A bout two months ago I was in a dark place: I was working extremely hard, but I didn’t seem to be making any money, and on top of all that I got landed with the worst client I’ve ever had in my life – who ended up costing me about £8,000. My finances were in a sorry state, and thinking about them made me want to curl up in a ball and die. Then I discovered FreeAgent, my turnover and profit both pretty much doubled every month, and I now actually really enjoy doing my accounts!
How it Started
I told you all last week about how I fired my accountants. They use a system whereby you simply send them your expenses and invoices each month, and “they do the rest”. It sounds great in principle, but in practice I had absolutely no idea what was going on with my business’ finances. I didn’t know if I was making a profit, a loss, how much I was turning over each month, how much I could pay myself, or how much I should hold back for tax. It was all one big painfully-poorly organised guessing game.
I was complaining to my good friend Ryan Roberts about this one day, and he suggested that I check out FreeAgent. The name was one that I’d heard before, but it wasn’t an app that I’d ever properly had a look at. After watching the introduction video on the home page, I decided it was worth giving a try – which turned out to be my best business decision of 2009.
What is it, & Why is it Any Different from the Rest?
FreeAgent is an accounting web application, it allows you to track your finances directly from your bank account(s), manage contacts, create and send invoices, and for UK users – do some very comprehensive tax calculations.
When you sign up for FreeAgent you get your own URL (http://yourcompany.freeagentcentral.com) and login, much in the same way that BaseCamp is set up. From there you log in to your FreeAgent account, which has a beautifully simple and easy-to-use interface.
I tried several online and offline competitors of FreeAgent including Xero, FreshBooks, Billings, and a lot of others that I can’t even remember the names of. None of them did exactly what I wanted, they were all too complicated, too clunky, or too simple. In my opinion FreeAgent is the porridge that’s “just right”.
Why I Love it
Every piece of software should have one feature that makes you absolutely love it. With FreeAgent I discovered that feature within 10 minutes of using it; bank account integration is simply superb.
I could talk about some of the other awesome features; like the fact that you can create and send invoices easily, import contacts from BaseCamp/HighRise, upload time-sheets, or set project level pricing and invoice-numbering… and those features are all amazing, but they aren’t what transformed my business.
Being able to easily monitor my income, cash flow, invoices, and bills did.
On my FreeAgent account I’ve set up both my business bank account, and my business Paypal account. At the beginning of each week, I download an electronic statement from each of them, and upload them into FreeAgent. The first couple of times I had to explain to FreeAgent what each transaction was, bill payments, expenses, invoice payments, my own salary, bank charges, and the list goes on. The killer feature is that FreeAgent is smart, it learns every time you import transactions. Now when I import a fresh bank statement it automatically marks invoices and bills as paid when it sees the transactions, adds whatever I paid myself to my salary records, and updates all my tax calculations based on the new transactions.
Essentially this is what my accountants used to do each month when I sent them my details, but the difference here is that I can see and understand everything that is going on. On the dashboard I see a graph of my income for the last 5 months, which invoices are currently still awaiting payments, important tax return dates that are coming up, how much money is in my bank account(s), and my company’s overall profit for the year so far.
Having this in place means that I’m constantly aware of what work I’m doing during the day, and whether or not it’s contributing to an outstanding invoice in FreeAgent. This has meant that for the last 2 months I’ve managed to focus much more on what makes money, and spend less time on what doesn’t. It’s been pretty a eye-opening experience, and I’ve had to make some tough decisions (including letting my outsourced employee go), but the results speak for themselves.
We are now half-way through October, and I’ve already turned over 4 times as much as I did in July, and with a much higher profit margin.
What About Accountants?
When I started using FreeAgent and it improved every aspect of my business, I tried to convince my accountants to start using it with me (seeing as FreeAgent fully supports accountants, and allows you to give them a log-in). They (foolishly) didn’t play ball, and my article about firing them came about as a result of that.
I’m not confident enough to take full responsibility of my accounts (I specialise in design and code, not tax law) – so I’ve now started working with an accounting company… [edited, Feb2011] who were good, but very expensive. I’ve been using FreeAgent now for about 6 months on my own, and I’m doing ok so far. I’ll probably hire in a freelance accountant temporarily once or twice a year to look things over.
Now: The GiveAway Competition
Please note that the competition is now closed, however you can still sign up and get a massive 10% discount every single month if you use the code ’32wxrass’ when you sign up. Don’t forget that you get a 30 day trial anyway, so you’ll get a good run before you have to make any decisions!
As if that wasn’t enough, I had a long chat to Ed Molyneux (the CEO of FreeAgent) in preparation for this post, and we’ve put together what I think is a pretty awesome giveaway package.
In what is definitely one of the best competitions I’ve ever had the privilege of running on this blog, FreeAgent are giving away a massive 3 Free accounts for 6 months to 3 lucky winners. Let’s have a quick reminder of FreeAgent’s awesome features before I tell you how you can win:
All of The Features, In Two Little Lists
Manage Projects & Time
Manage your projects and contacts, track the time you spend and create flexible timesheet reports.- Simple, Powerful Invoicing
Create great looking invoices with no fuss. Email them to the client and easily track through to payment. - Keep track of Expenses
Keep tabs on your business and out-of-pocket expenses and quickly rebill to clients. - Superior Online Banking
Online banking that’s better than the banks. Compare accounts and track balances. - Realtime Accounts
No complicated procedures, FreeAgent simply works out your accounts as you run your business. - Unrivalled Tax Features
Our unique Tax timeline lets you see important UK income, VAT and corporate tax dates and how much is due.
How To Win
Winning this competition couldn’t be easier! All you have to do is sign up to a free 30 day trial of FreeAgent to see what you think of it using the link below – I’ve even included my referral code which gives you a 10% discount if you choose to sign up after the first 30 days. Not a 10% discount for the first month, a 10% discount forever.
Once you’ve signed up for your free trial, just leave a comment below telling me what you think of FreeAgent!
The competition will run for 1 week from today, ending on Tuesday the 20th of October. Then we’ll randomly select 3 winners from the comments, and the FreeAgent team will verify that those people have signed up for a FreeAgent account. After that the winners will have their accounts extended for 6 more months free of charge!
The best part is that for every person who you refer to FreeAgent, you’ll get a further 10% off, forever. So if you refer 10 people, you’ll never pay a penny for FreeAgent again. Not too shabby eh?
Hey John,
Looks like your on the way to getting yourself a free account :P, I am going to give it a go for the business i am starting.
W00t! After you telling me about this gem, I started fiddling with it. It looks slick, it’s navigation is well positioned, and does exactly what the doctor ordered: work!
I was looking for an invoicing app that also did expenses, but on my search for a decent app, Freeagent never showed up. Thanks to John, I found this business saver.
Oh, maybe the best part is: I’m working with a local, small town bank, that doesn’t show sort-codes and stuff in their exported statements. It took the FAC support desk only a day to find me a temporary solution, so now even I can upload statements.
I’m thrilled!
Brilliant review, John! I tried FreeAgent a while ago, but there were a few little funny things about me being in Australia and not the UK.
However, as I do have a trial account, I’d love to have it extended for 6 months for free, as I’m a bit dissatisfied with my current accounting solution :D
Hi Japh,
I’ve extended your FreeAgent account for a month (I think I found your account… ‘Satellite’, yeap?).
Any way, drop me a line (david@freeagentcentral.com), and we can have a chat – I’d love to know where we can help you out, especially if you are getting bugged by your current set up at the minute.
No worries about including you in the prize draw as well.
Cheers,
David
p.s. John = Awesome.
Thank you so much! It is ‘Satellite’, well picked. I’ll give it another go over the next week or so and get in touch with you then :)
Thanks again!
I’m not earning enough money at the moment for an application like FreeAgent to be worthwhile for me, though everything I’ve read and seen about the application is absolutely amazing. I had a look into FreshBooks, but this seems like a more complete and well-rounded piece of software. So as soon as I’m earning the money, I’m going to begin using it!!
Great reviews John, as usual.
Hi Luke – why don’t you give the Sole Trader option a go? I wish I’d had that when I was freelancing on the side as it helps you out with doing your taxes, which is the only bit that I always got stuck on! And you never know, you might get it extended by 6 months for free ;)
Hi,
Good article! I actually use Freeagent Central already, and can’t agree more with your analysis on how it helps out small web design businesses.
However, I read your previous blog on Billings.
Billings was great, until I began to take on employees who I wanted to have access to create invoices etc, but unfortunately there was no network version available (and iBiz was pathetic).
So we switched to FreeAgent for all of our estimating, invoicing purposes, are you using a combination of both? If so how does this work?
James
Hi James, I just use FreeAgent now :)
I very recently extended my trial account for a year. Looks like I should have waited :(
I have to say though that I totally agree with your very well written review John. I am immensely impressed with FreeAgent and although I haven’t really had time to fully upload all my details and contacts yet I can already see the awesome potential it has. I love the way you can track expenses and upload receipts. It really lets you see exactly where your spending your money, which in turn makes it easier to set prices which are fair and realistic.
I absolutely love the overview screen when you first login. Very helpful stuff. I’ve set this thing up as an SSB with Fluid and it’s open nearly all of the time – pretty impressive really and the way it should be too.
I also tried a few other accounting and invoicing solutions including Freshbooks, Billings and some that I’ve forgotten too and it’s true that they don’t come close to FreeAgent.
My only minor gripe (and it is very minor when all things are considered) is the limited number of invoice designs included. Now since I’m a web designer I could easily make my own with the invoice devkit but honestly I’m not sure I can be bothered (overkill?) so I’ll probably just use one of the pre-set ones. It would be nice to have more choices in this area though. I’ll still be recommending FreeAgent to my friends and associates mind you. Just a bit gutted I didn’t hang on and see if I couldn’t have gotten 6 months free though.
I signed up for the FreeAgent free trial at about roughly the same time as you, so have had a fair amount of time to get in to it too. I’ve now signed up and am happily paying for what I think is an excellent product – but wouldn’t ‘arf mind 6 months of freeness too!
I must confess there’s little I like doing more than counting my beans. Previously I managed all my accounts via a rather extravagant excel spreadsheet, which was actually a reasonably effective (and cheap) way of doing things, so to make the switch to a package where I had to pay every month to use it was quite a step.
But now the enjoyment I get from bean-counting has gone up tenfold! What’s more I’ve actually learnt one or two things along the way that previously I was doing slightly wrong. So all in all, another happy customer here :D
I’ve used they’re competitor FreshBooks to handle some non-concurrent things and they’ve been pretty good, however being non-UK it’s kind of a pain as you still have to deal with the hassle of calculating your tax returns and watching your books, which let’s face it isn’t the most fun in the world.
Accounts is in general a pain, I mean, what developer wants to spend a day or three each month going through all their receipts and bills filling every dot and logging every penny (and believe you me, accountants DO care if there’s even one penny lost in the books).
So I’m glad FreeAgentCentral exists to take this task over for me.
I’ve signed up for their free 30-day trial and will see how it goes, I don’t really know what to expect as all I know is what i’ve read from their site, this review and their talk at FOWA; but after diving into the site it’s a pretty swish experience which makes me want to use it more.
I guess it’s that Apple smell, you know where the groovy graphics, attractive layout and intelligent design make it want to be a part of your life; it’s like pulling you in saying “hey, let me deal with your books and let you get your life back”, they honestly just want to help and that’s what’s winning me over.
Will have to wait and see but so far, i’m hooked!
Good work guys & girls.
Hi,
I’m on the lookout for a product just like this. However, I am in Australia. Can I still use freeagent or….? Taxes etc are a big, dark mystery right now (I suppose thats how the accountants like it!).
Hi Andrew, yes FreeAgent offer a “universal” plan which can be used internationally!
Hi Andrew, I too am an Aussie, and I’m giving FreeAgent a go at the moment. Seems like it could be a winner! :D
Hey,
I’m in Canada, and FreeAgent seems to work fine here!
I’ve been using FreeAgent since their beta program and it has become the one software app I wouldn’t want to run my business without. I use Basecamp every day for managing all my projects and value it highly…but if I were cut off tomorrow I would cope. However if I were cut off from FreeAgent, I would really struggle.
FreeAgent does everything I want my accounting software to do. More than that though, it’s so pleasingly good at what it does and it really does put you back in control of your business’s finances. I think those feelings of happy control are why I (and lots of others) like it so much.
I needed only simple powerful invoicing so I gave a try on several tools like Free Agent, Freshbooks and BillMyClients. However, most of these apps have bundled too many features that makes them bloated in my opinion.
Recently I found an app called CurdBee, which is specially tailored for invoicing and it was really simple for my needs.
Carpenter Box seem very expensive mate, more expensive than the ones Freeagent recommend on their site anyway. I can’t pay that much so I’ll keep looking… sigh.
I am planning on switching to free-agent for all new jobs and come next year start full time. I also am looking forward to the possibility of editing the invoices by modifying a CSS file.
The best thing about freeagent is the little tick box which says ‘I have a VAT receipt’ when adding mileage claims. Makes life of VAT almost pleasant!
I used Microsoft Accounting 2009 for six month when I started up my own business but this month I’ve started trialling FreeAgent and it’s so much better. Instant reports, online availability, and it doesn’t take up 500mb of memory!
It’s made running my small business so much easier and I have more of a grasp of my accounts than I ever have had.
I don’t wanna win this but awesome competition John!
This is system is much more reliable and easier to use than the Excel spreadsheets I’ve running my freelance accounts from. Thanks for making me aware of this. I’ve already sent links to your post to several people who are looking to at freelancing or already run their own business.
I was looking at FreshBooks & CannyBill but I think we have a winner here in FreeAgent.
All the best.
John
I love freeagent, I have been trailing it before and now thinking of signing up for a year.
In particular I find the UK tax features amazing; they can potentially save a lot of time and resources that would otherwise be spent on accountants.
Ramon Lawson
I signed up to FreeAgent thanks to this article. I used to use GnuCash, which is free double entry accounting software, and this completely trounces it, the auto-tax calculations, the full profit+loss, multi-user accounts and really, really decent invoicing. I will definitely be paying for the full version as soon as this months cheques come in.
I am especially astounded at the level of competence of the staff at FreeAgent, they managed to fix my problems, (which where more to do with tax than the software) within a really short time. Good quality app bettered by good quality staff.
Why should use Freeagent for various reasons but mostly;
F – For its FEATURES and FUNCTIONALITY that have been made so simple powerful and FUN to use
R – For its RESPONSIVE customer support that appears to be second to none
E – For its EASY to use yet beautiful interface
E – For its EFFORTLESS way of performing your calculations for you
A – For its ACCOUNTS integration be it your business bank or paypal account
G – For its ability at any GIVEN moment to tell you how much your making and what you owe
E – For the EXCELLENT web app that it truly is
N – For the NIRVANA it creates at your desk as you no longer worry so much about your Accounts
T – For the way it will now handle my TAX RETURN the greatest gift it could ever give
But most of all becasue John is bound to give you his refferal code the moment freeagent even enters your mind.
Best. Comment. Ever!
Agreed! Just for the quality of that comment I’m going to make sure you get a prize for that Brian, even if you don’t win!
Why thank you very much guys :-) much appreciated…. nice bit of fun more than anything… although im sure Johns referral code is high up on twittertrends!
Please Note: All comments below this point are no longer part of the competition. You are still free to leave your thoughts and feeling about FreeAgent, but the competition is now closed.
I tried a number of the alternatives both on and offline and came back to FreeAgent for its ease of use and interface. What a great design! Finished my trial and signed up with the referral code to get the 10% off…
I moved from QuickBooks (yuck) over to Xero in early 2009, which was great, but then John pointed me toward FreeAgentCentral and I haven’t looked back! It does everything I needed Xero for, and more. And a heck of a lot easier.
Seriously impressed. Managed to convert a few other chaps to using it as well, great software sells itself it seems!
We’re on the other side of the fence (as accountants), and can definately say that dealing with the guys at FAC has been a great experience. It makes a change to get swift resolution when there are questions to be answered.
The software is superb & we’re looking forward to growing with it and helping clients focus on understanding & running their businesses, rather than battling with the attitude of their old school accountant.
Well done FAC!
Hi Jon
Great article review on MyFreeAgent – am looking at this with much interest and have registered for a FREE TRIAL as it must be worth a roadtest for any sole trader or limited company – I have a business PayPal account and a NatWest Business account so want to synchronize the two and file my taxes online at the HMRC website
Am also interested in Crunch too and taking a demo of that this week but I am more interested in an affiliate partnership with them as I am producing a work from home/freelancer money making blog and amongst my affiliate product reviews I will also promote services I use like Skype, Clickbank, and marketing tools along with Adsense & Amazon ads.
You have designed a fantastic website here and I love the way you have designed your custom header graphic
- did you do this yourself or did you hire a graphic designer? Can you recommend any ace graphic designers or outsourcing partners who you use?
Best Wishes
Mike L
Horsham, West Sussex
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the kind words – all the design work on this site is my own :)
Hi John, I can totally empathise – I’ve had terrible
experiences with accountants (including one company who went on to
claim they could offer marketing advice too when they couldn’t even
file our returns on time even though they had our accounts for 3
MONTHS!!). But since changing a while ago, we’ve got a new
accountant (who is fab so far) and have been using Freeagent
Central – just preparing our second year accounts using it, and I
love it. Great for a growing company like us. The best thing about
it is that you can set up recurring invoices and invoices for
future dates which email out to clients automatically – no more
needing to make sure you are in the office on the first of the
month to get your invoices out. The email reminders are also very
useful and you can personalise all of it so you don’t lose that
personal touch – in fact some of our customers have mentioned that
they feel like its customer service when we are chasing invoices!
Before Freeagent Central accountancy software we used Sage Instant
Accounts, which I found very complicated and time consuming for a
small company like ours. I can honestly say Freeagent Central have
quartered the time we spend doing the books whilst also making our
accounts process more effective. There is an iPhone app now too,
which I was very excited about. However you can’t raise invoices on
it, only bill time and expenses to projects, and track your mileage
etc.
Freeagent is amazing! I came across this when I was offered it with my Barclays business bank account. At the time I had never heard about freeagent and wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was blown away. Interface is clean, and a totally doddle to navigate and get to grips with. I would of never imagined I would ever say this about accounting, but I actually now find it a joy to do every evening. Freeagent gives me more time to get to down to what i love doing, and that is running my business!