12 Best Project Accounting Software For Budget Control In 2024

Forecast is a cutting-edge software designed to enhance both the operational and financial performance of projects. It is an intelligent resource management and project accounting tool that is ideal for teams seeking to integrate project management with resource allocation and financial forecasting.

What drew me to Forecast was its seamless integration of project management and project accounting functionalities, bringing together projects, resources, and financial data in one centralized platform. This convergence eliminates the need for manual project administration tasks, providing actionable insights and information for swift decision-making.

By utilizing Forecast’s project portfolio reports, budgeting tools, and financial analytics features, you can stay updated on the real-time costs, revenues, and profits of your projects. This data empowers you to identify and address any budgetary inefficiencies, monitor actual project expenditures, revenues, and profits accurately, and streamline billing processes through centralized invoice management.

Forecast Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features: Forecast offers exceptional financial management and resource management capabilities. The financial management tools enable you to monitor costs and profits, compare budgeted figures with actuals, generate accounting reports promptly, and optimize your return on investment. With resource management, you can efficiently oversee your project’s resources, forecast future resource demands, and estimate resource utilization to enhance efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Integrations: Forecast seamlessly integrates with a variety of popular tools and platforms such as Asana, Harvest, Azure AD and Azure DevOps, Zendex, BambooHR, e-Conomic, Salesforce, Expensify, various mobile apps for Android and iOS, GitHub and GitLab, Google Workspace, Jira, Hubspot, Okta, and Slack. You can also utilize Forecast’s API to integrate with other in-house applications, as well as connect with thousands of third-party apps using Zapier.

Scoro is a productivity software that enhances project management processes for agencies and consultancies by integrating project accounting features. In addition to streamlining projects, simplifying quoting, and automating billing, Scoro offers various plans tailored to different business needs.

Why I chose Scoro: I was impressed by the comprehensive business management capabilities of Scoro, which include time and team management, billing, sales, and professional services automation. The platform effectively monitors tasks, expenses, and invoice processes, making project accounting tasks such as invoicing and expense management more efficient and organized.

Moreover, Scoro provides users with a centralized view of their projects, budgets, tasks, resources, and deadlines, facilitating better coordination and resource management. The platform also fosters team collaboration, enabling seamless communication, information sharing, and collaboration among team members.

Scoro Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features: Scoro offers features such as estimating delivery costs, tracking estimated vs. actual results for timely project delivery within budget, and automating billing and payment collection. Users can choose from multiple payment options, ensuring streamlined payment processes and quick cash collection by syncing invoicing with finance tools.

Integrations: Scoro integrates with a variety of popular business tools including MS Exchange, Google Calendar, Quickbooks, Asana, Jira, Evernote, Trello, Harvest, Basecamp, GitHub, Xero, Expensify, Exact, Salesforce, Hubspot, Mailchimp, Stripe, Paypal, Woocommerce, Drift, Dropbox, and Zendex. Additionally, users can connect Scoro to many other third-party apps through Zapier and can create custom integrations using the API and submit them to the Scoro Marketplace.

Teamwork is a comprehensive project accounting software solution that offers complete control over budgets and operations. It provides powerful project management capabilities, making it an ideal choice for collaborative project management. This software is particularly beneficial for teams working on complex projects that require extensive coordination and communication.

One of the key reasons I chose Teamwork is its ability to excel in fostering project operation control and collaboration. The intuitive interface coupled with robust communication tools makes it easier for teams to work seamlessly together.

What truly impressed me about Teamwork is its capacity to optimize recurring revenue from retainers by effectively tracking time, rates, and expenses. This feature allows project managers and accountants to navigate through budget fluctuations with ease. Moreover, you can monitor profit margins by analyzing project, client, and retainer performance to make data-driven decisions.

Teamwork Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features: Teamwork offers standout features such as time tracking and a Gantt chart for efficient workflow management and project planning. Users can also take advantage of file sharing and document management capabilities for streamlined information exchange and collaboration.

Integrations: Teamwork seamlessly integrates with various platforms including Slack, MS Teams, Hubspot, Skyvia, Atarim, Feedbucket, Parallax, Stripe, Bybrand, Integrately, Pabbly, and Import2. Additionally, you can utilize the Teamwork API to integrate the software with your favorite tools and create customized, tailored integrations to enhance your project management experience.

Paymo is a robust project accounting tool that focuses on managing project finances and promoting collaboration within businesses. It streamlines project management tasks by efficiently tracking time and handling financial aspects. In addition to these functionalities, users can also benefit from project and task management, time tracking, and invoicing capabilities, all within the same platform.

One of the reasons I chose Paymo is its role as a central hub for project accounting information. It allows users to seamlessly manage all project finances and schedules, including resources, time, tasks, billing, invoicing, reporting, and scheduling. This consolidation of vital project details in one place saves time and resources while effectively managing project budgets, expenses, and revenue.

Paymo also simplifies forecasting by providing access to previous project templates and timesheets, offering valuable insights for future projects. This enables users to set realistic expectations based on past performances and baseline data, allowing for better tracking and real-time visibility of project progress.

Paymo Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features: Paymo stands out with its invoicing software and team collaboration capabilities that facilitate seamless communication among team members and real-time updates. The platform also integrates with online payment systems like PayPal, Stipe, PM Payments, PayPal-Payflow Pro, and Authorize.net.

Integrations: In addition to its standout features, Paymo seamlessly integrates with other tools and applications to enhance project management efficiency and communication. These integrations allow project managers to easily communicate with team members and vendors while making and receiving payments without unnecessary complications.

Nutcache is a widely recognized web-based project management application designed for businesses and teams of all sizes seeking to enhance their productivity. The platform offers a comprehensive project management suite with project accounting functionalities like invoicing, time tracking, and expense management.

What makes Nutcache stand out is its emphasis on project accounting, particularly in expense management and invoicing. Users can easily generate invoices directly from project boards, utilize tracked time and expenses to bill projects, compare actual versus estimated project budgets and time, and attach documents to estimates and invoices. Furthermore, Nutcache supports payment gateways such as 2Checkout, Authorize.net, and Paypal, enabling users to accept online payments and credit cards, making it an ideal choice for less experienced payroll teams.

Additionally, Nutcache is available as a cloud-based solution compatible with Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, and Windows systems. The platform offers both free and paid versions, allowing users to explore its features at no cost before committing to a subscription plan. This approach provides users with quality features to address their project management requirements.

Nutcache Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features: Standout features of Nutcache encompass invoicing and expense management to boost productivity. These features empower users to oversee the entire project delivery lifecycle in a collaborative workspace, from initial budget estimates to final billing. Through project time tracking, expense management, client invoicing, and payment collection, users can seamlessly navigate project milestones. The real-time budget monitoring feature offers continuous insights into project progress against targets and estimates.

Integrations: Nutcache integrates with various platforms such as Dynacom Accounting, PayPal, Stripe, 2Checkout, Authorized.Net, Quickbooks Online, Google Workspace, GitHub, and Slack. Users can leverage Zapier to establish custom integrations with their preferred third-party web applications and APIs for enhanced functionality.

LiquidPlanner presents a revolutionary approach to project accounting, designed to meet the needs of teams looking to exceed project expectations. By offering predictive scheduling capabilities, LiquidPlanner is particularly well-suited for project management in fast-paced environments where priorities and schedules are subject to frequent changes.

Why LiquidPlanner caught my eye: I found LiquidPlanner to be a valuable tool because it alleviates the burden of managing project uncertainties, including budgeting, thus freeing up your time. Its predictive scheduling feature allows projects to adapt dynamically to changes, providing you with foresight when planning and ensuring efficient management of staff and time resources.

I was also impressed by the tool's ability to balance workloads and bandwidth across the entire team, spanning all tasks and projects. By considering project complexity and team availability through time tracking, LiquidPlanner helps optimize performance and allows for effective prioritization of tasks and actions. Additionally, the range-estimation feature helps in capturing uncertainties and preparing in advance for potential challenges.

Liquid Planner Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features: Resource management and time tracking functionalities enable teams to adapt to changes swiftly. Intelligent insights support automated project management, estimations, time tracking, and budgeting for collaborative planning and risk mitigation.

Integrations: LiquidPlanner seamlessly integrates with popular tools such as Trello, Jira, Slack, Salesforce, ScribeHow, Box, FTP, Google Drive, Freshdesk, Zoho, Hubstaff, and Dropbox. For additional integrations, users can leverage LiquidPlanner's Open API or opt for Zapier with a paid account to connect with thousands of other apps and software platforms.

ActiveCollab is a project management software that empowers users to have full control over their work, including tasks, files, communication, and team members. By integrating task management, time tracking, and billing into a single tool, ActiveCollab is an excellent fit for small and medium-sized teams.

One of the reasons I chose ActiveCollab is its ability to centralize project tasks, teams, and files within one platform. From timeline views to task lists and Kanban boards with task dependencies and automatic rescheduling, the software offers a variety of tools to help map project objectives and milestones.

What sets this software apart is its high level of configurability and wealth of planning and organizational tools, which help streamline project accounting processes right through to payment. For instance, the ability to link invoicing and payment gateways with time tracking records within the system ensures more accurate billing. Moreover, being able to perform all these functions online or through a mobile app makes ActiveCollab suitable for teams of any size.

ActiveCollab Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features: Notable features include task list automation and time management tools such as a stopwatch, time tracking, and timesheets. These functionalities ensure that work progresses efficiently without anyone idling or becoming overworked, allowing projects to be completed within the scheduled time and budget. Time tracking also enhances invoicing accuracy and aids in improving budget estimates.

Integrations: Integration options encompass G-Drive, Dropbox, Hubstaff, Timecamp, Slack, QuickBooks, Stripe, and Paypal. Additionally, users can create and integrate their solutions through the ActiveCollab API and connect with other applications via Zapier and Webhooks.

AdaptiveWork serves as a project management solution specifically crafted for Agile project management, making it a prime choice for software development teams and organizations adhering to Agile methodologies. The platform empowers software project managers to attain real-time visibility across all project tasks, automate workflows, and proactively address risks.

AdaptiveWork garnered my attention due to its rich array of project management features including planning, analytics, and reporting, workflow management, and team delivery. Its advanced functionalities substantially aid in resource and capacity management, seamless workflow automation, and portfolio management enhanced by dynamic reporting and external collaborations.

One standout aspect of AdaptiveWork that captured my interest is its financial management capabilities, distinguishing it from other project accounting software options. It includes thorough budget tracking to monitor expenses and ensure each project adheres to its designated budget. The platform allows users to set hourly rates on a global scale, as well as segmented rates by role, user, or project. Time and expense tracking mechanisms facilitate the automatic tracking of billable and non-billable hours to the relevant work item or project, streamlining the approval process. Furthermore, AdaptiveWork provides revenue forecasting versus expected revenue projections, aiding in more precise planning for client engagements. Additionally, rate cards can be utilized to define specific resource rates, enhancing cost, billing, and revenue clarity.

AdaptiveWork Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features: Key standout features include Professional Services Automation and project financial management. These features equip teams and project managers with real-time visibility across project tasks, workflow automation capabilities, proactive risk management, and efficient project resources and budget management for heightened business impact.

Integrations: AdaptiveWork offers seamless integrations with a variety of tools such as Jira, Zendesk, Sharepoint, NOW, Excel, Microsoft Teams, Box, Slack S-Suite, AWS, Oracle, SAP, Procore, and Tableau. API access and webhooks are available for connecting to other third-party applications, while additional integration options can be accessed through Zapier to link with thousands of third-party apps.

GanttPRO offers a user-friendly online platform designed for professional project management, streamlining tasks from concept to completion. By incorporating all vital project management and financial tools, users can enhance efficiency and productivity seamlessly.

Why GanttPRO stands out: I added GanttPRO to this list because of its effective project management and budget control capabilities, ensuring timely project delivery within budget constraints. The project budget feature enables users to compute project costs based on task expenses, resource allocation, and the nature of the working element, whether it involves labor, materials, or fixed costs essential for project completion. This feature guarantees users can consistently manage project finances effectively.

Ideal for businesses of all sizes, GanttPRO boasts a cost-effective monthly pricing model, making it an excellent option for small business owners with limited budgets and resources compared to larger project accounting tools. Users can leverage financial performance monitoring, duration setting, cost estimation, tracking actual expenses, and profits to maintain control and oversight of project finances.

GanttPRO Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features: Notable offerings include a variety of Gantt chart templates and project budget tracking tools. Users can access numerous Gantt chart templates usable on popular platforms like Excel, Google Sheets, and the GanttPRO interface, facilitating prompt project initiation. The project budget feature calculates project costs based on time, resources, and offers a comparison between budgeted versus actual costs.

Integrations: GanttPRO integrates seamlessly with various platforms such as Slack, Jira Cloud, OneDrive, Google Drive, Excel, MS Project, and MS Teams. By utilizing GanttPRO's open API, users can connect their tools and seamlessly integrate the platform into existing business processes for enhanced efficiency.

Productive offers innovative project management solutions tailored for agencies and professional service businesses seeking to streamline project, financial, and team management within a single platform. This all-in-one software encompasses essential project management features, such as time tracking, expense tracking, accounting, budgeting, resource allocation, capacity planning, and sales funnel management.

My choice of Productive stems from its superb compatibility with businesses looking to scale rapidly or startups undergoing extensive growth. Its distinctive advantage lies in the ability to efficiently handle sales, budgeting, resource planning, project management, reporting, and billing in a unified space, providing a real-time overview of your business performance. By consolidating data and managing projects from potential clients to final payment, Productive serves as an ideal solution for agencies and creative professionals aiming to reduce their reliance on multiple platforms.

Productive Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features: Efficient resource allocation, comprehensive project reports, customizable project budgets, resource management, streamlined sales process, real-time insights, and interactive team collaboration tools.

Integrations: Seamlessly connect with popular tools and platforms like Slack, Google Calendar, Jira, Xero, Quickbooks, Outlook, Personio, SAP, and many more. Utilize Zapier to integrate additional apps and streamline your workflows for enhanced productivity.