There are a lot options available to an entrepreneur who is just starting out in business. One that may look attractive to a new startup with limited funds for accounting software is GoDaddy Bookkeeping. Every entrepreneur needs a program to know where the business stands financially.
This review of GoDaddy Bookkeeping will help you know whether or not it's right for you.
A Small Program for Very Small Business
At $9.99/month (discounted to $8.34/month if you sign up for a year), you can’t beat the price. However, as is often the case, you get what you pay for. This is a “light-weight” service that may work fine for someone doing a part-time business that will just report their business income on a Schedule C (Profit or Loss from a Sole Proprietorship Business) attached to their personal tax return.
However, as your business grows and it becomes a entrepreneurial force to be reckoned with, you may quickly outgrow a program like GoDaddy Bookkeeping. If you need to upgrade your business entity to an LLC or S-Corp, if you need to file a more sophisticated tax return with a Form 1065 (Return of Partnership Income) or an 1120-S (Income Tax Return for an S Corporation), you may find that the reports generated by GoDaddy Bookkeeping do not give you the details you need to optimize your business reporting.
A full-sized business will need accounting items that the GoDaddy software will not give you, like assets and liabilities, a full chart of accounts, etc. You will probably need a more robust accounting system within a year of starting your business, assuming it becomes a viable business. With GoDaddy Bookkeeping, you won’t have the financial horsepower to depreciate assets or project growth over a period of years.
The History of GoDaddy Bookkeeping
In its former life, GoDaddy Bookkeeping was an online bookkeeping program called OutRight. Outright offered basic profit and loss statements, invoices, and simple tax documents for sole proprietorships. In 2012, OutRight was acquired and rebranded as GoDaddy Bookkeeping.
The Bottom Line
If you have a sole proprietorship and don’t ever expect to grow beyond this basic business entity, GoDaddy Bookkeeping may be the only type of accounting software you need. The price is affordable for businesses that are providing a little bit of side income for their owners. However, it may be better to start off with a more robust accounting system such as Xero than try to move your figures over to a new system in the middle of the year.
Your Turn
What type of accounting system do you use?
