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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.

Wise-Xero Integration is a powerful combination that can do so much for your business. Through this integration, you can say goodbye to manual data entry and transfer complications and delegate your time and effort to other important tasks that matter. But why stop there? In this article, we’ll delve into 8 more seamless Xero integrations you can leverage for your business. 

Boost Xero’s functionality with features like invoice tracking, automated payment reminders, and expense management. Whether you are a small business owner or a financial professional, exploring these integrations will improve the efficiency of your accounting and booking processes immensely. Which integrations are these? Let's take a look!

1. Wise-Xero Integration

Connect Wise to your Xero accounting software and have a powerful tool that can streamline your financial operations. This integration allows you to efficiently manage your transactions, bills, and payments. Here’s how to do that:

1. Start by logging into your Wise business account and navigate to the 'Integrations' tab. 
2. From there, select 'Connect to Xero' and authorize the connection. 
3. You can then choose the organization you want to connect with and select which Wise accounts should be linked to Xero.

Automated Updates

The easy setup lets you import and synchronize Wise activity and balances with your Xero accounting software. Wise transactions are automatically imported into Xero daily, saving time and ensuring your financial records remain current. Additionally, you can choose which Wise balances to sync with Xero, giving you a comprehensive view of your cash flow in different currencies.

Bills Payment

The Xero-Wise integration allows you to pay bills directly from your Wise account by importing them into Xero. Upon successful payment, Xero will mark the bills as paid and update the corresponding data in your accounting records accordingly. This seamless connection saves you time and reduces the risk of errors when managing your accounts payable.

Seamless Currency Conversion

With Wise's integration into Xero, managing international transactions becomes a breeze. Wise's sophisticated currency conversion capabilities ensure that you're always getting the best exchange rates, saving your business money on cross-border transactions. Say goodbye to the complexities of manual currency conversions and hello to accurate and cost-effective financial management.

2. Xero Bank Connections

Integrating your bank account with your accounting software can save you time and effort when managing your business finances. Xero’s bank integrations help small businesses tailor their processes, automate transactions, sync data, and enable them to pay bills more efficiently.

Automatic Imports

Connecting your PayPal account with Xero makes managing and doing business transactions easier. This connection means you no longer need to manually upload financial information, making it much easier to maintain up-to-date records. Furthermore, this integration helps you manage multiple currencies, ensuring compatibility with different clients and suppliers worldwide.

Pay Bills

Another advantage of connecting your bank account to Xero is paying bills directly from the software. By importing your bills into your bank account and setting up Xero Pay, you can effortlessly send payments to your merchants in just a few clicks. You can also enable settings that automatically mark bills as paid in Xero once the payment has been processed.

Track Account Activity

Tracking your account activity becomes simpler with a bank and Xero integration. You can view your transactions, balances, and expected payments all in one place, making monitoring your cash flow easier and planning for future expenses. This integration ensures that your financial data is always accurate and updated, improving the overall efficiency of your financial management.

3. Receive Money and Pay Bills With Stripe

Integrating Stripe with your Xero account can significantly improve your business's financial visibility and efficiency in receiving and sending payments. By connecting these two platforms, you'll be able to streamline your payment processes and make managing your finances simpler and more organized.

Accept Payments

One of the benefits of Stirpe is the acceptance of customer payments made through credit and debit cards, ApplePay, and GooglePay. Stripe ensures that all major card types are accepted, and the transaction data will be automatically recorded in your Xero account. You'll see these transactions in the books as income and revenue, making it easier to track your cash flow.

Pay What You Owe

You can also use the Stripe-Xero integration to pay bills from your Xero account. By linking your Stripe business account to Xero, you can manage supplier bank account details, pay bills in bulk, and even make partial payments directly within the Xero platform. 

Invoicing

Adding Stripe as a payment service in Xero also allows you to apply Stripe invoicing. Customers can click the "Pay Now" button and send payments conveniently. This can reduce the time you spend chasing payments and make it more convenient for your customers to fulfill their obligations.

4. PayPal In the Xero System

The PayPal-Xero integration works harmoniously to eliminate manual data entry. Every transaction made through PayPal, whether it's a sale, refund, or fee, is automatically synced with your Xero account. This streamlines the reconciliation process, ensuring that your financial records remain accurate and up-to-date. 

Send Payments and Get Paid

Connecting your PayPal account with Xero makes it easier to manage and do business transactions. When you add PayPal as a payment service, your customers can easily pay their invoices online using their PayPal account. You can also accept payments via PayPal Credit and Venmo, providing more options for customers to settle their bills.

Invoice Processing

One significant advantage of integrating PayPal with Xero is the convenience of invoice processing. This feature lets business owners do seamless invoice tracking as Xero automatically marks invoices paid through PayPal.

Automatic Updates

Worrying about importing PayPal transactions to Xero is a thing of the past since you can now set up PayPal direct feeds to import your transactions daily automatically. This functionality helps you keep your books up-to-date by automatically syncing payments, fees, and transfers.

5. Automated Transactions with GoCardless

When managing your finances, automating transactions can save you time and effort. That's where the GoCardless for Xero integration comes in. This powerful tool allows you to connect your GoCardless account to Xero, enabling seamless payment processing and automatic transaction updates.

Integrating GoCardless with Xero

Here are the steps to integrate Xero with GoCardless:

1. Create a GoCardless account.
2. Connect it to your Xero account in the invoice or payments services section.
3. Authorize GoCardless to collect payments, especially recurring ones, on your behalf. By connecting

With over 70,000 businesses using GoCardless to get paid on time, you can trust this integration to streamline financial management.

Minimize Late Payments

The benefits of this integration are plentiful. For starters, you can expect to get paid up to twice as fast because the payments are automatically collected on the due date. This means no more chasing after late payments or stressing over unpaid invoices. Instead, you can focus on managing and growing your business while GoCardless handles the payment collection.

Real-Time Financial Insights

In addition, the integration syncs your transactions and payments with Xero, allowing you to have real-time insights into your finances. You'll see your most updated cash flow quickly, which you can use as a guide in your financial decision-making.

6. Cashless and Cardless Payment With ApplePay

Integrating ApplePay with your Xero account provides a seamless payment experience for your customers. Using a cashless and cardless payment system opens doors to improved efficiency, cost savings, and higher customer satisfaction levels.

Bills Management

Connect your ApplePay account to Xero to easily manage bills and transactions. Once connected, ApplePay transactions will automatically appear in your Xero account, making it easier to manage your bills and payments from one platform. 

To make a payment using ApplePay, customers can select it at checkout, and their bank account will be debited with the invoice amount. This integration also allows you to pay bills directly to your suppliers, simplifying the payment process for you and your customers.

Cardless Transactions

Using ApplePay with Xero eliminates the need for physical cards, enabling secure, instant payments. When your ApplePay is connected to your Xero account, it will allow you to sync important data such as bank balances, transactions, and account details, providing critical real-time insights into your business finances.

Multiple Currencies Support

One of the advantages of using ApplePay with Xero is the support for multiple currencies, making it ideal for businesses with international clients. Utilizing the ApplePay-Xero integration, you can reduce currency conversion fees and simplify payment across different currencies.

7. Manage Teams, Monitor Projects With Trello

Through Xero and Trello integration, you can seamlessly manage your accounting and project management activities. While Trello helps you keep track of team tasks and project time, Xero ensures that you can efficiently pay bills, monitor transactions, and update account balances.

Project Management

Linking your Trello and Xero accounts can significantly enhance your team's productivity and simplify project management. Trello is a powerful task allocation tool that lets you track project tasks and time. Integrating it with Xero Projects can bring more efficiency to your small business operations.

Time Tracking

When you connect Trello to Xero Projects, you can easily monitor your team's work in one place. Tracking time in Trello using Xero Projects gives you a comprehensive view of the hours spent on various tasks. You also do not need to switch between platforms—you can organize your team's time and schedule using the same tool.

8. Gusto Payroll Xero Integrations

Managing your financial data and payroll efficiently is crucial as a small business owner. Gusto Payroll-Xero integration can help you streamline your processes from managing workforce payroll, eliminating manual data entry, and being multiple-currency friendly.

Manage Employee Payroll

Gusto Payroll, a powerful cloud-based payroll solution, can help you manage your employees' payroll, payments, taxes, and more. By integrating Gusto with Xero, your accounting software can automatically sync and update data related to payroll, earnings types, departments, and tracking categories. This connection ensures consistency between your payroll and accounting records, which is essential for your business's financial health.

No Manual Data Entry

Connecting your Gusto account with Xero is relatively simple. After you've set up your Gusto Payroll, a new menu tab appears in your Xero organization, allowing you to manage employee payroll data and tax-related information. No more manual data entry, as this integration syncs your bills or journals for Xero Business and journals for Xero Partner. 

Multiple Currencies

The Gusto Payroll Xero integration also supports multiple currencies, allowing you to manage international payments effortlessly. You can add and configure various currencies in your Xero settings to suit your business requirements. This integration's flexibility makes it highly efficient in handling cross-border transactions.

9. Manage Contacts with Gmail and Office365

Efficiently managing your business contacts is crucial for smooth operations. Integrating Xero with Gmail and Office365 can assist you in contact management and affect your business positively in the ways enumerated below.

Sync Customer and Supplier Contacts

Connecting Xero to Gmail or Office365 allows you to seamlessly sync customer and supplier contacts with your email, enabling a centralized and easily accessible platform. This way, you can keep track of all your contacts and transactions without switching between applications.

Create Lists and Groups

As part of the Xero contact management features, you can create lists and groups to organize your contacts better. This connection also makes creating and managing your contacts' transaction history easier, including invoices, payments, and expected payment dates.

To connect Gmail or Office365 with Xero, navigate to the settings menu and follow the simple setup process. Once connected, you will have an integrated platform that allows you to access your contact data in one place. This integration will save time and streamline operations, allowing you to focus on growing your small business.

Xero Integration Assistance With Unloop!

The nine tools mentioned in the article offer a comprehensive solution for businesses looking to streamline their financial management processes. These tools also provide seamless connectivity to Xero.

Utilizing these apps can improve your financial workflows and save time. If you are searching for integrations and apps or want to learn about the different software for bookkeeping and accounting, we can assist you. Unloop is a team of accountants and bookkeepers that leverages different software for accuracy and efficiency at work. 

We can give you a hand in simplifying your accounting systems. Book a call with us now! We’d be happy to assist you.

Have you ever wondered how bookkeepers stay on track of how much your business is spending? How can they project these expenses and suggest the best financial approach for certain business decisions?

Part of the job of bookkeepers is to keep the business records and other documents organized so they can review previous spendings instead of memorizing or guessing the company’s cash flow.

This article will discuss the six different types of business transactions and how these records are being documented. Read on and find out more.

How Bookkeeping Services in Toronto Record Your Business Transactions

Small business bookkeeping services in Toronto understand that every spending needs to be jotted down— from the recent electric bill in your office space to your general ledger for future payment purposes and depreciation expenses to meet an adjusting entry. Recording a business transaction is integral in the accounting process and greatly determines the financial direction of the business.

These records need to be documented timely and accurately to avoid problems when it comes to sorting out your general ledger (or the database containing entries of recorded bills to be paid in the future, payments owed by a customer, payrolls allotted for employees, and more).

If you are recording with a manual accounting system, the accounting transaction is slowed down. This is why having the appropriate subsidiary ledger is important to stay organized and up to date with your business data and determine how your general ledger is affected. Below are the primary subsidiary ledgers:

• Journal for cash receipts
• Journal for cash disbursements
• Journal for sales
• Journal for purchases

Recording an accounting transaction often follows an accounting cycle that ensures all documents have been recorded properly. Bookkeepers need to adhere to specific steps which comprise the accounting cycle. The accounting cycle is as follows:

1. Organize your transactions and record all journal entries
2. Post these journal entries to the general ledger
3. Facilitate an unadjusted trial balance
4. Create adjusting entries and prepare a trial balance
5. Run a financial statement and make a close for the month

The thing about cycles is that they do not end, so after step #5, the bookkeeper must begin the next accounting cycle again to meet their objectives in the financial lead. 

Bookkeeping Services in Toronto: Knowing Your Business Transactions

Most bookkeeping services in Toronto require sophisticated accounting software despite their need for only inexpensive computers. Businesses no longer see the need to manually enter transactions into journals then post them to a general ledger account, followed by a subsidiary ledger account.

Businesses nowadays believe that modern-day technology should be incorporated into the basic bookkeeping and accounting techniques and ought to be improved by implementing relevant accounting software for more information and data entry. Let’s discuss further the six types of financial transactions in every business. Remember that these types need to be identified beforehand.

Accounts Payable

Whenever your business needs to pay another business for goods and services they have provided your company, you can choose either to pay the bill immediately or record it in an account to pay at a later date.

For small business bookkeeping services in Toronto that still do not use any kind of accounting software, they would need to record the entry in a purchase journal. In addition to what we have mentioned, here are some key takeaways from understanding what accounts payable are in a nutshell.

Keep in mind, however, that should you decide to pay the bill immediately or in cash for the goods and services, you must record the expenses and their reduction in cash from the appropriate accounts like what most businesses do with a utility expense bill.

• Accounts payable refer to the quantity or amounts that are due to the business’s service and good vendors or suppliers. This happens when you have not paid for them yet.

• The accounts payable may also refer to the total amount of all your outstanding balances which you owe your respective vendors and suppliers. To know your outstanding balance, simply check your business’s record sheets.

• Lastly, the accounts payable can be defined as the total AP’s increase or decrease based on a cash flow statement and period. What your management system can do is to pay the outstanding bills on or slightly before the due date to improve your business’s cash flow without letting the debt weigh down on your business.

Accounts Receivable

This follows the same logic as accounts payable, except you record money which another business owes you via credit. If you are paying right away, you do not have to record anything in the accounts receivable since you will be taking note of the increase in cash and the number of sales.

In case the company doesn’t provide accounting software, the bookkeeper has to record their entry in a sales journal. Each time an invoice is sent to a customer, this would automatically record an accounts receivable entry and would apply whether you have or do not have an accounting software.

To give you a clearer and better understanding of this accounting term, here are the main definitions of accounts receivable.

• The accounts receivable represents money that is needed to be paid to the company; you can find this on your business’s short-term balance sheet. Through this accounting term, your buyers can purchase your products or services using a credit system.

• An account receivable setup is similar to the accounts payable process, except that the money is being received (instead of being owed) by your company. The good part about this is that you can analyze the turnover ratio and outstanding sales based on 

• The strength of a company’s AR can be analyzed with the accounts receivable turnover ratio or days sales outstanding. It is common knowledge that it is better to be owed than to owe other businesses (considering that there are also interest rates nowadays).

Bill Payment

Let’s say your business is ready to pay a bill. Regardless if it comes from the earlier records under accounts payable or an intent to pay immediately, you would have to record your intent in the form of an entry.

The pattern of a bill payment business transaction would usually resemble a reduction in the accounts payable and another reduction in the cash balance of the company. To record this procedure manually, bookkeepers will be using a cash disbursement journal.

In summary, we can define the bills payable as any of the following:

• A type of transaction that resembles the accounts payable process except it may be a short-term borrowing agreement done with other banking institutions; usually the business country's central bank.

• It can be a form of payable liability bill such as for utility purposes and loans. To review the bills and liabilities of your company, you can check your business balance sheet. When we talk about bills in terms of bookkeeping, this just refers to the banking skills of your bookkeeper. 

• The most common documents involved in a bills payment scheme are the bank’s promissory note and pledge of government securities. This has to be maintained, paid to your bank, and be properly invested on.

Payments Received

In contrast to the accounts payable method, the context of the payments received is when a customer or client pays your company for goods and services.

The transaction may be carried out through cash (i.e., customers buying at your business’s physical store) or through an invoice for goods and services that they purchased with credit. When manually recording entries under this category, bookkeepers must document them in the company’s cash receipts journal.

In case you are still confused about the definition of payments received, here is a summary.

• A payment received accounting situation happens each time your customer sends money or any form of currency to your business. For this to occur, there should also be no notation concerning the invoice.

• Part of the process is for the seller to record the payments using a pending account as the bookkeeper deposits the check and keeps record of the payment through a maintaining file.

• The payment records are sent for investigation and clearance to the business owner or seller. This will clarify the expenses or payments that have been made and by which buyer. This will be compared afterwards with the generated invoice.

Payroll Entries

This data is highly important for businesses that hire employees and provide salaries. Normally, there are two sets of payroll transactions that need to be recorded— the initial entry in which the payroll is being processed and the cash entry in which the employees were already paid.

Having payroll journal entries can be complicated for most businesses, which is why it is best to incorporate a payroll service software to process the records and save the breakdown of computations. Take note that the equation for payrolls is different per employee.

Here’s a sample to compare payroll transactions for just one employee:

• During the first payroll, the computation includes gross wages and payroll taxes.

• During the second payroll, the computation includes employee wages and another set of tax deductions.

• During the third payroll, the computation includes the employee wages, tax payments, and remittance.

Still don’t have an accounting software to accommodate payroll entries? You will need to write these down into a general journal.

Journal Entries

As mentioned earlier, the presence of accounting software has drastically influenced the demand for journal entries. As much as you may want to take advantage of the technological advancements and switch to a paperless scheme, there will still be instances where bookkeepers need to log in a journal entry.

Why does journaling still matter? It’s because some entries need to be manually adjusted for reasons encompassing the amortization, depreciation, payroll accruals, banking fees, accumulation of interests, and more. Then, after all have been computed, the bookkeeper, together with an accountant, should run and release a financial statement.

Final Word

Bookkeeping services in Toronto are surely incredible since all means are exhausted to deliver accurate and timely business transaction records. If bookkeepers can deliver their expectations in this matter, imagine the results they can promise by providing the best financial decision for the company. 
Did you learn anything new about bookkeeping in Toronto? Comment down below!

People have different definitions of order, but for many accountants and bookkeepers, it is a well-organized and perfectly formulated excel sheet. This view is even better now with small business accounting software that automates all calculations, making no room for errors with customizable templates for the different documents you need. 

This article will list the ten best accounting software for small businesses, along with their features, pros, and cons, to help you decide which software to use for your company. Let’s begin!

Quickbooks Small Business Software

The first step to accounting is tracking your accounts payable and receivable, which Quickbooks software for business offers. Invoices are easy to generate and can even be set to recur, especially for consistent transactions. 

If you have projects or employees, you can utilize the software's projects and time tracking features and create invoices from the data you get. 

Since the software allows integrations, you can include other data from your tools, eCommerce sites, customer relationship management (CRM), and inventory to the data inputted on Quickbooks. You can also integrate your Paypal Account for payments. 

Pros

• Offers a 30-day free trial
• Affordable monthly charges for paid use
• Uses cloud accounting for security
• Accessible on mobile

Cons

• Role-based access is allowed, but you need to upgrade your payment plan to enjoy this service.
• To enjoy full features, you need to get the PLUS Plan at $17/month.

Freshbooks

With Freshbooks, balance sheets and ledgers are now stored in a safer and easy-to-access software. You can now track your income and expenses for automated invoices and reports. 

The different integrations will allow you to track and create your payroll, have visibility on your eCommerce store, know the tax you need to pay, store important documents, and receive and give payment with ease. Project and time tracking are also available on Freshbooks if you have employees. 

Pros

• Cloud-based accounting for security
• Bank reconciliation for easy tracking of the money coming in and out of your account
• Free trial available

Cons

• The functions available on desktop are not all available on mobile.
• Invoice customization is not as flexible as its counterparts.

Wave

Wave promises assistance to the accounting needs of small businesses, and that is precisely what you will get with the software’s accounting and invoicing features.

Track your business income and expenses, so you can easily create detailed invoices, which you can pay or be paid conveniently through bank integrations. These invoices are highly customizable. You can even schedule and send out reminders for recurring transactions. 

Pros

• Provides basic accounting and invoicing for your business
• Tracks payments
• Simple and easy to use
• Allows payroll deposits
• Available on mobile devices
• You can enjoy the services for free, but you have to pay to use the payroll and payments services.

Cons

• It does not generate reports automatically.
• No time and project tracking

Zoho Books

Zoho Books is another one-stop-shop if you want to monitor income, expenses, inventory, timesheets, projects, sales, purchases, and reports. Your dashboard in this software will provide you with insights about your business right away, and you can even set scheduled reports. Whatever will come out of the reports is highly customizable.  

You can collaborate with your clients by sending them estimates, payment reminders, and invoices they can easily access on their Client Portal dashboards. In the same way, your vendors can also access statements, invoices, and reminders about your transactions through the Vendor Portal. 

Pros

• Even your suppliers and clients can use the software for easy transactions.
• You can track expenses, income, and inventory.
• Generates reports quickly
• Available on mobile
• It has a 14-day free trial.

Cons

• Limited transactions and payroll coverage 

Sage 50cloud Accounting

Everything you’ll need for accounting and bookkeeping is just a few clicks away on your computer through Sage 50cloud Accounting. As the name suggests, the software uses cloud accounting, which means that your data is safely stored. 

What data are these? Through the software, you can track your accounts payable and receivables, invoices, inventory, and payroll. Even confidential information about the money coming in and out of your bank is managed by this software. 

These data can all turn into easy-to-understand and visually pleasing year-to-date reports on sales taxes, expenses, and profits. 

Pros

• Covers all basic accounting needs of small businesses
• Easily generated reports
• Tracked bank reconciliation and payments

Cons

• Does not have mobile integration
• Does not allow time tracking 
• More expensive than other accounting software

Xero

Xero offers cash flow management, inventory supervision, bank reconciliation and payment integrations, tax calculation, projects, time tracking, and invoicing. On top of that, you will be allowed to use multiple currencies accounting if you need to transact with customers and suppliers abroad using a different currency. Whether abroad or domestically, you accept and send payments, capture and store data, and generate reports through this software. 

You can access all your data on mobile, and despite the easy visibility, your business numbers are secured because it is cloud-based. 

Pros

• Covers all your accounting needs
• Accepts multiple currencies
• You can access it on mobile
• Protected data

Cons

• Reports are not as detailed compared with other counterparts.
• Does not have phone or chat support if you have inquiries about the software

GoDaddy

Etsy, eBay, Amazon, and other eCommerce sellers will find GoDaddy helpful for their business accounting as you can integrate these sites into the software. The same goes for banks and credit cards like PayPal, Stripe, Bank of America, or American Express. 

You can customize the categories you want to include in your expenses, income, and invoice, which can help you see the areas of your business important to you when reports are generated. You can easily calculate your annual taxes using GoDaddy. 

Pros

• Customizable categories for income, expenses, and invoice
• You can track basic details about your business.
• Generates profit and loss, income, payment, and invoice reports

Cons

• Reports are generated in numbers, not in graphs, so you’ll have to extract them to make your templates and presentations. 
• Does not have inventory management, projects tracking, and bank reconciliation

ZarMoney

If you are a business owner who delegates tasks to a bookkeeper or an accountant for your company finances, you’ll need software that allows you to collaborate with your team. Zarmoney’s payment depends on how many people can access the data in the software— you can share it with up to 30 people. 

Aside from this feature, you can also track your accounts payable and accounts receivable, have bank reconciliation, create invoices, check sales tax, manage your inventory, and pay quickly. You can have a view of your business's financial health through customized or readily available report templates. 

Pros

• Has a free trial version
• Allows team collaboration
• Able to assist you with your basic accounting needs 

Cons

• Multiple currencies not available
• You cannot track projects and time.
• Not available on mobile

Sunrise By Lendio

Bookkeeping and accounting are often used interchangeably, but that’s a misconception. In a nutshell, the bookkeeper tracks everything, while the accountant can analyze the numbers to come up with business decision suggestions. 

Sunrise by Lendio aids in bookkeeping because of its income and expenses monitoring, receipts tracking, and bank reconciliation; yet, it is also a perfect accounting tool because it can compute tax, generate invoices, manage payroll, and generate reports. 

Pros

• Has free trial
• Gives essential accounting services needed by a startup business
• Has consultation services from bookkeepers 
• The dashboard shows an overview of the company’s health right away.

Cons

• Does not allow project and timesheet tracking
• Lacking inventory management
• Does not allow multiple currencies

Kashoo

Last but not least, Kashoo has the same features as its competitors of provisioning tracking for income and expenses, bank reconciliation, payment gateways to thousands of banks in America, invoice creation, accessible storage, and input of receipts detail and storage, tax computation, and reports generation. You can access all this data on desktop and mobile. 

If you are transacting abroad from countries with different currencies, Kashoo is multi currency-able, so you can still track data and send invoices. You can skip the worry in inventory management as Kashoo tracks this as well.  

Pros

• You can try invoice creation for a free trial.

Cons

• Multiple currencies, team collaboration, projects, and other features are available using the more expensive plan.
• Features vary depending on your plan of choice.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, these software have almost the same features, but the minimal disparity can spell out what makes the best accounting software for small business owners. 

You can book a call with us here at Unloop, so we can present the advantages of using Quickbooks, A2x, and Hubdoc as business tools. These are the software we specifically use for our bookkeeping service. We’d be happy to assist you with your bookkeeping and accounting needs.

Software is one of the most crucial factors to carefully consider when choosing good bookkeeping and accounting services for your business. When searching for the best accounting software, the results will present you with various options. If you’re not familiar with these technologies yet, it can be stressful to understand and make a choice. 

We want to help you get a better understanding of one accounting software: Hubdoc. It helps to know that Hubdoc is already proven to aid many businesses in managing the accounting workflow. Still, wise buyers look for more important details before making a buying decision. It is best to check what exactly Hubdoc offers so you can figure out if your business could benefit from it.

Hubdoc Basics: What Is It All About?

Hubdoc is a management software that automatically stores and organizes financial documents. You can easily scan and upload documents, instantly send financial receipts within the organization, and set the step-by-step process via automation so you can save time and minimize the risk of human errors.

You can find the software or app in online stores like Google Play or iTunes for free. Upon installation, you need to create an account for your organization. Then, you can send Hubdoc invitations to your assigned accounting or bookkeeping teams so they can view, access, and update all necessary financial documents.

Hubdoc Features That Help Set the Financial Workflow at Ease

Now that you have an idea of what Hubdoc is all about, it’s time to proceed with a discussion about its best features—the reasons why it would make a perfect document management system for your accounting and bookkeeping tasks. We enumerated the most important features below.

Data Over Paperwork

Say goodbye to the tons of papers you need to organize! Hubdoc transforms these into digital documents, extracting information from the scanned files using Optical Character Recognition and automatically creating sorted folders. What’s more is that these data are verified, secure, and easily accessible across all devices.

Automation

Automation is a core characteristic of technology that relieves you of the hassle of manual accounting tasks. Hubdoc incorporates automation in its settings to keep accounting simple: sorting documents and folders, fetching bills, receipts, and bank statements from more than 800 financial providers and utilities. 

Easy Integration With Other Platforms

Hubdoc also nails the game with its cross-platform accounting feature! You can easily integrate it to other related accounting software such as Xero, Quickbooks, and Bill to direct data publishing, audit-proofing, and bank reconciliation. If you’re concerned about difficulties with understanding, Hubdoc support is there to guide you through the integration procedures.

User-Friendly

Hubdoc is a one-time, easy to install set-up, and user-friendly system. The set-up is similar to most apps you’ve been using for a while now. As previously mentioned, you can find the app on the App Store or Google Play and then create an account in it to get officially started. When using the software, you only need to learn about scanning documents because Hubdoc does the data entry and organization for you. If you need more clarification, the support team can provide tutorials to help you navigate through the program.

Stores Historical Data

Having an organized copy of previous data is crucial in creating financial reports. Hubdoc can pull historical bills, statements, and other necessary information for your financial reports moving forward. Once you have installed the software and registered an account for the organization, you can find a year’s worth of historical documents available.

Ensures Security of Data

Data security is one of the most critical aspects of an accounting system. Hubdoc considers it a central feature, using strong and trusted safety technologies to protect personal data. Note that users are only allowed to view bank statements, accounts, bills, and more—you can’t make any changes no matter the level of access you have. The following are some of Hubdoc’s security features:

• Transport Layer Security to encode confidential information
• Third parties, like TRUSTe and McAfee monitor, verify and keep your data safe
• Two-factor authentication during account login
• Solid and high-quality passcard system
• CCTV surveillance system
• On-site security services

Final Thoughts

Without a doubt, Hubdoc makes accounting and bookkeeping easy. All the data you need are organized, secured, and stored in one place, ready for you to access with a single login. You no longer have to worry about lost paperwork, fetching documents from various sources, or managing a ton of records, because Hubdoc does them for you. 

Unloop’s bookkeeping services for small business owners include efficient bookkeeping and accounting software as part of the subscription plan! Once you become a subscriber, we will purchase Hubdoc, Quickbooks, and A2X to ensure the proper completion of your books. 
Suppose you type “accounting services near me” and find Unloop, or need more information about small business accounting services. In that case, don’t hesitate to give us a call! We accommodate clients from all over the US and Canada, and we are also remote! Additionally, you can try our services for free within a month to know more about what we can offer your business.

People think that bookkeeping is just a fancy word for accounting, but these two have tasks and responsibilities. The consistent recording, storage, and retrieval of financial transactions for a firm are referred to as bookkeeping, while accounting is concerned with reporting essential financial data for making strategic company choices.

Keeping track of a general ledger is a crucial part of bookkeeping. This is the basic document in which bookkeepers keep all records, costs, and receipts. As a result, the more sales or expenditures there are, the more often the ledger is updated.

What are Bookkeeping and Payroll Services?

The most common question regarding the fundamentals of bookkeeping is "What is its purpose?". You could be overwhelmed with a plethora of other responsibilities if you're new to the industry. Refreshing your bookkeeping abilities may appear to be a chore best kept for another day. However, there are several advantages to maintaining precise paperwork and tracking your expenditure and income.

Bookkeeping has two major goals:

• Using best practices to correctly document all financial transactions resulting from business activity.
• Determining and making sense of the financial results of company operations.

Bookkeepers generally require a comprehensive inventory of all transactions and associated costs to effectively document all business-related financial activities. They may categorize transactions as a good or service, a wage, a tax, or any other broad commercial process.

When it comes time to audit all reported financial activities, bookkeepers provide an accurate picture of how the firm has allocated its money. The two most essential reports that bookkeepers provide are the balance sheet and income statement. Both reports should be simple to read so that all readers can understand how well the firm is performing.

Payroll Services

Health care contribution, overtime, bonuses, and any payroll service is an art in itself and is one of the fundamental drivers of a business. It’s also a major role that bookkeepers can fill, as well as some HR functions. For most small businesses, this hits lots of birds with just one stone. Payroll services is the process of documenting and managing employee remuneration and taxation. This data includes salaries, gross wages, bonuses, commissions, fringe benefits, holiday pay, and other paid time off. Payroll accounting also includes withholdings for health insurance premiums, income garnishment, Social Security taxes, contributions to savings plans, Medicare taxes, and state and federal taxes.

Types of Bookkeeping

Single entry and double entry bookkeeping are the two predominant types used today. Every business has their unique needs, thus it’s important to know what bookkeeping type will suit their system best. Here are the two main types of bookkeeping:

Single Entry

This is a straightforward bookkeeping solution for extremely tiny start-up enterprises or single proprietors that use printed papers or Excel spreadsheets.

A cash book (which represents the bank account activity of receipts and payments) is the very minimum that a firm must have, and many small businesses may get by with just a cashbook to perform their bookkeeping.

Double Entry

The double-entry structure is more difficult to understand. However, it is suitable for businesses with accumulated expenses—that is, expenditures recorded into the bookkeeping system on the purchase date rather than the payment date.

Accounting software systems such as QuickBooks use double-entry bookkeeping. In this type of accounting, bookkeepers record transactions as expenses or revenue. The transaction is then classified on the relevant account using a second entry.

What is Included in Bookkeeping Services?

Bookkeepers prepare four important financial statements:

• An income statement depicting your revenue and expenses over a specific period.
• A balance sheet that shows your financial status at a particular period.
• The cash flow statement which monitors the cash that enters and exits your business.
• A statement of changes in equity that demonstrates how your portion of capital, reserves, and retained earnings have evolved throughout a reporting period.

Bookkeepers can also help your company run seamlessly by doing the following:

• Ensuring you get paid on time by managing your accounts payable and receivable.
• Collecting and remitting sales tax to the government.
• Keeping a close eye on your debt levels and making timely payments on any obligation due.
• Keeping track of incoming cash and depositing it at the bank.
• Handling monthly bank reconciliations.
• Preparing your CPA with precise financial accounts for tax season.
• Keeping track of your annual budget.
• Reporting problems or deviations when they arise. 
• Payroll processing.

Although bookkeepers cannot do tax planning nor manage tax returns, they can do a few tax preparations like filing the necessary documents for important tax deadlines or ensuring the records are accurate, which lessens the workload of accountants and helps business owners avoid hefty fines. In addition, you can save more money as bookkeepers are less costly than CPAs.

Final Thoughts

Bookkeeping is all about keeping an accurate record of a business's financial operations. At the very least, it assists the self-employed individual in tracking their revenue and spending to submit tax returns and satisfy their tax responsibilities. 

Whether you're just starting out or even a tiny company owner with a big goal, you'll need to learn some fundamental bookkeeping skills. You can DIY or hire a professional: how you handle and document your finances is totally up to you. Whichever decision you make, remember that important records of corporate operations must be kept.

Many people say that technology is a double-edged sword that has brought unwanted changes to society. But, on the other hand, it has also made a lot of difference in making people’s lives more convenient. 

Bookkeepers can attest to the latter, especially with the presence of different bookkeeping tools. Therefore, individual bookkeepers, bookkeeping services (Vancouver), and small business owners should consider using any of these seven best bookkeeping software for optimized and accurate work.

1. Quickbooks 

Since 1983, Quickbooks has been one of the most reliable bookkeeping tools used by bookkeepers in the US and is now used by practitioners worldwide. From its foundation until now, Quickbooks maintains its selling point of being the best bookkeeping software for small to medium-sized businesses. 

Pricing 

$1.60-$3.40/month depending on your choice of plan

Pros and Cons

As a business startup, you’ll need to create invoices, track all receipts, and get reports like profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and a quick view of your business’s health. Quickbooks provides all these functions and information.

However, for more detailed reports, you need to integrate the software to other tools you use or the excel spreadsheets you manage. 

2. FreshBooks

FreshBooks is another go-to tool for small businesses and freelancers. From software that offers only invoicing, the brand is now offering a wide range of services.

Pricing

$7.50-$25/month depending on your choice of plan. You can also apply for a customized solution based on your business needs. 

Pros and Cons

The best part about FreshBooks is it allows time tracking if you have employees, and this data goes straight to the invoice when payroll comes. 

If you have different departments, suppliers, clients, and projects, you can organize invoices and other details per category. Reports like profit and loss, sales tax summary, account aging, invoice details, and expenses can also be generated automatically.

However, there are still complex reports you need to use other tools to generate, and even though the application is available on mobile, some desktop functions are not available.

3. Sage

If you are looking for a brand that offers both software and consultation with experts, you need to try Sage. Aside from the software, you can also book calls and sessions with accounting coaches and experts.

Pricing

$7.50-$10/month depending on the plan

Pros and Cons

Not many software offer bank integration and automated tracking of money that comes in and out of your account—Sage, on the other hand, has this feature. You can also let your clients pay you electronically as Sage is integrated with Stripe. Other features like invoice creation, tracking of payments, expenses, receipts, and billing are available on Sage. 

If bank integration does not sound safe to you, you can always opt out of this feature. 

4. Wave

From its founding until today, Wave’s specialty is accounting for small businesses and invoicing. Wave has also branched out to offering payroll and payments management through the software. 

Pricing

Accounting and invoicing services are free. You only need to pay if you will get the payroll and payments services.

Pros and Cons

The most significant advantage of using Wave is you do not need to pay for accounting and invoice services. Despite being free, their invoice services are at par with paid software offering customized invoices, automatic sales tax calculations, payments tracking, acceptance of online payments, and integrating these invoices to the accounting software for reports generation. 

5. Zoho Books

Zoho Books is a software for you, your clients, and your suppliers as the software has a Client and Vendor Portal. You can access a wide range of services using this software. 

Pricing

Offers a 14-day free trial and paid services from $10-$30/month depending on your plan choice

Pros and Cons

Invoices, bank integration for money cashed in and out monitoring, timesheets and project organization, receipts and documents storage, and reports generation are only some of the services included when you sign-up. You can access all these data and reports whether you are on a desktop or mobile. 

Although the software offers these varied services, it is still not fit for large businesses.

Why Vancouver Bookkeeping Services And Businesses Should Use These Software

Aside from the mentioned services you can enjoy when you use the five software above, here are the other reasons why it is about time bookkeeping, Vancouver firms, and small businesses should be automated:

• Minimize the possibility of human error from manual inputs
• The data can be presented in different templates and formats in just a few clicks
• Your data are backed up and stored safely
• You can access details about your business finances even you are on the go because the software is mobile-friendly
• If you are bookkeeping adept, you can manage these eBooks independently, cutting the cost for inhouse bookkeepers
• You can quickly generate reports as often as you want
• Faster and saves time

Final Thoughts

Many firms offer bookkeeping services, Vancouver, BC-based or remote, and freelance bookkeepers or those hired in-house by different companies. Wherever you classify yourself, consider using any of the five bookkeeping software above to accomplish your tasks faster. With your saved time, you can look into expanding your skills. If you are a business owner, you can focus your time thinking of ways to grow your business.

Are you a new entrepreneur just starting your business? If so, you might have heard of the term “bookkeeping” from your research. As a refresher, bookkeeping is the recording of all your business transactions on ledgers.

People think of accountants and bookkeepers interchangeably. That's understandable because the two professions are related. Bookkeeping is a little simpler than accounting though it needs a more meticulous person. While accountants need to analyze past transactions and predict outcomes based on them, the challenge for bookkeepers is to record every single thing that happens in the financial side of the business.

It's a fact that most business owners dread doing their own books. Yes, they know the ins and outs of their business, but they have so much to keep up with in running their enterprise that bookkeeping is going to be a headache. It's normal to hate bookkeeping because of how detail-oriented you have to be to record every financial transaction that goes on every day. So the best option on the horizon is to hire a bookkeeper… right? 

Well, you can search for bookkeeping services near you, but do they use a reliable bookkeeping service online? We are talking about none other than QuickBooks bookkeeping, which you can access wherever you are. And yes, it is the easiest option for a hands-on entrepreneur such as you. 

Pros and Cons of Using QuickBooks

Like many services that you use in your business, online bookkeeping and consulting services are also available today. Technology has really changed the way we handle business records. So if you're still relying on physical books to keep track of your finances, it's time to upgrade your IT system and get QuickBooks on your computers.

Pros

• You can keep data organized, systematic, and transparent. 

QuickBooks addresses the need to record data efficiently. It is significantly easier to input transactions into the software while keeping everything organized. Because it is online, you can customize and create a system of data entry that is clear to you and to your staff. 

It makes everything so much easier because you can access your data online from different devices. You can do real-time tracking of everything that's going on for a few minutes and focus on other aspects of your business with just a few clicks on your computer or your phone.

We cannot stress how vital organizing everything is when it comes to business. It is why bookkeepers obsess over every single detail they put on your records. When you have an online record keeper, it is so much easier to go back and see the history of the data you have. Tracking your progress based on your books can be a click away. 

• Security of your data

One more advantage QuickBooks has over physical bookkeeping is keeping your records safe. We can never predict the future. Heaven forbid that something happens to your enterprise or your store, but if it does and you still keep physical books, you might lose all your data. In case of fire, for example, you can lose everything, including your transaction records. 

Accidents are unpredictable. That's why you need to keep your data secured. If you upload your transactions online, you can avoid the possibility of losing them. Extreme cases like theft or natural disasters will do little damage to your operations because you have everything online. 

QuickBooks is a great contingency plan for your business. As an entrepreneur, you need to keep these things in mind and think in advance. Have your plan B as soon as you start your venture. And with QuickBooks, your plan A and plan B can be one and the same.  

• Tax season becomes a breeze.

It's no secret that tax season is one of the most hectic times for businesses and accountants. The government demands strict compliance with the law, so you have to gather all your business records. If you are unprepared, the penalty might cost you a lot. Meanwhile, when you have QuickBooks, you won't have to worry about anything. 

QuickBooks has a feature for bookkeeping and tax preparation services. And if you are still hesitant to do your own taxes through the program, help is always on hand. You can talk to a live bookkeeper and ask them for some guidance without stepping out of your office. You can also take advantage of the capital tax and bookkeeping services or the bookkeeping and tax services business plan made by QuickBooks.   

Cons

• Learning curve

QuickBooks is not an end-all-be-all software. Despite its helpfulness and convenience, it has its limitations. Like most software, people have to accustom themselves to it. After all, you don’t become an expert on anything in one go.

Business owners know that everything has a learning curve. When you started, you had to develop the skills and knowledge you needed to grow your business. Nothing happens overnight. That's as true in the physical aspects as well as on the online side of your enterprise.

The downside of using QuickBooks is having to learn how the program works. Unfortunately, older entrepreneurs who might not be tech-savvy tend to have more trouble grasping how QuickBooks systems work. That doesn't mean you can't use it anymore, however. 

You needn't worry about learning everything on your own because QuickBooks actually has a live option where you can work with an actual bookkeeper who will guide you through the program. 

You might ask, “If that's the case, how does it differ from working with an actual bookkeeper?” Here’s a secret: actual bookkeepers also often use QuickBooks in their work. So instead of doing your books yourself, why not get help from bookkeeping services that use QuickBooks?

How Does QuickBooks Bookkeeping Work?

Did anything we mention resonate with you? Are you now ready to give QuickBooks a try? 

Before you sign up for that free 30-day trial, let us tell you about the QuickBooks services you can use in your business.

Invoice and sales input

One way to save money in your business operations is using the same software for your sales, invoice, and bookkeeping. QuickBooks gives you these three features for the price of one. You don't need to retype everything from one program to another. If you have QuickBooks, you only input your sales records and invoice at once, and they'll automatically be included in your books. 

Using QuickBooks presents another advantage, and it is that you can send your customers their invoices automatically online. Once you get the hang of how the software works with the guidance of your online bookkeeper, you'll be sending out quotations with no sweat. 

Business expenses

Nobody likes to spend. However, running a business means you have to invest in capital before earning anything. Thus, you need to create a solid business plan that details all foreseeable expenses right from the start. 

Still, unexpected expenses are unavoidable. And when these situations arise, it can throw off your record-keeping. The creators of QuickBooks had this in mind when they incorporated tracking your expenses into the software. You can input your spending on the software manually for such surprises. 

Paying bills

QuickBooks takes bookkeeping up a notch by letting you access and pay your bills from the software. Aside from tracking your expenses, the software also allows you to send money to service providers for your business. You can pay for things like Internet subscriptions, utility bills, and other services through the software. And the greatest advantage is that it automatically records any transactions you have, even with online third parties, to your business records.

Payroll for employees

Are you still using sheets to manage your payroll? It's time to move to the latest technology available with QuickBooks. Using the software, you can easily track your business' bookkeeping and payroll services. 

From inputting your employees' details to scheduling vacation days and even deducting their taxes, QuickBooks has it all. The software structures and organizes everything for you to easily visit them from any device. So you can say goodbye to payroll problems because you have an accurate program to do it all for you.

Final Thoughts About QuickBooks Bookkeeping Software

QuickBooks is the ultimate tool for entrepreneurs who like to stay on top of their business. Aside from bookkeeping, which is its most prominent feature, it has other features that allow you to run your business efficiently without having to buy different software programs for various functions. 

Versatility is just one word that describes QuickBooks. From sending invoices to paying your bills, processing payroll, and even scheduling vacation, this software has everything you need. 

And if you're not that confident about your technical skills, don't worry. Bookkeeping support services are also available on the software. You can talk to a live accountant or bookkeeper from QuickBooks and pay one fee for the software and the assistance you need. 

We're not saying that physical bookkeeping is an outdated practice. We're saying that you need to upgrade your systems to keep up with the times and your competitors. And QuickBooks saves you resources, so it may be the best fit for your business model. 

If you want to know more, don't hesitate to contact us here at Unloop. We use QuickBooks, so we can offer reliable answers to any questions you have about it.

Today, we will talk about one of the best accounting software in the market: Xero Accounting Software—a means for accountants and bookkeepers to track data and transactions easier and safer than manual means. 

If you are already considering signing up, let us encourage you further and help weigh your options by providing eleven benefits to reap using Xero small business software.

11 Essential Features of Xero Accounting Software

Accounting is a broad and difficult area to traverse in business, especially for those with little experience and knowledge. Tasks like invoice creation, expense or income tracking, payroll, and transaction processing can often be headache-inducing.

Thankfully, accounting systems like Xero have begun popping up recently to assist mid-sized and small businesses in need. But what makes Xero among the top accounting solutions?

#1: Seamless Expenses and Income Tracking, Including Multicurrency

Among the accounting tasks you or your accountants and bookkeepers need to accomplish are income and expense tracking, which are much better done automatically. 

Through Xero Software, your bills are tracked through automated online payments or by taking photos of the receipts. 

The payments from your clients are also automatically stored in the system, especially when they pay bank-to-bank or via credit and debit cards. The multicurrency feature lets you enjoy this regardless of the currency used. 

#2: Flexible and Comprehensive Payment Methods

A wide range of payment options benefits you and your clients. You can quickly pay vendor dues, and your clients conveniently pay you through these payment options:

Through Xero, your business can adapt to the trend of cashless transactions. All the money coming in and out of these payment options is automatically tracked by Xero through bank, Stripe, Paypal, and Transferwise feeds.

#3: Convenient Project and Employee Work Time Tracking

Below is a breakdown of Xero software's project and employee time-tracking benefits.

🕜 Organizing Projects and Employee Time: If you work on different projects with several employees, you can organize the projects together with the time rendered by each worker through Xero. 

🧾 Automated Invoicing: By the end of every cutoff, the data you get from the timesheet automatically turns into an invoice for payment. It then falls under your expense data. 

🤝 Client Quotes and Collaboration: Send client quotes about projects for approval before collaboration begins. 

📨 Electronic Payments: Clients can swiftly send electronic payments at the end of a transaction.

📞 Contact Management: Xero’s contact management feature makes client and project tracking easier. This feature allows you to add contacts and list essential details about them, such as their name, email address, phone number, etc.

🗒️ Notes Field: Suppose specific information needs attention with an invoice or bill, like a payment due date or special instructions for payment processing. Xero allows you to create essential notes for each contact and ensure easy access. 

#4: Seamless Reconciliation with Bank Accounts

You can easily reconcile bank transactions with Xero. Once your bank account is connected to Xero, business transactions are automatically imported to the software, neatly sorted, and categorized for tracking and reporting. If some details are not indexed, Xero will send you an alert. These transactions either required tagging or investigation in case of issues like fraud. 

Reconciliation should be done daily to keep your system up-to-date. You can also bulk reconcile transactions to check if the bank money matches the data on Xero. 

To easily track these activities, Xero provides a Bank Transactions tab, where you can do the following:

• View a list of all your transactions, search for specific ones, or filter by date range or type of transaction.
• View bank statements. If you've imported a bank statement from Xero Cloud (or another accounting platform), it'll be displayed here so that it's easy to reconcile against the information in Xero Cloud.
• Export a bank statement for future reference, or send one to your accountant.

#5: Automated Calculation of Returns and Sales Tax

Taxes are one of the most complicated business areas every business owner must go through. Much information goes into sales tax compliance: rates, exemptions, rules, and regulations. It can be overwhelming to track how these different factors impact your business.

Fortunately, they are made easier through Xero's automatic sales tax and returns calculation. With Xero, you must input as many tax rates as possible for each item for the accounting system to automatically calculate the sales tax. 

You can also optimize your data by adding tax rates for specific contacts, products, or accounts. Then, you can generate a sales tax report which you can also use to generate tax returns.

#6: Stress-Free Invoice Management

Are you tired of creating online invoices over and over from scratch, especially for recurring transactions? With Xero’s invoicing capabilities, you can easily create a template, schedule the invoices, and automatically remind your clients about the dues they need to pay. 

Moreover, you can instantly receive customer payments as invoices appear with a “Pay Now” call-to-action button. The money that enters your account will be tracked accordingly by the system. Note that you can send these invoices whether you are on a computer or your phone. 

#7: Streamlined Inventory

If you're a small business owner, inventory management is essential. However, the cost of keeping track of your stock can be a big burden for your cash flow, especially if the quantity of your inventory is too high.

Xero allows you to import and update CSV files directly from marketplaces like Amazon and eBay so you can keep track of your inventory immediately. You can also see how much cash flow has been earned through sales or returns on these platforms and even receive notifications when new purchases are made.

Bonus: Xero's built-in search feature makes it easier to find items from across all areas of your business, including customers, suppliers, and contacts.

#8: Integration of Essential Software into Xero

Xero’s software integration allows you to look at a single software to assess your business's financial health instead of going back and forth. Here are some of the tools you can integrate:

• Trello: Trello is a project and employee tracking software you can incorporate into Xero. 
• Gusto Payroll: Gusto is an application that calculates payroll automatically. You can integrate this into Xero payroll to place all essential details in your Xero system. 
• Gmail and Office 365: Conveniently import contact details to Xero to generate invoices faster. 

#9: Swift Financial Report Generation

Many reports are generated automatically on Xero's dashboard, such as expense claims, income, profitability, unreconciled bank transactions, and your company snapshot. Business owners and managers can use these reports to set budgets, plan investment strategies, and make other essential business decisions. 

Plenty of templates exist; you can customize the reports to check specific data or key performance indicators.

On top of these reports is Xero Analytics. It focuses on tracking your cash flow. The feature generates reports based on all the data tracked by the system. It can also show a forecast report on your cash flow if the same trends continue. 

#10: Top-Quality and Robust Data Security

Xero has passed different data security standards, so rest assured confidential business information is protected.

You can share financial information through a multi-faceted feature, allowing team members to view their own data and select data from others, including customers, suppliers, and other teams. This might raise some data privacy and security concerns on your end. Luckily, you can still protect the financial particulars of your business using the access control function. 

For example, you can enable multi-factor authentication to get a notification and accompanying authentication code whenever anyone tries to log into your account.

#11: Budget-Friendly Tool

With all the assistance you can get from the software, you will surely get your money's worth. Xero offers various plans to suit your business size, but from just $25 per month, you can already enjoy some of its top features. 

If you want unlimited access, you can sign up for the $54 monthly plan. Before deciding, check out the details of each plan and consider what your business needs the most. 

Explore Top-Notch Accounting Software With Unloop!

The capabilities of the Xero software are impressive with all the manual tasks it can take from your or your accountant's and bookkeeper's hands. You can use the time and effort you save to plan your next steps in growing your business. 

If you are still wondering how to use Xero software, we at Unloop will gladly assist you. Thinking of moving to other accounting software like QuickBooks Online? Unloop experts are also experienced in running such tools!

Book a call now. We have a remote accounting and bookkeeping team ready to help you anytime!

So you've taken the next big step. Congratulations! Starting a new business is no small feat. It must have taken months or years to get to where you are now, with loads of time to conceptualize and implement a business plan in between. However, before you truly hit the road, you must lay some solid groundwork first.

Running a company is a never-ending stream of rewarding successes accompanied by ever-expanding to-do lists. To consistently stay on top of your business, you'll have to keep track of the inevitable accounting duties. Bookkeeping that is accurate and up to date is the foundation of every profitable small business. Understanding bookkeeping best practices and when to hire business bookkeeping services is critical for keeping the company going smoothly now and in the future, regardless of the type of business you manage.

If learning the ins and outs of simple bookkeeping for small businesses sounds overwhelming, try to reel the information in slowly but surely. Learn about the various options open to you and why it is essential to maintain accurate financial records. But first of all, let's make sure we're on the same page.

What are Bookkeeping Tax Services?

Bookkeeping is the method of keeping records of any financial transaction made by a business from its inception to its closure. Each financial transaction is registered based on supporting documents, depending on the type of accounting method used for the company. That paperwork may be a receipt, an invoice, a sales order, or some form of the financial report demonstrating that the transaction occurred.

Bookkeeping transactions can be registered manually in a journal or inputted automatically using software such as QuickBooks bookkeeping services. Most companies now maintain accounts that display their financial expenses using advanced bookkeeping computer programs. To report financial transactions, bookkeepers may use either single-entry or double-entry bookkeeping. Bookkeepers must grasp the firm's accounting chart and how to manage the books using debits and credits. 

Tips for Getting Your Small Business Bookkeeping Started:

1. Automate Repetitive Tasks

Automation has been dominating in many industries, and for a good cause. After all, when an AI is taking care of most of the mundane tasks in your company, you gather yourself time and money to grow other aspects of your business. With that said, automation feels right at home with small business bookkeeping. The accounting process is filled with repetitive tasks that can pile on and add unnecessary workload to your employees. Modern accounting software is more than capable of automatically calculating important financial figures while simultaneously organizing your spreadsheets.  

When shopping around for accounting software, it's a good idea to consider your company's storage, accessibility, and security needs. Don't go buying the first software that comes up on your google search. Instead, identify your needs first, so you can optimize your subscription costs and make the most out of the software.

2. Don't Pay Business-Related Expenses Out of Your Pocket

Many situations will arise where you'll have to shoulder miscellaneous costs out of your pocket. While this might seem insignificant, it's good accounting practice to record those expenses in your company's records. Keep the business receipts and submit them to your accounting staff to reimburse you with a check. Reimbursing business-related costs should follow the same process as reimbursing your employees. This might include: Recording the details of your purchase on a spreadsheet (date, vendor, purpose, receipt), subsequently followed by an issuance of the reimbursement cheque. On that note, the cheque should be different from a salary cheque, so your bookkeeper can easily categorize the expense in your books.

3. Establish an Organized Filing System

Newsflash: It's a business. You're probably going to be getting an onslaught of paperwork. Accounting source papers are a recorded document of all your business' transactions. Source papers are essential in answering any queries or demonstrate proof for when the taxman comes knocking. Most tax authorities mandate companies to keep 5-7 years' worth of documents. This could include invoices, receipts, wage records, and other documents demonstrating a crumb trail of your business's financial transactions.

When your documents are in disarray, you'll be in a bind when you need a certain document. It'll be like finding a needle in a haystack. To avoid this issue, it's best to have an archiving system where you can organize files according to date, type of transaction, etc. Having an organized system also saves you money and time trying to procure documents that can no longer be found in any practicable time horizon.

4. Don't Forget Your Tax Deadlines

It's easy to lose track of a business, especially with all the aspects that need attending to. This can lead to missing important tax filing deadlines. However, it's as easy as setting up a huge calendar or a google alert for important upcoming dates to ensure you never have to worry about missing it. 

Harking back on number 3, when you have an organized archiving system, you can easily set up all the required documents so that you can be prepared ahead of time, which helps avoid all the fussing about during the busy tax season.

5. Follow Up on Invoices

Late or unpaid invoices can leave plenty of frustratingly blank spaces in your spreadsheet. When running a business, it's your prime responsibility to develop a strategy for effectively following up and managing unfulfilled invoices. This could include writing down penalty clauses for late payments or having a contact team follow up consistently on the invoice. 

As a rule of thumb, most firms assign a 30-day, 60-day, or 90-day category on late invoices, with a different strategy for each milestone. Of course, we'd all hate for it to reach the 90-day mark, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. Late payments are incredibly impactful, especially for cash-intensive businesses.

Factors Affecting the Cost of Capital Tax and Bookkeeping Services

The expense of hiring a bookkeeping service depends on a lot of variables. The rates can be influenced by the following:

• Complexity and size of your business
• Volume of transactions
• Number of employees
• Payroll processing methods 
• Number of credit cards
• Amount of balance sheets to organize
• The type of accounting process 
• Rules and regulations

Reporting requirements 

If simple bookkeeping is what your business requires at this time, you'll need to consider whether to do it in-house or outsource it. If you wish to appoint and oversee a bookkeeper, you must also decide if the job is part-time or full-time. If you plan to outsource, you can choose between local bookkeeping agencies, local CPA firms that provide bookkeeping services, or specialized, global outsourced bookkeeping firms. Let's take a look at three different solutions that your organization could explore to meet this need.

Part-time bookkeeping

Hiring a part-time bookkeeping service is more appropriate for small to medium-sized businesses. The costs of hiring such a service can vary greatly. Part-time bookkeepers are paid an average hourly rate of $20, which increases depending on the position or job description. Part-time bookkeepers are expected to perform basic bookkeeping tasks with your collaboration and consistent supervision.

A part-time bookkeeping service is an excellent choice if you're able to do a portion of your bookkeeping tasks and errands per month but need some assistance. You can expect your part-time bookkeeper to enter receipts and keep tabs on the employee timesheets, as well as organizing the accounts receivable and payable. When hiring a bookkeeper on a part-time basis, the management should check on the bookkeeper's job to ensure its speed and accuracy.

Some businesses take a shortcut by teaching a manager or an office employee the ropes on fulfilling part-time bookkeeping tasks. While this has a chance at success and is often the most budget-wise path for most businesses, the consequences of a steep learning curve and time spent can be detrimental to the business' productivity.

Full-time Bookkeeping

While the rates can vary depending on your location, the average rate of a full-time bookkeeper can be anywhere between $35,000 to $55,000 per year, on top of bonuses and overhead. As per GlassDoor's reports, a full-time bookkeeper working in high-cost cities like New York and Los Angeles could reach upwards to an amount of $70,000. Overheads can mean an additional 20% on top of the wage for office parking or lunch allowance.

A full-time bookkeeper is tasked with organizing the company's accounts daily. Having your accounts and documents organized and up to date is the core of a company's financial capabilities. Therefore, hiring a full-time bookkeeper for your growing company could spell out success for your long-term goals.

A full-time bookkeeper may be tasked with but not limited to activities such as fee payments, customer billings, timesheet organization and accounting, and laying down financial statements every end of the month. As the company owner, you would also need to double-check the final reports to ensure consistency. 

Outsourcing

To effectively outsource your bookkeeping responsibilities, you'll need to figure out what aspects of your financial management needs outsourcing. Outsourcing rates can vary depending on the volume of transactions and other factors you studied when hiring a part-time bookkeeper and defining their role. The estimated monthly cost of outsourcing a bookkeeping service can be anywhere between $500 to $2500. Outsourcing gives you the flexibility to customize what specific service your business needs.

You have the option of outsourcing more specialized accounting functions and controller roles in attaining a complete 'virtual accounting department", which would no doubt increase the pay scale but could be just what your business needs to accelerate its growth. Suppose the company is still in the developmental phase. In that case, you should consider making a move to full accrual accounting, with management and financial reporting that will make it easy to scale your business. This degree of complexity in financial management goes beyond your knowledge and will be instrumental for other business stakeholders such as investors, advisors, and banks.

If part-time or full-time bookkeeping seems to be limited to your business needs, choosing to go with a highly specialized bookkeeping firm may be the wisest choice.

Conclusion

There's plenty to learn, but the fact that you're reading this signifies that you have your business's best interest at heart. Acing your books right off the bat saves you headaches down the road. If you're unsure about organizing your finances, choosing any of the bookkeeping services above may be the right choice for you.

We cannot overstate the importance of bookkeepers in businesses. When an accountant is absent, they perform tasks to fill in the gap. The bookkeeper’s job generally ranges from recording financial transactions and documenting payrolls to making financial statements and more.

The main objective of a bookkeeper is to remain transparent and ensure that employees and employers alike are updated about the company’s financial landscape. That being said, we want to help you understand the value of bookkeeping services, how they handle the financial decision-making of the business, and what values a successful bookkeeper possesses.

If you are an online seller without a background in financing, this is your chance to look at bookkeeping in Mississauga. Read on and find out more!

Importance of Mississauga Bookkeeping Services

Financial information is an important variable that determines how individuals and organizations operate. Without monitoring your business’s financial resources, there is no way to fund your projects such that you can profit from them.

For this reason, businesses hire bookkeepers, particularly start-ups that cannot yet afford a licensed accountant. Wherever you go, bookkeepers will always be around, providing financial suggestions to different workplaces such as the following:

• Financial institutions
• Nonprofit organizations
• Government agencies
• Private investors
• External users
• Academic institutions
• Law firms
• Other organizations

Bookkeepers are highly relevant and in demand for businesses that desire gradual but steady growth. Bookkeeping services in Mississauga also focus on evaluating and providing an overview of financial data for their respective companies. If you are fully aware of your business’s financial direction and complete transaction history, you owe this to bookkeepers.

Here are more reasons why bookkeepers are essential and why companies should appreciate their work:

• Bookkeepers record and store financial reports.
• They assist in the legal records of employees.
• They provide reliable data on team performance.
• They share ideas to make strategic business choices.
• They help in processing accounting bills.
• They present the business’s income goals and revenue.
• They take note of the company’s tax agent adjustments.
• They ensure that the company avoids penalties.
• They free up your time so that you can work on the business better.
• They take charge when accountants are unavailable or away.
• They minimize the possibility of fraud during a transaction.
• They conduct an ongoing auditing and assurance process.
• They record every penny spent by the company.
• They support your business’s daily operations and systems.

Mississauga Bookkeeper Responsibilities

Now let’s talk about the broad process of bookkeeping. How do bookkeepers stay organized despite many expectations set on them? Which ones do bookkeepers do first?

Generally speaking, bookkeepers schedule the different bookkeeping processes they undertake. There are six particular bookkeeping and administration services and processes that bookkeepers regularly monitor:

• Sales processes consist of sales orders, invoicing, receiving payment, and late payment follow-ups.
• Purchase processes consist of bills, purchase orders, supplier payments, and inventory management.
• Payroll processes consist of employee setup, running payment, superannuation reports, pay-as-you-go tax withholdings, and other employee entitlement matters.
• Banking processes consist of bank reconciliations, credit cards, point-of-sale systems, and transfers, among other things.
• Verification of accounting figures involves checking the correctness of automated accounting data and reconciling and validating business accounts.
• Reporting to the business owner involves submitting reports for the inspection, review, and verification of the executives or managerial team. They then discuss the results in a meeting on a monthly or quarterly schedule.

Despite the hectic responsibilities and backlogs, bookkeepers do their best to live up to workplace expectations. However, some bookkeepers can perform their job better than others because of their outlook and work ethics. Let us look more closely at the five characteristics that make bookkeeping business services successful.

Qualities of Successful Mississauga Bookkeeping Services

As it is, the role of a bookkeeper is not easy to fill. However, as technology steadily evolves, the nature of the job changes, so the objectives of bookkeepers should adjust as well.

Unfortunately, most bookkeepers’ problems are often related to the shift in focus and increasing use of advanced technology to get the job done. So what can a bookkeeper do to surpass these issues?

The key is to fit their job to what defines a good bookkeeper. Below are the five most important traits that determine a successful bookkeeper. These can transform many bookkeepers out there for the better.

1. They are open to any changes. A successful bookkeeper chooses to blend their profession with technological innovation. They follow the industry’s latest trends and use them to their advantage.
2. Their exceptional skills come from rigorous training. A successful bookkeeper has mastered the core competencies of bookkeeping. Their training makes them an irreplaceable asset amid the emergence of new accounting apps.
3. They appreciate the interpersonal aspect of bookkeeping. A successful bookkeeper values their relationship with their clients, employer, and fellow employees. They exhibit a memorable personality and active listening skills that set them apart from regular bookkeepers but keep them connected to their professional circle.
4. They broaden their professional horizons. Successful bookkeepers go out of their way to collaborate across all the departments in their workplace. They know when it is time to compete and when to cooperate, which elevates the company and the bookkeeping community as a whole.
5. They work efficiently with other people. A successful bookkeeper enjoys projects, tasks, and assignments that involve working with a team. They make the most out of this experience to acquire different business perspectives so that they can craft a financial plan that can enhance the current condition of the company. Aside from that, they’re great negotiators, teachers, and leaders rolled into one.

If you have a business in Mississauga, bookkeepers will always be important to you, regardless of your company size. When you think about it, the question you should be asking is, “What kind of bookkeepers should I hire?” instead of “Are bookkeepers important for my business?” Once you look at their profession from the value it adds to you, you’ll see what bookkeepers are more than capable of doing.

Did you learn anything new about Mississauga bookkeeping services? What is a successful bookkeeper to you? Share your insights by commenting below. We would love to hear from you!