All small business owners need to make sure that their accounting is accounted for. It’s in your best interest to speed up the accounting process, leaving you with more time to work on the tasks that you find most fulfilling. Modern day accounting technology means there are now a range of tools that can help you out, regardless of what type of small business you run.
Today, we’ll go through five actionable steps that you can take to make your accounting processes more efficient through cloud computing, integrations and automation. These are simple methods and will be applicable regardless of whether you have an accountant helping you out or not.
Switch to cloud accounting software
Cloud-based accounting software speeds up your bookkeeping and accounting procedures. There are a number of options in the market depending on your budget and needs. Cloud-based accounting software allows you to access your books remotely and share access with employees or with your accountant.
Enable bank feeds to automatically record transactions
Once you’ve set up your accounting software, the next step is to connect your business bank account so that daily banking entries, including both income and expenses, will flow through automatically into your books as bank feeds. There’s no need to record them manually or to import bank statements, which will save you time.
Sync sales and payment data to your accounting software
Another advantage of cloud-based accounting is accounting software integration. This allows you to automatically sync your sales and payment data into your accounting software. It will also match up transactions with your bank feeds, making bank reconciliation easier to manage. All you have to do is click OK to confirm matched transactions.
Good accounting software will have seamless accounting integrations to Xero, QuickBooks and MYOB and link up to POS solutions such as Vend, Square and Lightspeed.
Automate regular payments and invoicing
If you have vendors that you need to pay regularly or recurring invoices that you send to customers, most accounting software will allow you to automate these processes. For example, you can create an automatic workflow that pays vendors monthly or sends invoices to customers based on a certain trigger. You will have to be careful about how this could affect your cash flow.
Move from paper trails to digital documentation
Paper trails are a thing of the past. Start uploading all your receipts and documentation to your accounting software as an image or PDF file. This saves you from digging through all your physical files, allows you to share information more easily, and will simplify things when lodging your taxes.
Block out time for month-end accounting procedures
As a small business owner, you’re wearing a tonne of hats and it’s easy to fall behind on your books. Making sure you have procedures set in place on a regular basis, usually monthly, can help to speed up accounting processes in the long run. Create a checklist of what you need to do for your month-end close and block out time in your calendar to get it done.
These procedures give you the chance to round up, review, record and reconcile accounting data. Some accounting procedures that you might have on your checklist include reconciling accounts, updating accounts payable, reviewing revenue and expense accounts, checking your inventory and reviewing reports.
Final words
Whether you run a hospitality business, retail business or an online business, taking advantage of the latest accounting technology will help to speed up your accounting procedures dramatically. This frees up time to scale your business, to analyse financial statements, or to find new business opportunities.
If you’re looking to or currently working with an external accountant, make sure they’re well versed in accounting technology. Often, these accountants will be able to explain which solutions are right for you. Plus, with their procedures being more efficient, they have more time to offer your business support in different ways.
“The opinions expressed by BizWitty Contributors are their own, not those of BizCover and should not be relied upon in place of appropriate professional advice. Please read our full disclaimer."
