Wave is free accounting software that covers the basics most yoga studios actually need: income tracking, expense categorization, invoicing, and simple reporting. If your studio runs fewer than five instructors and one or two locations, Wave handles it without the overhead of QuickBooks or Xero. A fitness virtual assistant who knows Wave can take over your books within a week.
Setting Up Wave for a Yoga Studio
Start by creating a Wave account at waveapps.com. The setup wizard walks through business type and currency. Choose "Service business" - yoga studios bill for time and access, not physical products.
Chart of accounts to configure first:
- Income: Drop-in classes, Monthly memberships, Class packs, Workshops, Teacher training, Retail (mats, blocks, merch)
- Expenses: Instructor pay, Studio rent, Music licensing (ASCAP/BMI), Liability insurance, Software (Mindbody, Momence, etc.), Supplies
Wave's default chart is generic. Your VA should rename and add subcategories before touching a single transaction. This takes about 30 minutes to do correctly and saves hours of reclassification later.
Bank and payment connections:
Connect your studio's checking account via Wave's bank connection feature. Wave pulls transactions automatically. Stripe and PayPal connect natively. If you run payments through Mindbody or Momence, your VA will need to export monthly revenue summaries from those platforms and import them as journal entries in Wave - there's no direct API bridge. Set a recurring reminder for the first business day of each month.
Instructor profiles:
Add each instructor as a vendor in Wave, not as an employee (unless they're W-2). This keeps 1099 prep straightforward. At year end, Wave can generate the income summary per vendor. Your VA runs the vendor transaction report filtered by instructor name to confirm amounts before you issue 1099-NECs.
Tracking Class Revenue and Instructor Payments
The core weekly task for your VA is reconciling class revenue against what the scheduling software shows.
Weekly revenue reconciliation process:
- Export the weekly revenue report from your booking platform (Mindbody, Momence, or whatever you use)
- Match totals against Wave's income transactions for the same period
- Flag any gap above $10 for review
- Categorize any miscategorized transactions
For multi-format studios - hot yoga, restorative, barre hybrids - create separate income accounts per format. This makes it immediately clear which offerings carry the studio.
Instructor payment logging:
Most yoga studios pay instructors per class, sometimes with a base rate plus per-head bonus above a threshold. Your VA should log each payment in Wave as a vendor bill:
- Vendor: Instructor name
- Account: Instructor pay (expense)
- Memo: Class name, date, headcount
If you pay weekly, batch the week's classes into a single bill per instructor. This keeps the expense ledger readable. Attach the payout calculation spreadsheet as a receipt on the Wave bill - Wave supports file attachments on transactions.
Workshop and retreat revenue:
Workshops are one-time revenue events with different margin profiles than regular classes. Create a separate income category for workshops so you can see annual workshop revenue cleanly. If you collect deposits, record the deposit as a liability (deferred revenue) and recognize it as income on the event date. Wave handles this through manual journal entries - your VA should know how to post a journal entry before taking on this task.
Reporting and Month-End Close
Wave's reports tab gives you Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement. For most yoga studios, the P&L by month is what matters most.
Monthly close checklist your VA runs:
- All bank transactions categorized (zero uncategorized)
- Instructor payments reconciled against payout records
- Any outstanding invoices followed up
- P&L reviewed against prior month - flag any category that moved more than 15%
- Screenshot or PDF of P&L saved to shared Google Drive folder
Invoicing for corporate clients:
Some yoga studios do corporate wellness - weekly classes at an employer's office. Wave's invoicing handles this cleanly. Your VA creates a recurring invoice template, sends it on the agreed date, and tracks payment. Wave sends automatic payment reminders. Set reminders at 7 days and 14 days past due.
What Wave won't do:
Wave doesn't handle payroll for W-2 employees without an add-on (Wave Payroll, which costs money and is US/Canada only). It has no inventory management, so retail tracking is manual. It won't integrate directly with most fitness scheduling platforms. Know these limits before committing.
For a full picture of what financial and admin tasks make sense to delegate, see fitness virtual assistant tasks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Wave actually free for yoga studios?
Wave's accounting, invoicing, and receipt scanning features are free. You pay only if you use Wave Payments (transaction fees apply) or Wave Payroll (monthly fee). Most small studios use Wave free indefinitely.
Can a VA manage Wave without access to the studio bank account?
Yes. Connect the bank account once, then give your VA accountant-level access inside Wave. They see and categorize transactions but cannot move money. Wave has role-based permissions for exactly this scenario.
How does Wave handle class pack revenue?
Wave has no built-in deferred revenue workflow. Your VA should record class pack sales as a liability when collected and move the appropriate portion to income as classes are used. This requires manual journal entries - it works, but it adds a step.
What if instructors are paid through Venmo or Zelle?
Record them as vendor payments in Wave regardless of the payment method. The bank feed will show the transfer out; your VA categorizes it to the instructor's vendor account. Attach a note or screenshot showing what classes the payment covers.
Should we switch from Wave to QuickBooks as we grow?
Most studios stay on Wave until they need payroll for multiple W-2 employees, multi-currency, or advanced inventory. If you hit those needs, migrate. Otherwise, Wave handles six-figure annual revenue without issues.