Top Accounting Software for Graphic Designers

Introduction

Graphic design agencies balance creativity and business: keeping track of client demands, logging creative hours, issuing deposits and retainers, making sure every job is profitable. When you’re trying to find the best accounting software for design businesses, you need a system that knows project-based billing, makes invoicing simple and provides an easy way to keep your books without acting as a barrier to the creative process. This guide will aide writers as they advise designers on pragmatic accounting capabilities, workflows, and what to choose.

Designer Accounting: Why Traditional Accounting Doesn’t Work For Your Business

Design firms are frequently project-based, with a slew of hourly and flat-fee and retainer agreements. Service-oriented businesses like graphic design firms need to charge time against jobs, apply out-of-pocket expenses to projects and track the margin on each deliverable. Generic bookkeeping can also obscure project profitability, delay the time it takes to invoice and confuse tax filing. A focused remedy makes bookkeeping more evident and the creative team can dedicate their time to design.

Core features to prioritize

When considering features, prioritise features that truly reflect the realities of creative work:

• Project bill and job costing: To distribute income and expenses to projects, reporting on profitability by job.
• Time and expense tracking: Simple timers along with a mobile receipt capture, making sure to record billable hours and out-of-pocket costs.
• Versatile invoicing/retainer handling: Both staged invoices, deposits, retainers or progress billing that matches long term or phased projects.
• Estimates & converting to invoices : You can quickly make quotes or proposals and convert them into invoice when client approves it, retaining scope and rates.
• Client friendly billing experience: Nice and professional branded customizable invoice templates, state payment terms and conditions clearly.
• Automatic reminders and recurring billing: Cast aside outstanding payment issues once and for all with scheduled reminders, periodic invoices to retainers.
• Bank reconciliation and cash flow visibility: Day-to-day reconciliation tools and dashboards so you can keep your cash flow healthy in a feast-or-famine cycle.
• Creatively focussed KPI reporting: Reports that display billable vs. non-billable hours, margin by project, client profitability or overdue invoices.
• Multi currency and taxable flexibility: For studios with international clients, the ability to use multiple currencies & configure tax rates.
• User permissions and collaborator access: Varying access privileges for creatives, contractors and external accountants.

Design-friendly workflows and integrations

Accounting should support creative workflows, not create new ones. Efficient practices include:

• Bundling time tracking with project management: Make sure timers can tag tasks and projects so hours will flow into job costing automatically.
• Quick expense capture: Snap receipts and categorize expenses on-the-go for less admin (and more accurate project costs).
• Easy client onboarding for billing: Record all of the client information, payment terms and the type of bill to send while setting up a project.
• Managing freelancers and subcontractors: Keep a record of contractor payments, store contracts and 1099-like information where relevant.
• Automating repeat tasks: with rules to categorize common expenses, automatic default tax codes or late notices you save time.

Filter by studio size and complexity

Different studios have different needs:

Independent designers and micro studios:

Focus on simplicity, easy time tracking, basic invoicing, competitive pricing. A simple to use graphic design billing tool, this is hassle free small bookkeeping software that generates clear invoices.

Small teams:

Require improved project accounting, enhanced reporting and access controls. A graphic design accounting software with integrated job costing and multi-user features will share the load of financial responsibilities.

Mid-sized agencies - Need advanced reporting, payroll and project system integration, robust client billing (retainers, phased invoicing etc). Scalability and exportable reports for external accountants also start to be a factor.

Criteria for the best accounting software solution

Use a checklist like this when you are going to consult design studio:

• Does it track time well and allocate to projects easily?
• Does it have retainers, deposits or staged invoicing?
• Do expense capture and receipt storage work on mobile?
• Can reports help in identifying margin and profitability for each project and client?
• Custom and client invoicing – can you modify the system?
• Does it schedule reminders and automate recurring billing if necessary?
• Are user roles accommodating for collaborators and accountants?
• How easy is exporting and/or migrating your data for year-end accounting, or if I need to migrate?
• Can be multi-currency and tax set up for international work?
• Are there any training/onboarding resources for non-Fin employees?

Cost Price and cost of ownership

Price is a factor, although the cheapest choices are not always the best. Factor in:

• Time saved from automation and integrations: More reconciliation time automatically reconciled to less disputes on bills.
• Add-on or integration costs: Some studios require payroll, more robust reporting modules.
• Time to implement and learn: The more complex the tool, the harder it is for early users to be productive.
• Migrating and exporting data: Make sure transition costs are minimal, and you can pass data off to an accountant without any bumps in the road.

Tips for Implementation of smooth transition:

A careful roll-out will minimize disruption:

• Begin with a pilot or one client before moving all historical data.
• Clean up your client records and chart of accounts BEFORE importing them to avoid messy reconciliations.
• Train one or two team members to be power users who can help others.
• Templates should be created for estimates, invoices and expense categories that correspond to the current structures of studio workflow.
• Schedule periodic reviews of reports to identify unprofitable projects or billing delays.

Conclusion

The top accounting software for graphic design businesses is one that strikes a balance between transparent project accounting, simple time and expense capture and client-friendly invoicing on the one hand, and admin-saving automation on the other. Be they for solo designer-client work or for midsize agencies, concentrate on features that deliver visibility into project profitability, ease billing and integrate seamlessly with day-to-day creative thinking workflows. Properly handled, bookkeeping is a threshold issue that facilitates sustainability rather than a recurring challenge.