If you’re looking for a great project or task management software to help you run a better accounting firm, you’re in for a challenging ride. A frequent complaint from professional firms as they review project management software is that they are not client-centric.
Outlined below are a number of project and task management tools. Some of them are “generic, one size fits all industries”, and others are more geared towards accountants, bookkeepers, or tax firms.
At the end of the day, we always recommend doing a 1-1 demo of the tools and deciding for yourself!
Asana
Asana launched as a modern, simple, and in some cases, free task management tool. As one of the most common “starting” task management tools, they’ve since developed enterprise features and pricing (whether it’s SSO or advanced integrations with Salesforce). Many firms will start in Asana in the early days to drive earlier organization, before launching into a full-blown, client-centric project or workflow system.
Main Features:
- Project Views
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- Boards
- List
- Timeline
- Calendar
- Project Management
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- Projects
- Tasks
- Subtasks
- Milestones
- Task assignees
- Sections
- Custom Fields
- Due dates and times
- Start dates
- Attachments
- Forms
- Rules
- Likes
- Sync tasks across projects
- Dependencies
- Custom Templates
- Copy projects
Free Trial
Yes – 30 days for the paid plan
Pricing
Starts at $10.99 / user / month
Cloud Based?
Yes
Website
Basecamp
Basecamp is a long-standing project management tool to help creatives (and teams overall) manage their project. While it has an amazing record of project management, the obvious limitations for professional services and accounting firms lie in the lack of client profiles. However, if you need a unique, easy to use project management tool, Basecamp could be a good fit!
Main Features
- Projects
- To-Do Lists
- Calendar
- File Sharing
- Messages
- Milestones & Time Tracking
- Discussions
Free Trial
Yes – 60 days
Pricing
Starts at $20 / month
Cloud Based?
Yes
Website
Zoho Projects
Zoho is a great, often cheap alternative to many task and project management tools. Zoho has hosted a number of applications from billing to CRM, to even full-blown customer support tools. However, the project management component, similar to many project and task management tools, lacks a client profile to connect work to.
Main Features
- Project Planning
- Gantt Charts
- Project Coordinator
- Timesheets
- Reporting Tools
- Collaboration Software
- Document Management
- Google Apps
- Bug Tracker
- iPhone Mobile App
- Android Mobile App
- Project Chat
- Project Forums
- Dropbox Integration
- Project Pages
Free Trial
Yes – 10 days for the paid plan
Pricing
Starts at $18 / month
Cloud Based?
Yes
Website
https://www.zoho.com/projects/
ClickUp
ClickUp aims to be a one-stop shop for your task and project management needs. They bring together docs, chat, time, and of course, projects into one view. It boasts a very robust feature set (so many listed on their site that it’s hard to list them all below). The major drawback is that it is not client-centric, which aside from that, it does host a variety of useful features.
Main Features
- Process Management
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- Custom Statuses
- Checklist Templates
- Multiple assignees
- Task Dependencies
- Recurring Checklists
- Agile Board View
- Resolve Comments
- Status Templates
- Sprints
- People Sidebar
- Goals
- Scrum Points
- Workload Chart
- Reminders
- Wiki and Docs
- Task Management
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- Filter and Search
- Sorting
- Recurring Tasks
- Favorite Views
- Multitask Toolbar
- 4 Different Views
- Hierarchy
- Task tray
- Drag and drop reordering
- Templates
- Task Mentions
- Right-Click Menus
- Subtasks
- Draft Tasks
- Task Checklists
- Copy Projects, Spaces, and Lists
- View All Tasks
- Priorities
- Bulk Rescheduling
- Portfolios
- Epics
- Team Templates
- Inbox
Free Trial
Yes – 30 days for the paid plan
Pricing
Starts at $5 / user / month
Cloud Based?
Yes
Website
Get everything you need to manage projects and meet deadlines.
Monday.com, formally known as “DaPulse,” is a project management tool that really has strengths in how it visualizes work that needs to get done. Similar to ClickUp, it hosts a number of features and options to customize your work view, which makes it a fan favorite for firms that love to visualize work but don’t need a robust client profile or client-centric project management tool.
Main Features
- Unlimited free viewers
- Unlimited boards
- Over 20 column types
- iOS and Android apps
- Kanban view
- Embedded forms
- File storage
- Activity log
- Share boards with guests
- Timeline view
- Calendar view
- Map view
- Advanced search
- Forms customization
- Time tracking
- Chart view
- Formula column
- Custom tags
- Private boards
- Integrations
- Automation
- Dashboards
Free Trial
Yes – 14 days
Pricing
Starts at $39 / month
Cloud Based?
Yes
Website
Wrike
Wrike is an all in one project management tool, and one of the early cloud-based project management innovators (launched in 2003).
Wrike fits fairly well into the “enterprise” project and task management category. While extremely popular in larger companies, it’s not a common option for smaller to even mid-size firms.
Main Features
- Task & Subtask Management
- Gantt Chart
- Advanced Integrations (MS Project, Excel, RSS)
- Shareable dashboards
- Collaborators
- Custom fields & workflows
- Shared real-time reports with scheduled notifications
- Report templates
- Graphical analytics
- Calendars
- Request forms
- Project and Task Approvals
- Time tracking
- User groups & permissions
- Salesforce integration
- Branded workspace
Free Trial
Yes – 14 days for the paid plan
Pricing
Starts at $9.80 / user / month
Cloud Based?
Yes
Website
Trello
Trello is perhaps the easiest “kanban view” project management tool in the market. It arranges your projects into “boards,” and gathers your tasks into “cards.” It fits both a personal and professional category. What you gain in simplicity and usability, you do lose in features. However, if a quick, user-friendly app is important, you must check out Trello.
Main Features
- Personal Boards
- Cards
- Lists
- Observers
- Custom Backgrounds & Stickers
- Board Collections
- Team Board Templates
- Custom Fields
- List Limits
- Card Repeater
- Calendar View
- Map View
- Voting
- 100+ App Integrations
Free Trial
No – Free plan offered
Pricing
Starts at $9.99 / user / month
Cloud Based?
Yes
Website
Jetpack Workflow
Jetpack Workflow provides project and task management solutions and aims to help client-centric firms manage their recurring deadlines. Jetpack Workflow pairs client profiles with work management and gives you a number of customizable views (through filters, searches, and sort options) to make sure client deadlines do not fall through the cracks.
Main Features
- Easily import client information via a CSV file.
- Add projects, set recurrence and duplicate – Set up a custom recurrence and duplicate it across all clients. Created projects become a searchable item.
- Add a task, recurrence, and duplicate
- Easily search for projects, tasks or clients within seconds.
- See what your staff is working on and view what is overdue, due today and due this week.
- Easily reassign work to another team member.
- Stay on task with the help of automated summary emails
Free Trial
Yes, 14-day free trial
Pricing
Starts at $36 billed yearly (also available in monthly pricing)
Cloud Based?
Yes
Website
Click here to return the software guide and reviews for accountants.
