As a business owner, your top priority should be doing everything you can to stay one step ahead of your competitors. Some of the most effective small business strategies include procuring raw materials from a cheap but high-quality source, providing customers with more value for money, improving your customer service, and of course, improving business processes. We’re going to focus on the last component—specifically, accounting practices. Small businesses constantly face the dilemma of choosing between hiring a team of accountants for manual accounting and deploying accounting software.
In this post, we’ll discuss the importance of accounting software and talk about its benefits over hiring accountants.
HR Costs
Hiring and recruiting are far more complicated than most non-HR personnel think it is. Companies invest a huge chunk of their time screening CVs and contacting potential candidates. Other than that, the entire process of conducting tests and interviews also requires funds. The costs don’t end at the point of hiring. Accountants need to be trained in their respective fields to stay updated on the latest accounting standards. All of this constitutes a major part of the organization’s non-operational costs. On the other hand, accounting software like QuickBooks can be easily self-managed. A small business owner doesn’t necessarily have to hire additional personnel to carry out basic accounting functions.
The interface is user-friendly and easy to use. All you have to do is read through the guidelines, and you can carry out basic functions like payroll, quarterly tax filing, and invoice generation on your own.
Speed of Processing
Manual accounting doesn’t just take longer but is also more prone to errors. Sitting behind a pile of files for eight to nine hours and trying to make data entries is a waste of time. You can use the same time to make use of accounting data and present it in a meaningful way. There is more to accounting than making manual entries all day—you need to carry out sales forecasts, make budget plans, and analyze the information. When things are done manually, accountants are left with little time to spend on business analytics and decision-making. If your company uses manual accounting processes, switch to accounting software as soon as possible. You’ll not only be able to generate reports within a matter of seconds but can also email them across the organization.
Other than the benefit of speed, these reports are also highly customizable—if you’re using QuickBooks cloud hosting. You can add extra rows, columns, and tabs as per what’s meaningful to your organization. Unlike manual accounting, reports generated by QuickBooks can be rectified, edited, and altered if need be. You can also choose whether you want your reports to be weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
Use of Resources
If you hire an accountant, you’ll also be required to give them working space, a personal computer, office supplies, and, let’s not forget—lots and lots of paper! Accounting processes often follow the trial-and-error method. There is a lot that has to be erased and redone. If your accountants carry out all these processes manually, you are wasting a ton of paper. Not only is it adding to your costs, but it is also depleting environmental resources in the long run.
Accountants mostly fill out invoices manually and send them to clients via post. This way, you’re adding up to logistical costs. Another issue with sending out hand-written invoices is that they can be delayed if something goes wrong with the post. Tabulating data and maintaining records for these invoices is also quite a hassle for accountants. Even if you miss one entry, the entire bottom line can be affected.
In a nutshell, by investing in accounting software like QuickBooks, you’ll not only be saving up on costs but also making your processes more efficient. At gotomyerp, we help you eliminate the need for hiring accounting personnel and get your work done on your own! We offer a wide range of QuickBooks cloud hosting services, including QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier, and QuickBooks Enterprise. We take care of our clients’ needs from the point of purchase until implementation. Visit our website to learn more about QuickBooks and its variants.
