Cloud-based accounting has become more and more popular as a business tool in recent years, but now, more than ever, we see the need for having information accessible online.
Running a small business in Australia can be a struggle, and one of the toughest challenges is keeping the work organised, updated and delegated with ease. Another struggle is keeping afloat and making sure your business is adaptable in vastly changing times like these.
Depending on the scale of your business’ operations and given the complexity of modern bookkeeping procedures, not utilising cloud-based accounting software is a logistical mess in the making.
Let’s take a look at the top six benefits of cloud-based accounting software and how your business is ultimately suffering without it.
Six Benefits of Cloud-based Accounting
1. Automation
An automated setup is the most convenient and manageable way of dealing with vendors when it comes to accounting processes – cloud-based accounting allows you to do just that!
No longer do you have to remember payment due dates and manually submit these payments to your clients, etc. Just save all the information into the software once and the system takes care of the rest for you.
Cloud-based accounting is also handy for sending out customer invoices automatically. It’s systematic, extremely reliable and makes life just that little bit easier for your accounting team.
2. Accessibility
Even before the Coronavirus caused us all to self-isolate and stay indoors, the business world was already sliding into more streamlined and productive protocols. Remote working styles like freelancing and working from home were already becoming popular, and after the dust settles on the current global crisis, will most likely become the norm.
The days of the regular 9-5 accountant commuting to and from the office are beginning to fade, as busy professionals demand more freedom and flexibility within the way they work.
One of the top benefits of cloud-based accounting is that the software accommodates this sort of lifestyle for your team.
As the data is saved online within the Cloud, your employees will have the ability to access any important financial data from literally anywhere at any time! You may not even require a computer either as some cloud-based accounting software is also configured for mobile devices.
This can do wonders for your business, as you’ll see productivity, efficiency and overall workflow improvements right off the bat!
3. Delegation and Collaboration
Due to this incredible accessibility, collaborating with both internal and external parties is made even simpler.
If you only want your employees accessing particular parts of your financial departments, you as a business owner can set up and control who has access to what within your business – think of it as a ‘set and forget’ method of operation.
This is a highly dynamic tool designed to enhance the way accounting businesses delegate tasks, share documents and stay up to date with the latest. It makes reviewing of reports much easier too!
4. Helps eliminate human error.
Anyone running an accounting or bookkeeping venture understands that extremely high levels of accuracy are imperative for the reputation and overall wellbeing of accounting businesses in Australia. One tiny mistake may mean the difference between retaining and losing customers forever.
Although you’d like to think you can place 100% trust in your team, unfortunately, no amount of expertise can fully eliminate human error.
Another one of the amazing benefits of cloud-based accounting is that it drastically improves accuracy. It does this in a few ways by:
· Being super easy to use! - Allowing you to update information quickly and efficiently.
· Offering advanced but simple categorisation.
· Not needing to remember complex formulas or other specialised accounting knowledge.
· Storing everything in one place.
Reducing mistakes made within your accounting business is crucial to its success, and this is the way to do it.
Also, scammers and hackers are now rife among the small business community, which is why highly encrypted software is almost certainly required in the finance and banking industries.
5. Diverse tech support
We’ve all experienced it. Things go wrong when you least expect them, or when you really don’t want them to. If you’re tired of relying on the tech guy in your office or perhaps your team and not getting results, it might be time to upgrade to cloud-based accounting software.
The software has amazing tech support that is often available 24 hours a day. Even if something goes wrong and you can’t speak to an actual person, there are always forums and generally a live chat to help you out.
These support teams are experts who are trained specifically in dealing with issues related to that particular software – meaning there’s no one better qualified!
Online forums are great for instantly answering FAQ’s and offering advice on how to possibly prevent certain problems. Forums also help build useful relationships with other business owners which may benefit you in alternate ways in the future.
6. No set-up or installation hassle.
Forget programs, downloads or annoying installation guides that your team will likely waste hours attempting to figure out.
Not having any frustrating setup or installation procedures is the last of our benefits of cloud-based accounting. It saves you time and money and means you can make the switch virtually hassle-free.
Everything will now be stored online with your team just simply logging in to a portal-like account. What is now accessible from anywhere, normally would have had to have been downloaded and installed on multiple computers or devices. You can say goodbye to paperwork too!
Furthermore, an internal IT team is no longer required as the software is hosted on an external server. This means updating the software regularly becomes an absolute breeze!
At the end of the day, if time and money is something you’d ultimately like to save, implementing cloud-based software is the only way forward.
Reduce the stress while increasing the productivity of your team and you have a modern recipe for success within the bookkeeping and accounting world.
Give it a go today! Start making the transition, keep crunching those numbers and let the improvements speak for themselves.