Upgrading your accounts system from the shoebox to the desktop might not be a top priority for small business and sole traders, particularly at the early stages of the businesses development but having accounts digitally organised with dedicated software early on can save a lot of heartache later on and provide big benefits at a critical time in a business’s development.
A still emergent business with limited resources can be severely affected by seemingly small disruptions. Making sure filing taxes doesn’t become one of those disruptions should be a priority for any business looking to be successful in the long term.
Keeping Clear Records
Familiarity with paper ledgers is not a reason to shy away from accounting software. Big Red Cloud’s own accounting software emulates the spreadsheet style of paper ledgers. We recognise those elements of the paper ledger system that work best and apply them to our software.
The goal of effective bookkeeping software is simplicity and ease of use. With a good accounting software package you don’t have to be an accountant to understand how to use it.
And when it comes time to fill out your taxes all the information is there ready and waiting.
Saving Time, Saving Money
The old saying that time is money is never more true when you are running a small business. A larger, established business can afford to absorb lost hours spent searching for a missing invoice or tracking the source of a tax error. For your small business these kinds of time sinks can accumulate quickly.
With everything in one place any information can be found with just a few mouse clicks, saving you from losing time searching for receipts or invoices.
Because calculations are done automatically you can correct errors easily. With a paper accounting system one error can cause multiple further errors if you don’t spot it right away.
Analysing the Data
Analytics applications give small businesses useful insights into the functioning of their business. These insights can give a small business a huge advantage in the early stages of its development by helping to eliminate waste at a time when waste cannot be afforded and creating efficiencies in other areas when they can have the most impact. With a small business you have a very low tolerance for bloat. Analysing the data can give clues to the sources of bloat and where it can be cut.
Paper accounts cannot be so readily analysed. Having the information stored digitally means analysis can be done easily and the benefits they can bring means there is no reason not to. Quality small business accounting software applications should include comprehensive analytics tools. Our own Big Red cloud accounting software includes 30 different analysis categories.
Analysis can give you information not only about waste and efficiency but show whether certain times of year are slower for your business and suggest causes for such seasonal changes.
Incorporating the Cloud
One of the main factors drawing so many services to cloud software is the ability to share resources. Many people think that only large businesses have the resources to benefit from cloud based services but really, smaller businesses stand to gain the most. The clearest benefit is reduced costs. Because the operator can share resources between customers, distributing them only as needed, the cost of providing the service is reduced, a saving that can then be passed on to the customer.
Another benefit of sharing resources is the ability to provide unlimited access to a single account. This means account information can be accessed from anywhere. Users given access can input information from any computer, allowing the job to be shared within a small company. Big Red Cloud allows an unlimited number of users per account for each customer.
It also means accountants can have direct access to info rather than having to come to the business and sort through numerous ledgers or be sent large unsecured data files.
