OK, the question may read as “should I spend more money?” But really, it’s not about trying to sell you more software! Let’s talk about why accounting software will be useful and how it will save money in the long run.
To answer the original question “should I?” The answer is YES! For many reasons:
- Organization. It’s hard to get this part started, but once you do, you’ll be glad you did. Whether you’re a brand new business or have been around for a while you need to keep an eye on your spending (and your revenues!) and that is exactly what accounting software is meant for. This helps save you so much time especially during tax season. No more searching for all of your bills and typing them into a spreadsheet. You can store all your paid and unpaid invoices electronically so you can keep on top of your payments. Which brings us to the next point.
- Reconciliation. You have paid your bills. Now what? How do you keep track of this? Where do you store them? How do you know what is outstanding? It’s as simple as marking a bill as paid online. You will no longer have to sift through piles of bills to make sure they are all paid- just log onto your software!
- Decreasing entry errors. One of the biggest potential issues for your business are unbalanced books. These often happen because someone types in an incorrect number or forgets to enter a transaction. This can throw everything off and can take you or your bookkeeper/accountant hours (at a large cost to you) to find the error. With integrated bank feeds, modern accounting software eliminates most of these issues.
- Payroll. If you’re going to reconcile and keep track of your cash flow, payroll is another expense that needs to be shown in your accounting software. Not everyone may know much about general ledger (G/L) codes and all those other accounting terms but payroll is your company’s money, and you need monitor it closely.
- Integration. You won’t believe the various integrations you can find with accounting software. They are all created to help make your job as quick and efficient as possible. This can include anything from Payroll and Business Payments to various invoice and inventory systems.
Accounting software isn’t meant to cost you money – the opposite really! With the amount of time you can save on administration and sifting through paper work, accounting software will help you generate revenue. It will also help you pay your bills as well as collect payments on time. As a nice benefit, most of the modern accounting packages allow you to access the service from anywhere. So if you can’t sleep at night because you can’t remember if you paid your major supplier on time simply log on, and breathe.
For a list of great accounting packages, see the PaymentEvolution Add-On partner directory.
