seven out of eight of our choices for best restaurant POS systems and with more than 90 other popular POS systems. It’s an all-in-one back-office system that restaurant owners and managers can use to stay on top of accounting, inventory tracking, scheduling, and sales.
• Automated bank reconciliation: The R365 Accounting feature of Restaurant365 offers general ledger control, location tracking per account, bank reconciliations, and financial budgets. It even has a fixed asset module to track the lifetime costs of all fixed assets.
• Artificial intelligence (AI): The inventory module of Restaurant365 uses AI to track ingredients with its real-time inventory system. This AI-powered module can help you manage the consumption of raw materials and ensure that they’re used efficiently in operations.

Restaurant365 is suitable for:

• Mid- and large-scale restaurants that need complex inventory and food cost tracking
• Restaurants looking for a comprehensive and all-in-one restaurant management system
• Businesses that own multiple restaurants

• Inventory tracking: QuickBooks Online tracks the cost of goods sold (COGS) in every invoice and determines the cost of ending inventory for reporting. Its inventory features can be enough for small restaurants that don’t need comprehensive restaurant features like recipe management and theoretical usage.
• Sales tax tracking: If you sell in different jurisdictions, QuickBooks Online can help you add sales taxes in invoices and track your sales tax liability. However, you can’t file and pay your sales tax using the app.
• Assisted bookkeeping options: QuickBooks Live is a special bookkeeping assistance service of QuickBooks. A Live Bookkeeper will be assigned to clean up your accounts and do your books while subscribed to the plan. QuickBooks Live can help you focus on managing your restaurants and let expert bookkeepers handle the books.

QuickBooks Online is suitable for:

• Businesses looking for a comprehensive bookkeeping software
• Small restaurants, cafes, and caterers that don’t need complex restaurant accounting features
• Restaurants looking for bookkeeping assistance through a QuickBooks ProAdvisor

• Accounting software integration: MarginEdge can integrate with popular accounting software like QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Sage Intacct, and Xero. This integration makes it easier to account for income, expenses, A/R, and A/P using accounting assumptions and principles. Although MarginEdge has accounting features, it’s only suitable for tracking restaurant transactions and isn’t a complete accounting solution.
• Variance analysis: MarginEdge derives actual costs from POS data and compares it with budgeted amounts to provide information about how efficient your restaurant is with using resources. You can also generate theoretical reports to show standard usage based on the assumptions or estimates you’ve made.
• Daily controllable profit and loss (P&L): MarginEdge can generate a daily controllable P&L statement that will present you with controllable revenues and expenses. So that you can see the bigger picture, the controllable P&L statement will include a common size value as a percentage of sales to show you the impact of different products to total revenues and resource usage to total expenses.

MarginEdge is suitable for:

• Restaurants looking for a more cost effective restaurant accounting software
• Existing users of QuickBooks, Xero, and Sage Intacct
• Restaurant startups

• Workflow management: Food Service Ace has workflow management that helps back-office personnel efficiently manage orders, receipts, and inventory.
• Accounting: Food Service Ace has important accounting features like bank reconciliation, A/P, and A/R. POS data is also imported to general ledger accounts every night.
• Catering management: Food Service Ace has a catering module that enables managers and owners to create proposals for clients. It also accommodates deposits, invoices, and advances. This module can also track inventory and overall catering costs.

Food Service Ace is suitable for:

• Food carts, trucks, and mobile restaurants
• Food businesses geared toward food preparation and delivery
• Users without internet access

• Free forever: Wave doesn’t have higher paid plans, unlike other free accounting software. It’s an ideal program for tracking income and expenses for free.
• A/R and A/P management: Wave is capable enough for tracking A/R and A/P. At a minimum, its invoicing and billing functions can help you account for income and expenses. But since Wave is free software, it lacks advanced and more premium accounting features.

While Wave doesn’t have restaurant-specific features, we believe that its income and expense tracking can be useful for small restaurants and food businesses that don’t need complex restaurant features. However, if your operation needs information about labor and overhead, we recommend checking out another software in this guide.

Wave is suitable for:

• Restaurants that don’t need complex accounting features
• Very small food businesses that don’t accept bulk orders or catering services
• Mom-and-pop food stalls, carts, or shops