GoBootstrap makes business accounting simple

Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services, Beta, web 2.0

GoBootstrap makes business accounting simple

by Brad Linder Jul 15th 2008

If you run a small business, odds are you've got some sort of system for tracking income, expenses, and tax payments. But we're going to bet it's not as simple as the system offered by GoBootStrap. The web service offers a sort of accounting for dummies style interface. To enter income, just click the income tab, describe the client, assignment, and amount, and you're all set.

The expenses tab is slightly more complex, in that you need to select from a list of categories like travel, supplies, or rent. But the category list is relatively short, and there's absolutely no way to add your own clutter with custom categories. While that might seem like a severe limitation, it actually makes sense when you consider what GoBootStrap offers behind tab number 3: Tax estimates.

GoBootStrap examines your income and expenses and lets you know how much you will likely owe on your quarterly estimates taxes. Right now the site only offers estimates for federal taxes, but eventually state taxes will be supported as well.

Will GoBootStrap replace a human accountant anytime soon? Probably not. There's no replacement for having a trained professional look over your numbers and spot things you and a computer program might have missed. But if you're looking for a super simple web-based program for simply keeping track of your business accounts, GoBootStrap might be worth checking out. The service is free while in beta, but we get the feeling that the company will eventually start charging a fee.

We also spotted one troublesome line in the company's terms of use that indicates GoBootStrap can change the terms of service "at any time without notice." We're used to seeing companis reserve the right to change terms, but we usually prefer when they take the time to shoot an email out to users to let them know that the terms have changed.

Tags: accounting, gobootstrap, taxes

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Kevin Reeth said 8:10PM on 7-15-2008

Hey Brad, thanks for the writeup. In response to a couple of your last thoughts:
1. We do plan to roll out paid tiers in the future, but we will also keep a free version, even after the Beta period ends.
2. You raise a good point about the terms of service, but it's more a function of us not yet having a good mass communication solution in place than wanting to hide anything from people. Rest assured that is something we'll address before the end of Beta.

We plan to be as transparent as we can about Bootstrap and believe people should use it because it makes running their business easier. We're working on integrating with other applications and will be building an API down the road for others to work with us. We believe in open platforms and not holding data hostage.

Thanks again for the writeup and we hope to hear more from you and your readers on how we can improve Bootstrap.

- Kevin

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