Disclaimer: Please note this article is not financial advice. The purpose of our blog is purely educational, so please consult a professional accountant or financial advisor before making any financial decision.
Looking for a way to make accounting and bookkeeping easier and up-to-date is inevitable when you’re still using manual or offline accounting tools. If you’re on the lookout for the best alternatives and solutions, you’ve landed on the right page. This article will discuss what makes cloud-based accounting software for small business applications.
Traditional accounting tools may be your comfort zone for now, but once you see the many benefits of cloud accounting, you’ll surely think about taking the leap. When you start using online accounting software, you’ll realize many of its advantages. In this article, we are listing here seven points to start. You can also check out details about Quickbooks Online and Xero—two of the most coveted accounting software today. Let’s begin!
- More environment-friendly
First among the many cloud-based accounting software benefits is its friendliness to the environment. When you switch from traditional accounting to a cloud-based one, the first thing you'll notice is the pile or cabinets of paperwork on your business finances. You save all this paper and resources by allotting the money to reliable accounting software.
- Automation
Many cloud-based accounting tools offer bank reconciliations and payment sending and receipt automation. You can instantly convert documents and receipts from images into text. Integrating eCommerce stores into the accounting software for sales and inventory management is also possible. Invoicing, expense tracking, and bank reconciliation are also covered—everything is automated! All these data are automatically registered in the cloud and seen on your books.
- Protection from data theft and corruption
Information and business financial data are kept confidential by locking hardcopy books in cabinets and protecting offline computer programs with passwords. For cloud-based accounting, your finances are kept with layers of security that are tried and tested against hackers. Passwords to access are given only to people you authorize. As a result, corruption of files is almost impossible compared to files saved on a computer or printed on paper.
- Collaboration friendliness
When you give passwords to your team of bookkeepers and accountants, they can work together and update the file simultaneously. They can skip the hassle of sending the most updated file to their colleagues as the changes are immediately updated in the cloud and can be seen by their teammates.
- Quick generation of reports
As a small business owner, you can see the progress of your team and your business financial data in real-time, too, with your team being able to collaborate on updating your books. You can generate the report yourself or delegate the task to your accountant, who can access and get the data they need from the cloud in just a few clicks.
- Accessibility
Contributing to the convenience of data updates and team collaboration is the accessibility of the accounting software. Because it is cloud-based and not dependent on specific office computers, anyone can access them anywhere on the internet. Many software these days even go the extra mile of optimizing their application for mobile use. This is because of the convenience and the number of individuals relying on their smartphones.
- Affordability
Using cloud-based accounting software requires you to invest in plans that one may easily think would be an additional cost. The truth is cloud-based software is worth your investment because of the time, money, and resources you will have saved. You save time on resources because everything will be paperless. Updating books manually is more time-consuming than using cloud-based software, where all transactions are automatically saved on the cloud. Also, many accounting software allows you to choose a plan that you can customize or already includes the services you need. Hence, you get exactly the help you need.
Quickbooks Online and Xero Cloud-Based Accounting Software
You’ll experience cloud computing accounting software benefits firsthand with Quickbooks Online and Xero. These tools are two of the best accounting software there is today.
Quickbooks Online
Quickbooks Online offers a live bookkeeping accounting solution, so you are sure that your books are always updated, and you can always get reports with real-time data. The data are sorted out and categorized through automatic configuration and customization.
You can create invoices with a “Pay now” button, send them to your customers, and receive their payments too. Payments made in different channels will be tracked, categorized, and safely stored in the cloud and in time for reports. If you manage a team, tracking their time and projects and managing their payroll are also possible with Quickbooks.
Xero
Xero almost has the same offers as Quickbooks Online, allowing you to give out and receive payments in just a few clicks. This process is possible because the cloud accounting software allows banks and other payment channels to link. Not only can you pay and receive payment, but you can also receive them on time because the accounting tool schedules the payments. All you have to do is approve for the transaction to proceed.
You can also integrate payroll software to ensure that the hours rendered by your employees are paid accordingly. With the help of the software, salary and tax computation are also taken off your plate, minimizing the headache when tax season comes. In addition, you can see your income, expenses, and other company key performance indicators through easy-to-generate reports.
Get Assistance From Unloop!
The benefits of having accounting software in the cloud are numerous. If you haven’t yet started using one, now is the time to make the switch. Quickbooks and Xero offer many different accounting features that will assist in managing your business more efficiently and with less stress on your plate. Unloop can be your partner if you are ready to make the switch. We have a team of bookkeepers and accountants using Quickbooks and Xero. Let us manage your books for you. If you are interested or have any questions, give us a call at 877-421-7270, we are more than happy to talk with you!