Online cloud accounting software is helping small business owners and accountants who manage book keeping duties for their clients to work more productively and efficiently. Both accountants and small business owners can benefit from using online cloud accounting software. By managing all accounts activities in one easily accessible, secure location, business processes can be streamlined, working methods can be made more flexible, communications between departments, colleagues and clients can be improved and overheads can be reduced.
More and more Irish businesses are now working ‘in the cloud’ – collecting and managing all their data via a remote-hosted internet service – and this new way of working is helping businesses of all sizes to minimise costs and maximise productivity.
What accounting challenges are small business facing and how can online accounting software help?
For many businesses, bookkeeping is a tedious and time consuming task. Collecting and entering data, augmenting information, reconciling accounts and generating reports is onerous and prone to error.
Many small businesses start off using spreadsheet documents and files, and as their business grows they begin to realise the need for a more efficient way of working. Issues like losing track of invoices and transactions, overlooking taxation responsibilities, and accounts related communications getting lost in a To Do pile, can result in major headaches for your business and a worsening reputation amongst your clients.
The solution to this problem for many business owners is to purchase expensive proprietary accounting software, but this brings with it even more challenges. In addition to the expense of the product, you often need to hire an IT expert just to install it and you have to pay for product upgrades whenever they are introduced and go through the whole installation process again.
Another problem is that the software can only be accessed on the computer it was installed on, meaning you cannot access your accounts information from your home computer or mobile device, as many small business owners like to do.
Online accounting software in the cloud lets business owners work when they want, where they want – freeing up precious time and offering more flexibility in their daily work schedules.
Advantages of online cloud accounting software
Accessibility – log in to your account anytime, anywhere from an electronic device connected to the internet
Simplicity – simple and intuitive data capture and accounts management
Affordability – small monthly service fee, no automatic software upgrade charges, simply pay for the service you use
Automatic Upgrades – upgrades in software happen automatically with no disruption to your service or extra charges
Functionality – online accounts software provides all the functions you expect from accounting software, like adding sales invoices, transactions, reports and so on, but with added functions like integrated email, unlimited storage and unlimited user access.
Security – your data is secured in a remote server and data back-ups are performed automatically in the cloud. Cloud software providers must meet strict international standards for data security.
This new web-based way of working improves workflow, information sharing and accessibility for both small business owners and accountants alike. Take advantage of the many free trial offers online cloud accounting software companies provide to try it for yourself.
