Is your accountant holding your business back?

Mobile phones, i-pads, tablets, – we all live in a mobile World.

Yet many accountants seem oblivious to the changes that are going on around them and consequently they are failing to help their clients’ move forward.

Traditionally accounting software has been loaded from a disk onto a PC. At the end of the year, or whenever there is a query, it has been necessary to email a backup of the data to the accountant who then uploads the data at his end, makes some changes and then sends the revised data back to the client.

Not only is this time consuming and frustrating for the business owner but during busy periods any delays at the accountants can actually prevent the business from operating efficiently.

Added to that, if the PC crashes then unless strict backup procedures are in place (and all too often they are not) then the data is entirely lost with no prospect of recovery.

Typically, the software supplier will only support the software for a limited period as it wants to entice you to buy its “new improved” version. Consequently, if the business wants the support package and the latest tax rates etc it is obliged to purchase the entire product over and over again.

When you look at the traditional route in its entirety you realise what a fiasco it is.

But thankfully, for those in the know, there is a better way……………………..

For some time now we have been advocates of Cloud Computing. There are a number of products in the market but we are particularly fond of Sageone, Xero, KashFlow, Quickbooks Online and Freeagent.

Rather than holding the software on a PC the software is maintained on central servers and all backups and updates are undertaken automatically meaning that the user always has the latest version of the software and is confident that the data is secure.

All of the products give immediate access to your accounting records via the internet, wherever you may be eg at the office, at home, on the train. Not only that, but the number of users is generally unlimited meaning that the business owner, his bookkeeper, and his accountant can all be looking at and working together on the same information in real-time. There is no need to send backups backwards and forwards, you simply login using your computer or smart phone via a secure gateway and you have immediate access to all of the information.

You don’t even need to enter all of the data, as using a bank feed, the bank transactions can be automatically downloaded into your software.

The software is designed to show you in real time how much money you have in the bank, how much money you are owed, how much money you owe and when the debts fall due for payment.

All this for a modest monthly fee rather than an upfront expensive cost.

If you would like to speak to one of our Cloud Computing specialists to discuss how it can bring real benefits to your business, please call us now.