Here’s what he said:

[I]n my post on online accounting services a little while back, I mentioned a service called Wave Accounting that was about to debut. I’ve since tried it out extensively, and I think it does a good job of basic accounting — in particular of generating and tracking invoices, tracking expenses, and providing a dashboard that shows graphically what’s going on financially.

What’s more, Wave can track both personal and business activity (separately), and it can automatically download your credit-card and bank-account activity — even figuring out the nature of each downloaded transaction and categorizing it correctly (usually).

That’s really handy for expense accounting, and it also provides a nice check on whether you’re properly entering the payments you receive by trying to match them to actual bank deposits.

And, even though I’d say the service is well worth paying for, it’s free.

AppVita reviews Wave, gives it 5 stars out of 5

What they said:

• “If you’ve ever spent a sleepless night worrying about a potential accounting error that could cost your small business thousands of dollars, then it’s time to sign up for Wave Accounting and get a good night’s rest. The super simple accounting application can reduce the errors that entrepreneurs make by getting rid of manual entry accounting systems and automating as many facets of the bookkeeping process as possible.”
• “Getting started [is] a breeze.”
• “Sit back and relax while Wave Accounting imports all that same data right from your banks and credit card companies.”
• “Wave Accounting makes it possible to give bookkeepers and business partners their own limited logins to view or edit the accounting data stored in the site. For small businesses, managing money with Wave Accounting is safer, more accurate, and cheaper than any of the alternatives.”
• “Wave Accounting keeps its user data secure with bank-quality protection.”
• “Wave Accounting’s expenses recognition tools get ‘smarter’ over time.”
• “What we liked:
  - People who use Wave Accounting can spend more time growing their business
  - Wave Accounting is completely free to use
  - Separate guest logins allow accountants to see what is going on
  - Transmitting financial data to bookkeepers through Wave Accounting is safer than through email
  What we didn’t like:
  - Nothing”
• “Rating: 5 out of 5 (wow)”

Mini Sprout compares Wave to the competition

What they said:

• “Wave Accounting is a completely free accounting web app targeted toward small business owners, startups and freelancers. The service competes against industry titans, like QuickBooks, but at no charge.”
• “What’s great about the service is that you don’t need to understand a term like “double-entry bookkeeping” to keep your books in order.
• “What’s clear is that business owners do not lose functionality when switching to Wave Accounting. The system doesn’t feel like a downgrade, even if it’s offered for free. And for many, Wave Accounting may feel more intuitive than QuickBooks.”

• “seems to have all of the necessary ingredients, including a way to send invoices”
• “the prices are reasonable, especially for small companies looking for an online service that lets multiple people access an accounting system”

and best of all:

• “For anyone interested in an online accounting system, Wave is definitely worth checking out.”

Mark did suggest that the set-up process could be a bit easier, and we agree: we’re working on a new roll-out of our set-up Wizard in the next week or two, which will streamline things even more for users who want to get in fast. See Mark’s full write-up.