# Introduction
As a small business owner, you know that managing your finances can be a daunting task. FreshBooks has traditionally offered a simplistic cash flow process, but now they are taking it to the next level with a full-blown double-entry accounting platform that is customer-focused and easy to use.
# What is Double-Entry Accounting?
Double-entry accounting is a standard industry practice that balances cash transactions across two or more accounts. FreshBooks has integrated this practice into their platform with a twist that makes it approachable and user-friendly. Unlike traditional accounting algorithms, FreshBooks focuses on integrating a simplified and easy-to-understand approach that makes accounting easy for small business owners.
# The Approachable Accounting Features
FreshBooks has introduced three core accounting features that make up the backbone of their system. These features are designed to maintain all your financial records while you remain free to run your business operations.
## The Chart of Accounts
This feature is a search-friendly list of all the accounts your business has acquired over time. The Chart of Accounts holds important information about the assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses pertaining to each account. This helps you maintain your business accounts on a day-to-day basis so that you can pull out the data whenever you need it.
## The Trial Balance
This feature handles all the transactions in your business, including the in-flow and outflow of funds. The Trial Balance ensures that your accounts are balanced and highlights any discrepancies as errors. This feature is important for tracking your financial settlements and keeping your books clean for tax purposes.
## General Ledger (GL)
This feature provides a bird’s eye view of your entire gamut of business transactions and helps you prepare your financial statements. The GL maintains accounts of assets (fixed and current), liabilities, revenue, expenses, gains, and losses. With GL’s help, you can not only prepare the Accounts Report but also export or print it for further discussions.
## Other Revenue Tracking Features – Non-Invoice Transactions
This feature helps you keep your books on non-invoice-based transactions that often come in drips and make it painful to account for. This revenue can become a sizeable portion of your income and cannot be neglected. FreshBooks makes it super-easy to account for this revenue and keeps your books clean for tax purposes. The data entries are color-coded, making it easier for you to investigate the data and track the source.
# The Customer-Centric Approach
FreshBooks is designed for small business owners who are great at running business operations but not necessarily great at accounting. The platform is approachable and adheres to their trademark simplistic and no-frills approach. FreshBooks has turned a standard industry practice into an easy, simple, seamless, and non-intimidating process that helps you record not only your day-to-day transactions, invoices, and costs but also your liabilities and assets.
FreshBooks offers a warm and inviting interface that allows you to integrate all your finance-related data seamlessly into the system without having to bother about complex accounting practices. At the back-end, FreshBooks algorithms are tirelessly at work, doing all the essential, complex calculations for you, so that you are on top of all your financials including tax time, invoices, cash transactions, and beyond.
# Conclusion
FreshBooks is an excellent platform for small business owners who manage all the verticals of their business, including marketing, operations, and accounting. It is approachable, customer-centric, and easy to use, making it an excellent alternative for those who do not have the time or resources to delegate accounting tasks to an expert. FreshBooks focuses on empowering small business owners to take charge of their finances and keep their books clean.