Accounting software might seem like a tool that is relevant specifically to accountants and bookkeepers, but just like accounting is relevant to every department in the organization, accounting software can have a positive effect on every department in an organization.
Here are some signs that it is time to upgrade to accounting software.
Your otherwise happy people are cranky around reconciliation and claims time
Do your otherwise motivated and positive people become cranky at the time when they need to submit reimbursements, claims, sales data, expenditure reports, and so on? Does the month-end or quarter-end turn the office into a war zone?
You can streamline and simplify data entry across the organization with accounting software. Invoices, receipts, and bills can simply be snapped (even from a smartphone) and uploaded. The software extracts all relevant details and presents them as digital text that is editable and copyable. Reduce the admin and data entry burden on your people with PC accounting software.
Your accountant is harrowed
As your organization grows and as transactions increase, your accountant’s data entry burden also increases. If only data related to your organization’s transactions could flow directly from your business bank account to your accounting books. But it can! PC accounting software makes this possible. Your accountant simply needs to check that all transactions are being recorded regularly.
There are errors in your data
Errors and anomalies in the data are automatically flagged up by the software, thus reducing the element of human error.
Duplicates are automatically deleted from the system.
Moreover, your accountant can very easily verify the work of others because
- A copy of the original document is saved with all data entries coming from scanned documents
- Any deletions can be tracked and retrieved.
- You frequently use old data to make decisions
When you are using offline or traditional accounting, you need to wait for your bookkeeper to get down to updating your financials. However, since the process is automated, live, and consistent with accounting software, your books are always up to date. As such you can make fully informed decisions.
You sometimes need to wait on your accountant to give you updated financials to make a decision
PC accounting software typically comes with a partner app that lets you access your books of accounts from your smartphone. Never again will you need to put off an important decision because you’re waiting on someone in the office sharing crucial financial data with you.
You can’t seem to get down to figuring out where you can cut down on expenditure
Going through spreadsheet upon spreadsheet and months and years of accounting data can be extremely tiresome, not to mention time-consuming. You’re not procrastinating – you genuinely have bigger fish to fry on any given day.
Accounting software can achieve this for you because of all that juicy data already flowing through it. The software is intelligent and capable of analyzing all that rich data to deliver spontaneous business insights to you.
You often forgo tax deductibles
All those after-hours client meetings at fancy cafes or over expensive dinners; that business hotel stay you paid for with your personal credit card – and countless other little expenses – add up and eat into your earnings. Why forgo them? Chances are that you too will have an easier time with reimbursements now that you just need to snap your receipts and upload them.
Your competitors seem better equipped to deal with changes in taxation than you
Taxation changes have the potential to drastically affect productivity. However, if you notice that your revenue took a hit with the last taxation announcement, but your competitors seemed to have already had a plan in place, it is probably because they already use accounting software that gave them a heads-up on how the soon to be levied tax would affect their profitability. Get the same advantage when you upgrade to accounting software.
You spend a sizable amount on data security or spend sleepless nights over it
Financial data security is a very real concern. Moreover, on-premise data security can be an expensive proposition. However, when your data is on the cloud along with hundreds of other companies across many sectors, you can rest assured that it is very much in your solutions provider’s best interest to keep everyone’s data secure. This is achieved by double firewall protection in accounting software providers like Dext. Moreover, you can get this security and all the other conveniences discussed in this article for a very affordable 40 pounds per month.
Your invoices are not standardized, are sometimes late, and chasing up payments is a monthly nightmare
This bundle of challenges is typical of offline accounting practices and is a clear indicator that it is time to move on. Accounting software gives you a prompt when you need to send an invoice. It also automatically generates standardized invoices, tells you when a client opens an invoice and alerts you when an invoice becomes overdue. Get the professional edge overnight when you invest in accounting software
If you witness any of these 10 signs in your organization, why not at least opt for a free trial. Accounting software can truly make a huge positive difference to your business at a very nominal cost.
Main Photo by Tyler Franta.
