Thomson Reuters debuts cloud accounting app for small businesses

Thomson Reuters has introduced OnBalance Express, a cloud accounting application for small business.

The cloud-based app runs from both computer web browsers and mobile devices. It includes customer tracking, vendor tracking, invoicing, online payments, expense tracking, banking and reporting features, using a dashboard interface.

To design OnBalance Express, Thomson Reuters surveyed more than 1,500 small businesses and accountants across the U.S. about how to streamline processes. The mobile app uses optical character recognition technology to log expenses. The mobile OCR feature locates the necessary pieces of information from receipts and logs the expenses automatically. With support for more than 1,000 financial institutions, a live bank feeds function collects pre-categorized transactions, reducing manual data entry. An “always on” mileage tracker feature is available to log information about business trips automatically.

“OnBalance Express streamlines income and expense management for accounting firms’ small-business clients,” said Jon Baron, managing director of the Professional segment with the Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters, in a statement Monday. “Because OnBalance Express is integrated with Accounting CS, firms can work seamlessly with clients on their monthly bookkeeping — improving accuracy, increasing workflow efficiency, and providing data insight for proactive and consultative guidance to small business owners.”

OnBalance Express follows the release of OnBalance Self-Employed last November (see Accountants need to plan their technology transformation). That app similarly allows entrepreneurs to track their income and expenses, as well as track mileage automatically through the mobile app. To help with workflow and the tax preparation process, OnBalance Self-Employed integrates with UltraTax CS.

For more information on OnBalance Express, click here.