A Team's Guide to Accounting Software

What Is Accounting Software And What Is It Used For?

Accounting software is a catch-all phrase for the platforms and technologies that help business owners track the way money is flowing through their organizations. By using platforms and apps that aid in this process, small businesses can improve efficiencies and gain transparency about the financial health of operations. This enables business owners to make more informed strategic decisions to achieve company objectives.

One of the most cataclysmic shifts in workplace culture brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic was the adoption of technology to power virtually every aspect of operations. With so many companies forced into a fully remote working environment for at least a portion of time, IT departments worked overtime to make sure that businesses could rise to the occasion and stay productive.

This new normal created pathways to financial technology like never before. In a 2020 poll by Sage of 3,000 accounting professionals, 58% of accountants said technology improved their efficiency and productivity. A whopping 91% said technology had enabled them to focus more on clients or simply be more productive. Accounting software led to the automation of repetitive, time-consuming tasks, such as data entry and number crunching, so that employees could focus on other strategic challenges.

Accounting software makes companies more efficient by helping them to seamlessly manage expenses, track revenue, file taxes and manage books. By adopting mobile and cloud-based platforms that can be accessed from anywhere, accounting software meets the needs of hybrid remote workforces and enables teams to track money flow so they can glean insights that drive decision making at the highest levels of organizations. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the top accounting software that CEOs use to reach their financial goals.

What Are The Benefits Of Accounting Software?

1. Time is money

Accounting software is attractive to business owners because it helps them save time and money. For busy CEOs, technology can return valuable time by streamlining processes. Just as consumer technology has helped people better manage their lives through mobile apps like maps, banking and email, business technology enables organizations to reduce redundancies and access tools that support operations.

Accounting technology can unlock time and money by:

• Making it easier to track and pay bills
• Coordinating with niche platforms and apps
• Autofilling budgets and financial statements based on historical data
• Automating certain tasks that previously required manual labor
• Performing basic calculations to deliver reports

For small businesses, it’s often the CEOs who find themselves chasing invoices, manually tracking inventory and piecing together financial reports even if they aren’t well-versed in financial accounting. By using accounting software, executives can stop wasting time on manual tasks that can be automated and easily delegate the maintenance of financial obligations to professionals who know the technology well.

2. Ease of financial reporting

As CEO, you keep busy with high-level duties such as networking and strategizing that keep your business healthy and flourishing. As onerous as it may sometimes seem, financial reports must be created. Financial reporting helps companies update stakeholders with vital financial data, organize records for tax filings, create and manage budgets, prepare for fundraising and identify areas of improvement/strategize for the future. Financial technology eases the financial reporting process by:

• Performing basic calculations on spreadsheets
• Saving and reusing applicable historical data Providing templates for many different reports
• Allowing for customization in financial reporting
• Pulling in data from third-party platforms

Accounting software can lessen the burden of preparation by auto-filling line items and conducting calculations that in the past might have required knowledge of spreadsheets and formulas. Software such as QuickBooks and Sage Intacct have templates for the most widely used financial statements, including profit and loss, balance sheet, income statement and cash flow. They also allow businesses to create custom reports, where data can be organized by product, vendor or customer.

3. Financial planning

Once accounting software has been deployed and operations have shifted to the cloud, CEOs can use the time they’ve gained back to conduct broader strategic planning. Technology empowers C-Level executives to jump off the financial hamster wheel and begin using financial data to strategize about how to grow their businesses.

Accounting software can transform businesses by providing tools that enable business owners to easily access a snapshot of their organization’s financial health. With so much data at their fingerprints, CEOs can work with their team and partners to capitalize on areas of growth and find solutions to problems. Finance is the lifeblood of every business, no matter the industry. By creating processes that nurture financial management, business owners will have the transparency and flexibility they need to drive business growth.

The Best Accounting Software

While there are dozens of technologies that can be used to manage your business’s finances, we’ve gathered some of our top recommendations to help with expense management and business <accounting.< p=””> </accounting.<>

QuickBooks

This easy-to-use cloud-based software should be the cornerstone technology of any small business. QuickBooks is a powerful and essential accounting software that companies can use to:

Generate financial reports
Create custom reports
Invoice customers and automate bill payments
Track employee load, expenses and pay
Prepare and file taxes

QuickBooks can be easily integrated with third-party accounting software to more seamlessly automate financial processes. As powerful as it is, though, QuickBooks is just one piece of a complex accounting puzzle.

Sage Intacct

Sage Intacct is another powerful accounting platform that provides essential cloud-based automation tools. The accounting software enables automation that eases the collection and processing of payables and receivables. It offers some 150 standard financial reports and the ability for their customization. It serves as a general ledger packed with tools that help small businesses increase margins, cash flow and profit. As is essential with any cloud-based general accounting software, Sage Intacct offers integrations with virtually every reputable third-party software.

Expensify

Expensify is a platform and mobile app that preemptively tracks company expenses by making it easy for employees to file expense reports. Users can take pictures of receipts for upload and connect their company debit and credit cards to automatically upload expenses without additional effort. Since Expensify can be seamlessly synced with accounting software such as QuickBooks and Sage Intacct, business owners are able to get a real-time temperature read on company finances. The more transparency they have, the more CEOs will be able to make informed decisions that drive results.

Bill.com

General accounting software is supercharged by integrations that help businesses automate processes so that they can become more efficient. One of those must-have integrations is Bill.com, a central hub for invoices, payments and overall bill management. The cloud-based platform automates the grueling accounts payable puzzle-piece of accounting. It facilitates secure ACH payments and automates approvals so that companies can stay on top of their bills without over-burdening employees.

Can I Manage Accounting Technology Myself?

Accounting software is simple enough to use that companies can learn to use it themselves, however self-management might not be the most effective use of your and your staff’s time. The initial set up and maintenance required to maximize the effectiveness of these platforms are best handled by someone with experience. For small businesses on a tight budget, CEOs might initially be attracted to the idea of navigating accounting software on their own. But as with any new software, there is a learning curve. Business leaders might find that delegating the task of launching integrations and maximizing efficiencies to financial professionals who already know the technology well, frees them up to focus on other core tasks. Companies that don’t have the capacity to hire accountants and CFOs full time can still access this talent cost-effectively by hiring financial professionals on an as-needed, or fractional basis. Fractional CFOs and accountants can be hired for specific jobs, such as setting up and managing accounting software. Here are some jobs CEOs can delegate to Fractional CFOs and accountants:

Accounting software setup and integration
Budget building and forecasting
Financial reporting and tax preparation
Market segmentation research
Financial strategization based on real-time and historical data

The A Team Can Provide You With Accounting Software Expertise

The A Team has amassed a dynamic team of professional accountants and CFOs who have extensive experience working with accounting software. Our finance and accounting experts can help your business adapt to cloud-based accounting technologies and identify the best platforms for your business’s specific needs. The A Team’s technology services practice gives clients access to templates that your team can easily customize. Our professionals can build and automate financial systems automations and account integrations that will help your business take leaps and bounds into the future. Contact the A Team to begin reaping the benefits of accounting software.