We all get set in our ways, especially when it comes to things that
we have done a certain way for a certain number of years. This also goes
for how you tackle your business accounting. But consider this: If a
curious friend were to walk into your office today, asking to see your
accounting system, would you be able to show efficiency and accuracy? If
you’re not using accounting software, your scenario would probably look
something like this:
You would switch on your laptop or PC and pull up a
number of Excel spreadsheets, then dive into your desk drawer, fumble
around with purchase orders and invoices that still need to be dealt
with. Then you would point at your printer, your calculator, bank
statements and the like. Then you would probably show him the notes you
made about one of your employee’s tax details, and the one about a
supplier that still needs to be paid. Or the reminders to yourself about
re-doing some of those incorrect invoices you sent out. Your friend
might also express an interest in your current list of clients and your
sales, profits and losses of the past quarter, for which you would have
to pull up some more Excel sheets and do some calculations.
Did
you realise that in the time it has taken you to get to all your
answers, you could have installed accounting software and you could have
started using it, too?
Time is money
An old and tired cliche, but never more true! If you have a small
business, there are some serious benefits to using accounting software,
enabling you to save a lot of time and money, and freeing you up to
focus on other important areas of your business such as targeting new
markets and improving your marketing strategy.
Know your customers
Further to the above scenario, you probably have a list of customers in
a rolodex, a Word document or -please say it isn’t so- in an Excel
sheet. But ideally, your customer list would need to be in a specific
database, especially designed for finances. This is made very easy with
accounting software, which will give you the option to enter contact
information, credit terms, account details etc. Any additional
information about a customer or about a certain job you are doing for
this client, or business history and transactions can be added in custom
fields that you can pull up quickly and easily. You would not be able
to access all this information so easily from an Excel sheet. Admit it.
Employees
Not only do you need to have easy access to all you your customers’
details, your employee records need to be properly organised as well.
How do you currently handle your workers’ salary slips, employee taxes
and deductions? To automate all this will take a little time to set up,
and payroll processing is a bit more comprehensive than just entering
the days your employees worked, but there are many rewards to reap at
the end of the day, because when it comes to tackling your employee tax
affairs, the payroll software will do all the calculations for you and
make it a breeze. Again, freeing up your time for other important
business matters.