10 Best Practice Management Software for Accountants — 2024

With the technological transformation that's taking place in the business landscape, the importance of having the right practice management software has never been more critical for the accounting industry. 

What is Accounting Practice Management Software? Accounting practice management software should bring all of your accounting practice’s mission-critical functions into one place. It’s an end-to-end platform with which accounting firms are able to complete

Here are the top 10 accounting practice management softwares you need to keep an eye on for 2024:

Canopy 

Canopy is a comprehensive practice management software and takes a spot on the list with its impressive features designed for accountants. Its user-friendly interface effectively manages client relationships, engagements and proposals, document management, invoices, payments, and workflows, within a single practice management system. Canopy comes equipped with a robust client portal, enabling secure document sharing, payments, and communication. Fully cloud-based and mobile-friendly, Canopy ensures that users can access their data from anywhere at any time, making it a strong contender in the practice management software arena for 2024.

• Firm-wide Operating System: With Canopy, you have a comprehensive solution that covers everything you need, from the initial proposal to the final interaction in the client portal. No more juggling different software or wasting time on inefficient processes.
• Comprehensive Client Management: Canopy features an advanced client portal that facilitates seamless communication and document management with clients.

• Workflow Automation: The software allows users to customize workflows, automate redundant tasks, and thereby increase efficiency.

• Integrated Email: Easily access your existing email(s) within Canopy directly from our inbox or find client specific communications on the corresponding client profile.

• Strong Security Features: Enhanced security protocols to protect sensitive client information, including two-factor authentication and SOC 2 compliance.

• Learning Curve: Change can be hard. Especially when you have more than one module to learn within a product.

• Module Development: Canopy is in a continuous state of evolution. While some modules offer solutions, they may not cover all aspects. Canopy is in the process of expanding and improving its selection of modules. However, as it continues to develop, some features are not yet accessible.

• Limited Integration: While Canopy offers some integrations, it may not integrate with all the software currently used by a practice.

• Overwhelming for Small Firms: The robust feature set can be more than necessary for very small businesses that need simpler solutions.

TaxDome

A rising star in the field of practice management software, TaxDome offers a solution designed for accountants and tax professionals. Its comprehensive feature set includes document management, workflow automation, client portal, and built-in e-signature capabilities. The software's modern, clean interface contributes to its ease of use, while its integrations with other software make it a flexible choice. In addition, TaxDome provides security measures to ensure that all data is stored and transmitted securely, making it a reliable choice for businesses of all sizes in 2024.

• All-in-One Solution: Combining document management, workflow automation, and other functionalities in one platform.
• Ease of Use: Clean and intuitive interface making navigation and operations straightforward for users.
• Powerful Integrations: Capabilities to integrate smoothly with other essential software tools.
• Enhanced Security: Strong security protocols in place to protect sensitive financial data.
• Affordable: Pricing, for the amount of features included, is highly affordable for firms of any size.

• Learning Curve: New users may require time to fully utilize all sophisticated features and integrations.
• Scalability: Users are known to have complained about its ability to handle large amounts of data without terrible loading times.
• Customization Limits: Some users might find the customization options for workflows and templates are not extensive enough.
• Virtual Drive, Integration, and Email Limitations: Currently their drive is not compatible with Mac OS, their QBO integration doesn’t allow for uncategorized transactions to pass through to TaxDome from QuickBooks, and lack of control over design and branding of emails.  

Karbon 

As a collaborative work management platform, Karbon is revolutionizing the way accounting firms operate. This software stands out with its unique workflow management capabilities, which allow businesses to streamline their processes, stay organized, and drive visibility across their teams. It's known for its smart automation features, allowing repetitive tasks to be automated, freeing up valuable time for more critical work. The platform integrates with popular email systems and other accounting tools, ensuring a fully integrated and efficient work environment. Built with a user-friendly interface and backed with a responsive support team, Karbon is an excellent choice for firms looking to elevate their practice management in 2024.

• Kanban task view: Highly visible and intractable interface for managing work in the firm. 
• Email triage:A central hub for all email and internal conversations.
• Strong Integrations: Easily integrates with commonly used email systems and accounting tools.
• User-Friendly Interface: Designed for ease of use to facilitate quick adoption and utilization.
• Responsive Support: Offers reliable customer support to assist with queries and issues.

• Initial Setup Complexity: Can be complex to set up, requiring significant time investment up-front.
• Pricing: Premium features come at a cost that may be prohibitive for smaller firms.
• Overwhelming Feature Set: Smaller practices may find the expansive features more than they need.
• Training Required: Users often need to invest time and money in learning to navigate the intricate features effectively.
• Limited Custom Reporting: The reporting functions may not be as customizable as required by some firms.
• Over reliance on integrations: Integrations aim to enhance your work experience by providing a seamless experience. However, Karbon’s choice to integrate, rather than build natively, has led to features with limitations and extended load times, potentially causing inefficiencies in your firm.  

Financial Cents 

A dynamic player in the practice management software sector, Financial Cents brings a wealth of features specifically designed to simplify and streamline accounting operations. It offers robust project management and workflow tracking capabilities that make it easier for teams to stay on top of tasks and deadlines. Its client portal enables seamless client communication and secure document exchange. One standout feature is its benchmarking tool, which allows firms to measure their performance against industry standards and identify areas for improvement. With its easy-to-use interface and comprehensive feature set, Financial Cents has positioned itself as a competitive choice for accounting practice management software in 2024.

• Project Management: Offers robust project management tools for efficient tracking.
• Workflow Tracking: Enhanced workflow tracking helps firms maintain control over tasks and deadlines.
• Client Portal: Includes an intuitive client portal for secure communications and document exchanges.
• Performance Benchmarking: Unique benchmarking tool to compare firm performance with industry metrics.
• User-Friendly Interface: Accessible interface facilitates smooth operation for users of all skill levels.

• Time & Billing and Payments: Lacks native features and relies on integration with QBO to offer time and billing functionality, causing your firm to pay for, train on, and manage a separate system.
• Document Management: Missing full document management features including securely collecting documents from clients, unlimited storage, folder organization, templates, and more inside one practice management platform.  
• Target Audience: May be better suited for small to medium-sized firms, possibly lacking depth for larger enterprises.
• Reporting Features: Advanced reporting features might be limited in comparison to other more established platforms.
• Market Presence: A relatively newer entrant in the market that might not have the same track record as its competitors.
• Customer Support: The level and speed of customer support might vary as the platform is scaling up.

Mango 

As a newer entrant in the world of larger practice management software, Mango offers a solution tailor-made for modern accounting and tax practices. Offering a suite of features, Mango mainly serves firms looking to manage time and billing, but also offers tasks, workflows, client communication, and document sharing all within one platform. The software's secure client portal facilitates client communication and document exchange. One of its distinguishing features is its automation capabilities, which help streamline everyday tasks and enhance productivity. Additionally, Mango's reporting and analytics tools provide valuable insights into business performance, but primarily for time and billing. Mango offers customers a user-friendly interface and commitment to exceptional customer support, Mango is an exciting up-and-comer in the practice management software market in 2024.

• Time & Billing: This is their bread and butter. Time tracking is flexible and robust.
• Workflow Automation: Intelligent tools that automate and enhance daily task efficiency.
• Client Portal: Secure and intuitive portal for effective client communication and document sharing.
• User-Friendly: A clean and intuitive user interface that caters to a positive user experience.
• Customer Support: Strong commitment to customer support for troubleshooting and assistance.

• Integration Range: May have limited third-party integrations, affecting workflow continuity.
• Pricing Strategy: Could be priced at a premium, making it less accessible for smaller firms.
• New Market Entrant: As a newer product, it might lack extensive market validation.
• Availability of Features: Some advanced features might be in development, with staged rollouts affecting current usability.

Thomson Reuters Practice CS 

This software offers an all-encompassing suite of features, designed to cater to the diverse needs of accountants. Known for its comprehensive project management capabilities, Practice CS allows users to track due dates, manage workflows, and monitor the overall progress of projects. It also provides robust time and billing features that enable invoicing, time tracking, and financial reporting. A standout feature is its deep integration with other Thomson Reuters solutions, providing a seamless workflow across various accounting and tax tasks. With its customizable dashboards and robust reporting capabilities, Practice CS gives firms the ability to analyze their performance and make informed decisions. Its dedication to providing efficient, comprehensive solutions makes it a noteworthy addition to the list of top practice management software for 2024.

• Industry Clout: Thomson Reuters has been around for a long time. Most accountants have used it at some point in their career, and is, therefore, familiar and comfortable.
• Comprehensive Project Management: Advanced tools to track projects, due dates, and workflows.
• Time and Billing Features: Enables detailed financial reporting and proficient time management and billing.
• Integration with Thomson Reuters Solutions: Facilitates a seamless workflow with other related accounting and tax software.
• Robust Reporting: Powerful reporting capabilities for in-depth performance analysis.

• Complexity: May be too complex for smaller firms or those with simpler needs.
• Learning Curve: Can have a steep learning curve due to its comprehensive feature set.
• Pricing: Is usually costly for an initial setup, but can have an enticing pricing model that causes firms to stick with it instead of upgrading to more modern softwares.
• Innovation and updates: Users often complain about bugs and outages. They also are not on the forefront of creating modern, user-friendly solutions. 
• Adaptability: Customization features, while robust, may still not meet all specific niche requirements for some practices.

Jetpack 

Jetpack is a solution built specifically for accountant’s project management needs. It excels in task management, allowing for the creation and tracking of tasks in an intuitive, visual interface. Easily automate aspects of work and find status and ownership within a matter of a few clicks in Jetpack. Moreover, its commitment to data security and privacy ensures safe storage and transmission of sensitive data. With upcoming feature improvements focused on workflow and its ease of use, Jetpack provides a notable offering in the accounting project management software market in 2024.

• Task Management: Allows for efficient creation and tracking of tasks with a visual interface.
• Data Security: Strong commitment to data protection and privacy.
• Workflow Templates: Jetpack offers a variety of templates that can be applied to decrease the time to get started. 
• User-friendly Interface: Customers love the simplicity of the platform and that it is cloud-based. 
• Capacity Planning: Enjoy helpful reports to show team and individual capacity and features that firms can take action on immediately to redistribute tasks.  

• Point solution: Jetpack openly says they are not a practice management solution, though they get grouped in with vendors that are.

• Integration limitations: Because it’s focused solely on project management, and doesn’t have integrations with other key softwares used by practitioners, manual efforts may be present due to data entry and context switching.
• Customization Limitations: While offering many features, customization options could be limited for certain niche needs.
• Training Requirements: Might require significant training time to utilize its full potential.
• Document Management and Time & Billing: Because it is primarily focused on workflow, it lacks deep (and some basic) functionality surrounding these two important aspects of a practice management solution. 

OfficeTools 

OfficeTools provides a suite of tools designed to streamline accounting tasks. It offers an array of features including project management, time tracking, and billing capabilities that enable professionals to manage their workflows. The software's integrated client portal promotes communication with clients, promoting easy and secure document exchange. A major highlight of OfficeTools is its ability to integrate with popular tax and accounting software, thereby enabling a smooth and efficient workflow. The software also boasts a robust reporting feature that allows firms to generate customizable reports, providing insights into their business performance. With its all-inclusive feature set and user-friendly interface, OfficeTools stands as another option for accountants seeking an efficient practice management solution in 2024.

• Integrations with Intuit: Integrated with key softwares like QuickBooks Online and Lacerte helps decrease redundant and manual tasks.
• All-in-one: Following the traditional definition of practice management, OfficeTools is strongest at time and billing while also incorporating some functionality from the other most commonly included areas (workflow, client management and document management). 
• Customizable Reports: Robust reporting features for detailed business performance analysis.
• User-Friendly: Similar interface to other familiar softwares in the industry. 

• Stability Issues: May experience occasional stability issues or bugs affecting performance.
• Lack of automations: Much of accounting work is timely and predictable. Automations can help with these handoffs, but OfficeTools doesn’t have them. 
• Minimal Document Management: Integration with DropBox helps cover more robust document management needs, but they don’t have a robust solution themselves.
• Cost Factor: The company has increased prices in the last year. 

Firm360 

An up-and-coming contender in the practice management software industry, Firm360 offers an all-in-one platform designed by an accountant for accountants. A standout feature of Firm360 is its project management capabilities, allowing users to track tasks, deadlines, and progress all in a single view. The platform also offers a secure client portal, facilitating communication and document exchange between accountants and clients. What sets Firm360 apart is its accounting reports, offering firms unparalleled insights into their performance and areas for improvement. With its feature set and user-friendly interface, Firm360 is a dependable choice for small accounting firms seeking a comprehensive solution to manage their practices in 2024.

• Project Management: Enhanced capabilities to track tasks, deadlines, and progress in a unified platform.
• Client Portal: Offers a secure channel for efficient communication and documentation exchange with clients.
• Reporting: Firm 360 has the four most sought after reports for accountants: realization, utilization, workload, and AR. 
• User-Friendly Interface: A seamless UI that promotes ease of use and navigability.
• Comprehensive Platform: An all-in-one solution that caters to various aspects of practice management.
• Integrations: For a relatively young company, Firm 360 does have some very enticing integrations, including email, Stripe, and an eSignature solution.

• Innovations & Advancements: As a small team with few resources, Firm360 is still establishing itself as a go-to-solution for practice management. 
• Pricing: Most practice management solutions share their pricing publicly so firms can get an idea of what solutions they may be able to afford. Firm360 requires a demo to see pricing.
• Light CRM: Track a list of clients, but if you need to group clients or contacts or anything more advanced than having a spreadsheet of clients in a cloud based software, you’ll want to look elsewhere.

Wolters Kluwer’s CCH Axcess 

This platform is Wolters Kluwer's cloud-based solution that aims at streamlining the operations of accounting firms. Its standout feature is its all-encompassing range of capabilities from tax and audit applications to workflow management, allowing for a holistic approach to practice management. The platform's project management feature enables users to track deadlines, tasks, and overall project progress. Additionally, the secure client portal promotes effective communication and secure document exchange, enhancing client service. One key element that sets CCH Axcess apart is its deep integration with other Wolters Kluwer solutions, providing some synergies across different accounting tasks. With its set of features, integrations with other WK products, and commitment to data security, Wolters Kluwer’s CCH Axcess makes a compelling choice for accounting firms looking for an all-inclusive practice management solution in 2024.

• Holistic Suite of Applications: Offers a wide range of capabilities including tax, audit, and workflow management.
• Effective Project Management: Enables clear tracking of deadlines, tasks, capacity planning, and progress.
• Secure Client Portal: Enhances client service through effective communication and secure document exchange.
• Deep Integration: Seamlessly works with other Wolters Kluwer solutions for a consistent user experience.
• Data Security: Prioritizes the protection of sensitive information with robust security measures.

• Learning Curve and Support: May take time for new users to become accustomed to the extensive functionalities. Complaints about support are common in third-party review sites. 
• Complex Packaging: Shoppers will find it hard to determine just what combination of Wolters Kluwer solutions they need. Users even find it hard to understand which solutions they’re paying for.
• Cost Consideration:  Is usually costly for an initial setup, but can have an enticing pricing model that causes firms to stick with it instead of upgrading to more modern softwares. 
• Complex Setup: Initial setup could be complicated without proper guidance or support.
• Resource Intensity: May demand more computer resources, which could be challenging for less powerful systems.

Each of these software tools brings unique benefits and features to address different business requirements. Factors such as your firm's size, operational complexity, and budget should dictate your software choice. In the transformative year of 2024, these top accounting practice management software can help your business stay ahead of the curve and thrive.