Hi -
I'm starting a small professional services firm structured as an LLC. Eventually, assuming success and that I want to continue, I'll move to an s-corp.
Anyway, for the first year what are things I should keep in mind about accounting software?
I have a friend that tracks his expenses in excel and throws receipts in a bag that he gives to his accountant at the end of the year. That seems to work well for him.
I'd like to be able to (1) track cash flow; (2) track invoices; (3) track expenses; (4) have a guess about my expected taxes; (5) be able to track and measure the return of different business services; (6) have a solid set of books that I can show to outside investors/potential partners/banks show that they can understand how I make or don't make money. My overhead will be pretty low to start. I'm doing the home office thing, at least until I bill/collect $10K.
Anyway, since I don't know what I don't know (any book suggestions are appreciated), what kind of software, if any, does the mustachioed tribe suggest? I was thinking QuickBooks, mainly because I've heard of it, and also Mint since I use it for my personal accounts and I think it's useful for categorizing expenses. Any other thoughts?
Thanks in advance.