HOW DOES CLOUD ACCOUNTING HELP EFFICIENTLY RUN A BUSINESS?

Published 25 September 2018

If you've been following our blog series over the last few weeks you will have seen that we've explored Making Tax Digital (MTD), "Cloud" accounting and how the 2 interact.

What I wanted to look at in this blog is how using a cloud accounting package can help you to run your business more efficiently, whether or not you fall under the initial MTD legislation (because ultimately all businesses will eventually fall within it).

Why the need for cloud accounting?

Since the turn of the century or, even more so, the last decade the technologies around us have evolved and we are now more data rich than at any other time in human history. In turn this has meant that the community in which businesses operate has inevitably had to change and adapt and unless those businesses change with it then they risk falling into obscurity or worst still failing because they haven't adapted.

What are the benefits of cloud accounting?

As the world has become so much more fast paced so to has the need to get things done quickly. These days there are a myriad of things that demand your attention at any one time, be that dealing with customers, suppliers or spending time with the family. Everything is demanding more and more of our time and as an entrepreneur the very last thing you got into business for (unless you are an accountant) was to deal with your accounts, and that's why it always gets left until last.

This is where cloud accounting can help.

Cloud accounting can help you to efficiently capture data, quickly categorise data and see just how the business is performing at the click of a button.

This will save you both time and money through increased efficiency.

Let's look at the ways that cloud accounting helps:

• Dashboard - cloud accounting software has the ability to store all your data in one place giving instant access and insights into all your relevant data. This is usually displayed in a dashboard area which is the first thing you see when you log in and gives you a snapshot of all that data in easy, bite size, widgets.

 

• Access - because it's cloud based you can access your data whenever you need it, from wherever you are in the world, on basically any device that you carry with you. As long as you have an internet connection you can stay connected to your business.

 

• Automation -3rd party apps such as Receipt Bank allow you to capture data on the go and have it automatically entered in to your accounting software without you having to do anything other than take a picture on your phone. There is also usually an option to have a secure bank feed which can bring through the transactions from your bank straight in to the software. All this saves you precious time on data entry and frees you up to have a more positive impact in other areas of the business.

 

• Collaboration - because it is cloud based you can give access (limited if necessary) to other staff members and your accountant meaning that you can all work on, report on and discuss the same information whilst all working on the data at the same time.

 

• Speed - because it is cloud based, can be accessed anywhere in the world and has real time information in it you can be confident that you are making decisions that impact the business on the most up to date information which means that you can genuinely assess how your decision will impact your business.

 

• Updates - software companies can roll out updates over the air without you having to download or install anything meaning that you always have the most up to date version of the software.

Why should you implement cloud accounting?

For those out there that will fall into MTD (VAT registered over the VAT threshold) then there is a need to make the move and to make it quickly, there is only 6 months until the legislation comes in and you can be subject to penalties from HMRC if you don't file your returns using their recommended software solutions.

For the rest of you, there is real benefit in joining the cloud accounting revolution, access to real time information, less data entry and better collaboration amongst your team are all things that will make your business run more efficiently.

Either way you can look forward to an increased knowledge of your business and more time to do what you love.

For more information on how we can help you with the move to the cloud give us a call on 01254 300 050 to speak to a member of our team.