More than 20 years ago, QuickBooks and other desktop accounting software solutions made bookkeeping services exponentially easier to track and log financial data. No modern day business would consider keeping records without these tools that have become so essential. Now, the next tide of vital technology has arrived: Cloud computing.
Cloud computing isn’t a temporary term or fad, it is the new way of working and even living. Emailing, shopping on Amazon, banking online – these are all every day instances of cloud computing. For bookkeeping processes, the cloud applications arrived about 10 years ago but really began to gain adoption over the last 6 years. These online applications are another leap forward into the future of accounting. Cloud accounting has already produced features that change the process of bookkeeping: single ledger, bank feeds, and open API’s (Application Programming Interface).
- 1. The bank feed decimates the time demanded to upload and reconcile the bank statement.
- 2. The API unlocks a whole new set of possible advantages that will probably be particular to each client. The API in your cloud accounting package allows you to plug in your client’s point-of-sale system, expense management system, or inventory control software just as a few examples. It empowers another amount of efficacy through integration’s to reduce double entry and human error.
- 3. The Single Ledger is a unified accounting system ; it is a single ledger in which two entries, a debit and credit, that can be made at the same time.
Nonetheless, despite the next generation of tools being readily accessible, many firms have yet to deploy cloud accounting solutions and are still on archaic desktop systems.
The cloud also created a new model for bookkeeping services that relieved alot of cost and headaches from accounting firms: outsourced bookkeepers. The CPA firms that are early adopters of using outsourced bookkeeping services have already become more efficient, with better service levels and higher margins. The gross profits realized are allowing for investment into marketing and promotion to engage new clients and further extend the firm’s earning potential. The same opportunities are open to businesses across the globe, not just CPA firms, these are efficiency and cost benefits of cloud accounting.
Opportunities Don’t Last Forever
Technology creates winners and losers; bookkeeping will have its Blockbusters and its Kodaks that get disrupted by not keeping up. These will be the businesses that ignore the cloud accounting trends, the ones that “wait and see” or the companies that stick with the old ways. This is an erroneous strategy and can lead to obsolete organizations or a larger expense down the road to catch up. Software has revolutionized countless industries, not just movie rentals and photo printing. New companies pop up every day to capitalize on the driving force of technology, understanding one critical fact: customers expect and want services delivered through applications.
Bookkeeping isn’t immune from the technological revolution. It’s clear then, adopt these changes before you’re replaced by them, and you should prosper as a business. The accelerated rise of applications like Xero and QBO reveal otherwise. If they are able to order takeout or make a bank transfer through a mobile device, why shouldn’t you be able to have the same access to your bookkeeping? And ultimately, people are fickle; they’ll go to your competition down the road who’s comfortable using online software that provides more benefits and convenience.
Bookkeeping services are particularly among the areas of accounting that’ll fall victim to the pressure to adopt new technologies. Its manual data-entry processes and software designed to reduce the weight of manual tasks such as these are here. They make it easy to automate human billable hours. New technology presents an opportunity for bookkeeping services to flourish, when done correctly.
The Benefits for Transforming Bookkeeping Services to Cloud
Technology will mean a huge shift in the way in which we work, transitioning of bookkeeping services from a data entry function to a data manager function is essential. By analyzing the data amassed each month through new accounting technologies will not only enable businesses to quantify staff and customer workloads, but also identify where the most regular delays happen in the bookkeeping process. The result of this will be the ability to prioritize jobs by urgency, whilst delegating team members the tasks suited to their skill sets. Across quite a few differing factors, the price of efficacy can be established for the first time. These results will benefit practices internally through reduced expenses and improved productivity, while enhancing customer relations.
Needless to say, understanding how cloud computing can assist your business or CPA firm is only half the battle. Rather than recreate the wheel, partner with BooXkeeping – the leading provider of outsourced bookkeeping services and private white-labeled bookkeeping partner to CPA firms. BooXkeeping allows you to redefine services, focus on higher value billings, and increase annual revenue. Contact Us today for a free consultation, or click here to see how it works.
