What is an accounting app?
An accounting app is a web, mobile, or desktop app for tracking financial data. Accounting apps typically include interfaces for entering transactions and extracting reports from those transactions.
Accounting apps are similar to other finance apps, such as banking apps, portfolio management apps, and cryptocurrency trading apps. Some of the most popular accounting applications include QuickBooks, FreshBooks, and Mint.
Examples of accounting apps built with Crowdbotics:
- App pulls data out of accounting software via an API. Push this data into Power BI and Excel for better visualization and data manipulation. App also streamlines data entry. It has either an OCR or RPA tool that would read the PDF from a specific folder and input this information into accounting software.
What is the typical cost to build an accounting app?
An accounting app usually costs about $40,000 to build. However, the total cost can be as low as $30,000 or as high as $50,000. An accounting app with a low number of features (also known as a minimum viable product, or MVP) will be more affordable than an app that includes all intended functionality.
For example, here are some previous accounting app price quotes from Crowdbotics:
How long does it take to build an accounting app?
An accounting app usually takes 533 hours to build. However, an accounting app can be built in as few as 400 hours, or in as many as 667 hours. The exact timeline mostly depends on how complicated your specific app is. As a general rule, it will take longer if you require highly custom designs, niche features, complex logic, or non-standard release platforms.
For example, some previous accounting apps build with Crowdbotics received the following hourly estimates:
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Crowdbotics has quoted and built hundreds of applications for teams of all sizes. Browse our historical estimates by industry and app type to understand possible costs and considerations.
How to successfully grow your accounting application
Accounting apps can attract new users by offering a user-friendly experience that makes accounting information more accessible than it would be with traditional software. These apps typically offer features like automatic data import, real-time updates of financial transactions, and interactive graphs that help users understand their financial performance over time. Accounting apps should also provide a smooth onboarding process for small business owners, who are often overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork and technical knowledge required to get started.
Risks and challenges of building an accounting application
An accounting app is vulnerable to a number of different business risks related to data integrity and security, legal compliance, and regulatory compliance. It is recommended that you consult with your internal legal counsel and an accountant before creating an accounting app to determine whether the application will need to be registered as a professional service provider. You should consider leveraging secure third-party tax calculation APIs for calculating gross income, net income, taxable income, and tax withholding amounts.
