“One of the first questions people ask me as an accountant and advisor,” says Shuriken CEO Andrew Jeffers, “is ‘What type of accounting software should I be using in my business?’”
You don’t need a Rolls Royce if a Mini will suffice
What we always tell clients is that it all comes back to your business volume and sophistication. If you have low volume, sometimes an Excel spreadsheet is all that you need. If you have a low level of understanding of Excel, just put it in a book.
As you move forward in your journey, you ramp up, get more sophisticated and you get more automation.
Stay connected to your accounting program
An interesting fact is that you are more likely to succeed in business if you are connected online to your accounting program. The reason for this is that you are constantly looking at your business, constantly doing reconciliations.
[ctt template=”9″ link=”IftdO” via=”no” ]You are more likely to succeed in business if you are connected online to your accounting program.[/ctt]
Nowadays, online accounting software have already taken over the sort of bookkeeping work that a traditional accountant would usually be doing. There are so many apps on the market at the moment which can help you in numerous ways, from raising finance to collecting your debts.
So when you are choosing your accounting package, always look that that package has the ability to be connected through applications to other service providers. There are some amazing things out there. You just have to make sure that you are fully connected.
Andrew Jeffers highlights that accounting is not always an exciting job, and trying to go through it manually involves a lot of work – when you would rather spend your time in the company of your friends or family.
“Days go by in accounting,” he says, “that you would get your bank statement, then you collect all the information, put the data in… really boring stuff. You’d be sitting at home after doing a full day’s work and you have to sit down and punch these numbers in.”
With bank data feed, you don’t need to do this anymore. And with most of the online packages – be it Xero, Saasu, MYOB, Reckon – they have the ability to get bank feeds coming automatically into the accounting program. This then allows you to classify very easily, very simply and get your numbers up to date.
As years go by, you would have an accounting package that you’d finish up when a month ends, you’d send it to the accountant, and they’d do journals like depreciation or equipment that you bought.
The problem there is, with an offline accounting system, you couldn’t then start doing more work until they finish with the file and send it back to you. The benefit of having one of these online products is that you have real time collaboration with your accountant.
You can ask questions straight away, you don’t have to stop work, there’s none of these “missing!” or “When did you start?”, “When did I start?”.
So the most important thing is when you are selecting this accounting package, make sure you go for real time connectivity.
Do you need help choosing an accounting software?
