Good accounting software is a must for entrepreneurs who want to direct their business towards success. Not only should you be able to provide a quick summary or detailed presentation of profit and loss, along with your other financial transactions, the software must also make you meet the legal requirements of the particular region or country where your business operates.
In addition to dealing with growing legality, your choice of accounting software must enable you to automate time-consuming accounting tasks, speed up tax preparation, and reduce the risk of human error at work.
In this article, we will present a comprehensive analysis of the importance of accounting software, explain how accounting software can help you manage your business and provide you with tips and tricks that help you obtain the ideal system for opening your business.
Why Should I Use Accounting Software?
Above we have discussed what is accounting software, but what are its main benefits? Why do you have to use this tool?
With this software, with its in-depth financial information, it shows you where to do your costs and boost productivity. With an effective system, companies automate bookkeeping tasks and compile tax-friendly reports on time.
However, most importantly, they can estimate spending and develop smarter investment strategies with this system.
These are the main benefits of accounting software:
Simplification
The accounting system places financial control in the hands of a non-accounting audience, which is designed to give meaning to numbers when performing automatic calculations. With little or no training, business owners can complete all accounting operations and comply with legal standards of desktop computers or mobile devices, and without paying external parties.
Cost savings
Accounting and financial systems automate core calculations and administrative procedures and control your revenue framework so you don’t have to outsource financial management to external experts. In parallel, they also reduce costs associated with printing and distributing documentation and storing sensitive data in a safe and monitored location.
Full financial transparency
From the accountant or auditor’s point of view, the main highlight of a good accounting system is that they prevent human mistakes that will cause harm and have recurring potential. Counting inaccurate amounts or failing to report data on time can easily lead to a business crisis, and that’s where the most useful automation calculations.
Accurate estimate
This is one of the main advantages of accounting software. Understanding in detail the patterns and trends in your financial performance is something that can take a long time to complete without a solid system. Accounting software gives meaning to numbers, helping you understand where to cut expenses or where to invest more.
With a clear picture of your current financial status, you will find it easier to develop smart strategies and allocate resources the right way.
Productivity
If a business owner needs to choose a digital service package to improve performance, his first choice is accounting software. These systems dig deep into the company’s most complex, everyday tasks, collecting, organizing, and analyzing their most sensitive data, and what’s most important, using their money more intelligently.
Tax fulfillment
Many great accounting systems today are dedicated to payroll and reporting assistance and automatically comply with tax regulations such as Accurate Online. After you activate it, this tool becomes your number one tax source and audit information; they save all the important details for you to maintain a transparent workflow.
Improved customer relationships
One could argue that accounting software has nothing to do with how customers are served, but that is not entirely true. Most current accounting systems (apart from their main function) handle effective billing and billing, and prevent all kinds of delays and miscommunications.
This tool is also easily personalized on behalf of the business, and as such, makes the company’s performance appear more professional and credible.
Security
Financial data is the most valuable company information and must be prevented from falling into the wrong hands or lost by mistake. That’s what the accounting and financial system does for its users: prevent accounting from being threatened in any way, and save additional copies if you need to retrieve them. In most cases, you will be able to build your internal security structure and decide who will have access to sensitive data.
What features should be in accounting software?
Now let’s move on to the various features that must be in accounting software. Depending on the type of operation, the accounting & financial system falls under four different categories. Note that there are also comprehensive accounting activities that are used by many companies that combine the best features from each category. Here is a brief description:
Billing and Invoicing System
Billing and invoicing systems complete the company’s basic day-to-day tasks, including checking text and notifying customers about their payments that are due. They are very important for maintaining control over the accuracy of accounting numbers and making services look more professional and credible to the final results.
On the company side, billing tools and billing methods help document financial activities and prepare them for authorization and validation.
Payroll Management System
If you are looking for a tool to maintain control over your accounts payable and accounts receivable, you should look for a payroll management system that will handle everything. These tools were developed to perform a series of different tasks, including calculating employee salaries, deducting deductions, depositing salaries directly to the bank accounts of staff members, generating tax forms and payment slips, and more.
In the long run, this tool will secure your financial transactions, cut costs, and help prepare detailed financial statements.
Enterprise resource and asset planning system
This is one of the most important features of accounting software. It combines all systems used for product planning, material purchasing, inventory management and control, distribution, accounting, marketing, finance, assets, and HR.
It would be better if accounting software has features that can develop business intelligence, so that companies can learn from their practice and prepare better strategies in the future.
Time and cost management system
This feature is designed to help speed up the billing cycle and approve expenses while traveling and is usually quite configurable for any business to match its operating speed.
The rationale behind it is to help collect payments faster and detect slow and ineffective practices that were not previously seen. Their biggest advantage is being able to produce detailed graphical reports about how time and resources are used in each company.
What Can Accounting Software Do?
How does accounting software work, and what features does it offer? There are many different ways in which accounting software can optimize your business, depending on its main features and objectives. From simplified invoicing to complex tax reporting, the accounting system comes with all kinds of challenges that will make it difficult for you if the software you use is not appropriate.
So what can accounting software do? Here are some basic features of accounting software:
Accounting
Accounting is a major component of every system in this category and you should look for it first when choosing a reliable solution. What comes to mind when we hear ‘accounting’ are ledgers, fixed assets, debt & receivables, and bank reconciliation. This, of course, is fundamental and is the most important.
Make an Invoice
There are accounting systems specifically intended for billing and billing, but most of them still treat similar operations as an integral module of every financial operation. As such, they allow customers to automate regular collections, adjust operations with new and effective payment methods and industry standards, and prepare accurate and timely invoices for their clients.
Budgeting and Estimates
This is also a module that is bundled publicly in most accounting systems, which calculates and interprets financial performance for the current year and helps estimate future budgets. Using such a system, companies can prepare their estimates and set sales targets that are feasible and optimistic.
Fixed asset management
As either a separate tool or an inclusive module, fixed asset management helps manage financial data much more accurately. This module combines features such as audit history, cost records, depreciation calculations, resource allocation, and more.
Payroll management
With various payroll features, you will be able to calculate and process employee payments, prepare and print their checks without delay, and respond to all legal commitments and all income tax calculations without error.
There is indeed a system out there devoted to payroll management, which is used by companies and high-performance employees to remind them of their financial obligations, but you need to know, bookkeeping and payroll are two things that can not be separated. On that basis it would be better if this feature existed, as in Accurate Online.
Project accounting
Project accounting software is usually packaged in separate systems that represent the vertical version of the industrial accounting software. They are very welcomed by construction operators and software developers, where the costs and applicable rules differ from one project to another.
The main ability of this software is to estimate and handle overhead and costs related to labor, materials, and equipment, in line with all the other features that are often found in accounting systems.
Fund accounting
These features can be found in accounting software designed for government agencies and non-profit organizations and includes tracking donation expenses, grant management, PSAK (Statement of Financial Accounting Standards), and a series of special financial statements.
Stock management
Stock management is a special toolkit developed for stock control, and where you will find all the tools needed to provide a higher shelf life product line for your business. This means you will be able to control the availability and movement of your product and avoid all kinds of shipping problems such as overstocking or understocking.
What You Need to Consider When Choosing Accounting Software
Of course, the answer to this question depends largely on your specific business needs and priorities. However, there are a number of key criteria that must be met by each system to make it worth the money you invest. Here are a few thoughts about what you should be looking for:
Integrated invoice module
Apart from core operations, your accounting system must be complete (stock management, for example), and if possible, you should always obtain a system that offers at least some basic invoice creation functions. In this way, you will avoid the trouble of buying additional invoicing software or migrating data to other systems.
Customization
There is no “one size for all” accounting system. In fact, this is one of the most diverse targeted software categories. The reason for this is that each company runs different financial calculations and obeys different ways of various rules.
If you cannot find a particular system that fits your business model, look for flexible programs that you can adjust to your operations, which can grow with your business.
Ease of use
There is nothing simple about accounting procedures and calculations, so your most recent accounting system must be able to do is provide you with an intuitive environment for work.
This means that information must be neatly organized, and functions must be available on one dashboard. You must complete the operation in a few minutes following the navigation patterns you already know.
Security
As we have shown above, the accounting system contains the most sensitive business financial data, every number that depends on it. To ensure that making calculations and sharing data in a safe and tested system, select a reputable company and check the security mechanism beforehand.
Connectivity
At the point where you buy an accounting solution, you already have a variety of software to use. To avoid changing your entire software infrastructure to the needs of one program, do the opposite – get a system that is integrated with the tools you have, or, in the best scenario, offer an open API for you to connect to the system you want.
Cellphone use
The cellular accounting system is no longer synonymous with luxury and only large companies are able to develop it, so why not choose one for your needs? Most popular vendors now offer native Android and iOS applications for their users, where the operability is almost the same as the desktop system version.
Price
The logic of the applicable software is: the more a system can do, the more it will cost. But not with Accurate Online, a cloud accounting software that sets a price for all the features you need. Only 200 thousand rupiah, you can enjoy the convenience of bookkeeping with accounting software with the most complete features in Indonesia
You must know that a quality accounting system does not have to be expensive. What’s important is that the accounting software meets your overall business needs.
Reliable support
Most accounting software vendors are proud of a team that is knowledgeable and quick to respond, but in reality, you won’t know how efficient they are before you really have a problem to deliver.
To prevent bitter disappointment over the money you invest, try the free trial period that is usually provided by the service provider. Like Accurate Online, you can try Accurate Online for free for 30 days through this link.
Potential Problems What Do You Get When Using Accounting Software?
The tendency to choose accounting software according to your business type
If faced with a choice between general and standardized accounting solutions and those that have been developed to meet the specific needs of your industry, choose the latter.
However, please note that in most cases, Business will make changes to bookkeeping activities as the business continues to grow, so make sure all the features you need have accommodated those needs
Scalability and customization
Because accounting deals with non-creative subjects, there is little that developers can do to make digital processes more interesting than usual. Thus, the accounting system will not be a difficult application and open configuration that you can get.
The best course of action for your business is to choose solutions that can be customized and ensure that you can implement business rules and specifications in them. This will also ensure that you don’t have to replace the system when your business starts to grow.
Lack of integration
When looking for a reliable accounting and financial system, make sure it has an open infrastructure that supports third-party integration, or at least the connections you need will not be interrupted when you adopt the new system.
Choose software from developers who realize that the accounting software they make must work in line with sales software, business intelligence systems, CRMs, project management applications, and various other services.
What Is the Future of Accounting?
Central position for workflow automation
Accounting statistics show that software developers are now focusing on what more can be done to facilitate overall accounting activities, which basically makes it easier for accountants and financial experts. In technical terms, this means that workflow automation is improved, and soon there will be no non-automatic work operations.
All Numbers are in the cloud
It sounds almost overwhelming that all the complicated accounting machine companies that took months to install are now going to be history, but there they are. The new accounting trend is leaning towards cloud hosting, because it is a safer, faster, and far more affordable alternative.
Like Accurate Online, the accounting system, transaction recording and tax calculation will be cloud-based. This will make it easier for you to access data anywhere and anytime as long as you are still connected to the internet
Machine learning: the future of accounting
The emergence of AI-powered accounting will continue as businesses seek the assistance of sophisticated programs to get rid of time-consuming and simplified tasks, assign them to machines, and give people more time to do better tasks left to their creative abilities .
In the technological revolution era 4.0, machine learning must allow accountants to enjoy faster computing time, more accurate calculations, effective detection of all fraud, and show accounting trends that have an impact on overall business profits.
Then, What Is Your Choice of Accounting Software?
After reaching this section, you will most likely have input on what type of accounting software you will use to further develop your business. Before taking the final step, consider conducting a free trial offered by Accurate Online for 30 days through this link.
