In a marketplace brimming with new technologies, it can be difficult to sample and find the right services and programs to manage your finances. So which technologies are most useful for tracking numbers and time in your business? There are now a number of software products and cloud-based services to reduce the time spent on bookkeeping and to increase the visibility of live data, saving you time and money. You’ll also be able to minimise any delays in data being transferred and processed by your bookkeeper and accountant. Another positive is that these cloud-based software services are often cost-effective for small businesses.
Use Cloud-Based Technology to Help Manage Your Finances
Xero is a nifty tool designed to work around the transactions that feed in and out of your bank account. It can link with your different bank accounts and credit cards, and can allow for live feeds, which will not only reduce paperwork, but can minimise time, cost and effort for your bookkeeper to focus on the more important issues. You can also invoice from anywhere in the world as you go, and send it directly to your clients. Saasu, QuickBooks, BankLink, Sage and FreshBooks are also similar products that you can explore for the needs of your business.
If you are using a desktop product and the thought of moving to a cloud-based product may appear daunting or cost-prohibitive, companies like Xero have also developed a conversion tool. For example, it is possible to convert an MYOB file into a Xero file, or a QuickBooks file into a Xero file.
There are also a number of add-on products – little tools that can enable you to run your business more smoothly and can function seamlessly with MYOB and Xero. Debtor Daddy is one such product. Costing $29 a month, this add-on tool examines the debtors in Xero and can automatically contact via email everybody that owes you money at a set time. For instance, if your terms on the invoice are 7, 14 or 21 days, Debtor Daddy can automatically contact those debtors and inform them that their account is outstanding. Often the most expensive cost in employing a bookkeeper is inputting all the data into your system. While a cloud-based product like Xero is able to obtain feeds of information from your bank account, the actual expenses or, for instance, receipts from your suppliers, are not taken in account. Products like Invitbox, Shoebox and Receipt Bank can take these documents, convert them into data and place them into your accounting product for you. It can be a daunting process approaching the broad marketplace of technologies available for small businesses today, but it is one well worth every business owner’s time. By using the range of programs and services on offer, you could easily save time, money and perhaps even the frustration of managing your finances! This post is based on the Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s Small Business Finance Course, a three-part online course designed to arm small business owners with the skills to better manage their small business finances. For details of upcoming courses, call us on 1300 720 120 or visit the upcoming events page on our website.
