The Accounting Tech Stack Every SMB Should Use (and What to Avoid)

✨Hey there, tech stackers! 🚀

Let’s get real—accounting should be clean, simple, and friction-free. The right tools can save you time, reduce headaches, and keep your books audit-ready.

Patrick Dichter runs a multi-million dollar bookkeeping company that works with SMBs and is recognized in the top 10% in the nation for their services.

So he has seen what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to running the books at a small business or startup.

Here’s a go-to accounting stack from a team that’s worked with a ton of early-stage and growing companies. If you’re building a business and want to avoid a mess at tax time, this one’s for you. 👇

✅ The Tools We Love

This is the stack that keeps things streamlined, scalable, and easy to manage across multiple clients and companies.

💻 QuickBooks Online

The foundation of most modern accounting stacks. Cloud-based, easy to integrate, and built for real-time collaboration between founders and finance teams.

Why we like it:

• Real-time access

• Integrates with payroll, banking, and reporting tools

• Accountant-friendly interface

💼 Gusto Payroll

Running payroll doesn’t have to be a pain. Gusto makes it seamless—and founder-friendly.

Why we like it:

• Automated payroll and tax filings

• Employee onboarding and benefits support

• Excellent UX for employees and admins alike

💳 Ramp for Bill Pay

Ramp isn’t just for cards—it’s an underrated weapon for managing bills and expenses.

Why we like it:

• Powerful bill pay tools with auto-matching

• Instant sync with QuickBooks

• Great for approvals and visibility

🏦 Two Bank Accounts, One Credit Card Max

Simplicity wins here.

Why we like it:

• One operating account and one tax/reserve account

• One business credit card to track spend

• Easy to reconcile, monitor, and manage

❌ The Stuff We Avoid

There are some tools and setups that just create chaos. Here’s what we try to steer clear of.

🧓 QuickBooks Desktop

Still around, still clunky. It lacks the real-time access and integrations modern teams need.

Why we don’t like it:

• No cloud access

• Pain to collaborate with accountants

• Doesn’t play well with modern apps

🚫 Bank Accounts Without Check Images or Accountant Access

These might seem fine at first—but they create roadblocks down the line.

Why we don’t like it:

• Missing data for reconciliations

• Slows down month-end close

• Makes tax prep harder than it needs to be

💳 More Than Two Credit Cards

More cards = more chaos. The complexity adds up fast.

Why we don’t like it:

• Harder to track spending

• Slows down reporting

• Creates unnecessary admin overhead

❌ Capital One Credit Cards

We’ve run into way too many limitations with these.

Why we don’t like them:

• Poor data access

• Difficult to integrate with accounting tools

• Often creates sync issues in QuickBooks

🧾 QuickBooks Payroll

Yes, it’s the same brand—but that doesn’t mean it’s good.

Why we don’t like it:

• Limited features

• Support is underwhelming

• Gusto is just better in almost every way

📦 QuickBooks Inventory

For most startups and small businesses, this just adds bloat.

Why we don’t like it:

• Not flexible or intuitive

• Creates more complexity than value

• Better inventory systems exist

🔄 CRMs That Aren’t Mapped to QuickBooks

This one’s huge. A poorly mapped CRM breaks reporting, forecasting, and reconciliation.

Why we don’t like it:

• Double data entry

• Revenue misalignment

• Missed insights on customer profitability

🧰 TL;DR – Accounting Stack We Actually Recommend

Keep it clean. Keep it simple. Your future self (and your accountant) will thank you.

Got a messy stack? Start by cutting the fat—and building with tools that make finance easier, not harder.

Always remember,

Explore broadly

Not just SaaS or tech, but multiple disciplines.

Share ideas selflessly

Be willing to share your knowledge. Keep giving and it will come back to you.

Your stack is not going to save you.

You are. So just build.

Go crush it,

Mark

Tech Stacks is human-compiled, edited, and designed.