Shop-owner, builder or photographer – whatever the business, it can be very difficult to keep on top of finances while making sure customers are happy and bills are paid.
It is all too easy to file invoices away into a glove compartment or forget to keep on top of tax.
Before too long the result is limited credit control and a battle to play catch-up on invoicing. By the end of the year, profit and loss figures can be a long way from what was anticipated, with further shocks in store when tax returns or annual accounts are submitted.
Now, however, the combination of simple accounts software and cloud connectivity is making it easier than ever for even the very smallest businesses to achieve complete control over their finances, no matter where they are.
Here are ten reasons why small or medium-sized businesses should switch to cloud accounting:
- Financial data becomes visible in real time for any authorised person using a tablet or smartphone
- Small businesses can keep track of accounts with daily or weekly finance checks, making it far less likely that they will plummet into the red
- It is no longer necessary to manually note down accounts information in notebooks or spread sheets and then do the books with the accountant at the end of the year
- Bank balance feeds can be pumped into the accounts system automatically
- Accountants and financial advisers can look at a firm’s books whenever they need to, enabling them to provide more timely financial advice to small business owners
- With more time to act and more data, accountants are better able to advise the business on how it could improve
- Collaborating online with staff is easy
- Worry-free maintenance and free updates bring peace of mind, while system administration costs and server failures become the responsibility of the cloud service provider
- The ability to invoice as soon as a job is complete, radically reduces debtor days and improves cash flow
- An invoice can be automatically set to go out on a set date and time, eliminating the chance it will be late or forgotten about altogether