Due to the pandemic, most businesses had been forced to experiment with alternate ways to work remotely or cut down on non-essential in-house functions. To that end, there has been widespread adoption of different outsourced accounting services and/or shifting of in-house accounting to ‘the cloud’ via use of cloud accounting software. The unfortunate prevalence of the pandemic throughout the year of 2020 and 2021 had forced businesses to consider or adopt these measures for the sake of safety and to comply with the new governmental regulations. These measures were likely implemented for the first time by many small or medium businesses as a temporary remedy, however, as the pandemic continues to rage on with the new devastation caused by the delta variant of covid’19, these remote working technologies have stopped becoming temporary fixes and are now seemingly a permanent fixture of the economy.
This was almost certainly spearheaded at this time by the regulations of the pandemic. However, given enough time, it may have also occurred naturally as an evolution of the changing market and the optimization of the market via use adoption of new and more efficient technologies and systems. Simply put, cloud accounting software and outsourced accounting services are more efficient systems and their use can give any firm an edge over competitors. By using cloud accounting software and outsourced accounting services you can optimize your accounting department, cutting down on costs and freeing up on resources. As these systems have become the norm and are likely to stay post-pandemic, today we’ll be focusing on one of these systems, cloud accounting software system and how your company can be benefited by the implementation of cloud accounting software.
What is Cloud Accounting Software?
Cloud accounting was created in 2006 and soon specialized firms were developing cloud accounting software throughout the world. Cloud accounting is basically the use of accounting software through the internet to store and process your accounting needs. In cloud accounting you can send your accounting data into the internet storage space called ‘the cloud’ which you and your authorized personnel can access from anywhere around the world with an internet connection. Through the internet, you or your professional accountants can then use cloud software to record or compute the accounting data- company book keeping, payroll details, company income expenditure etc. The data can be recorded, computed and examined or double-checked remotely. This, as you can probably imagine, is much more efficient than traditional accounting which required entry to your in-house premises and access to the companies’ desktop computer for any access or computing of accounting data with some companies being limited still by using paper.
What are The Benefits of Using Cloud Accounting Software?
Using cloud accounting software can massively benefit your company. Some of these benefits include:
• Remote access of financial data:
this is probably the biggest advantage in the world today. Cloud accounting software allows remote access of accounting data from anywhere around the world and therefore allows you or your professional accountants to work from home protecting yourself and your employees from covid’19. Furthermore, remote access allows more efficient work with some cloud accounting software even coming through mobile apps. The ability to access your financial data from anywhere even while travelling allows personnel to handle your finances much more efficiently rather than when they were forced to go to the office whenever a change had to be made.
• Real time changes in data:
all the changes made in your cloud through cloud accounting software can be seen by all authorized personnel in real time. When you add in your financial data into your cloud- which may be done automatically through cloud accounting software, all the changes in financial details, records, book keeping, etc. will be made immediately and therefore seen by all participants whenever they log in. This allows ease of data transfer and collaboration between multiple people and allows you or a team to always keep up to date on your finances. By being able to access your financial information in real time, personnel can make financial decisions or changes in strategy in swiftly taking the new information into account.
• Reduce chances of errors:
by uploading your financial data on the cloud, you or your team can easily and remotely access your data at anytime, anywhere. This combined with the most up-to date information allows all errors or inaccuracies to be spotted instantaneously. As it’s more convenient for your team to be able to access your data, it’s easier for them to sift through your data and check it multiple times increasing the chances of error detection. Furthermore, there’s the added benefit of the cloud accounting software system checking all data correcting or notifying if there’s an error
• Increased security:
cloud accounting software does not require any desktop computers, wire connections or USB sticks for data transfer. The lack of physical parts increases security as there isn’t any localized server that can be hacked or physical data that can be stolen. Furthermore, cloud accounting sends all your financial data into the cloud which has FBI grade encryption and the best anti-malware software which is the most secure in the world and can therefore protect your financial data. Finally, as you or your team can access all your data anytime you want, there’s a reduced risk of fraud as there’s increased transparency and any unauthorized expenditure can be traced back immediately.
