Move Your Accounting to the Cloud

October 17th, 2018 Posted by Business Development, Tools and Technology No Comment yet

I remember the days when accounting was done on paper by a person with a green visor – then things changed with Excel which saved precious time and made balancing your accounts easier than ever before. Now, things have changed again with the introduction of Accounting Cloud Software which has made accounting even easier and faster than ever before. In this blog, we look at some of the benefits of using the cloud for accounting and what businesses offer the best accounting cloud software.

Benefits of Cloud Accounting

Cloud Accounting is similar to regular accounting; however, with cloud accounting the data is sent “to the cloud” where it is stored and processed. This may sound unnecessary, but such technology allows you to do things that you could never do before. One benefit is flexibility, by this we mean that with accounting cloud software you can access the information from any device with internet connection. This also means that numerous people can work on the accounting at once, as the information is updated immediately. Another benefit is cloud accounting can update financial information automatically and provide financial reporting in real time. What this means is that account balances are up-to-date and there are fewer errors in comparison to traditional accounting. Accounting cloud software also updates automatically and eliminates the need for software or hardware that was previously necessary in the past with traditional accounting. Finally, cloud accounting is much better at handling multi-currency and multi-company transactions if that applies to your business.

Concerns with the “Cloud”

One of the main concerns with the cloud is keeping information secure – especially precious financial information. While security concerns are reasonable, the best cloud accounting programs are very secure and work with some of the largest, most secure businesses in the world. Hackers are becoming more prevalent and more successful ever year, but cloud accounting companies focus on security and work effortlessly to ensure information is secure. In fact, in many cases these programs are more secure than prior methods of storing financial information with traditional accounting software. Another major concern is the price of such programs; however, this should not be a concern. QuickBooks offer its lowest plan at just $7 a month, and you will actually be saving money at that rate when you begin to factor in all those cost savings we talked about earlier regarding software updates and hardware needed for traditional accounting. Thus, while some may be wary of “the cloud” or concerned with the cost of accounting cloud software, in the end these fears are meaningless and cloud accounting software clearly prevails over old methods.

Best Cloud Accounting Software

There are a number of cloud accounting software packages out there, but there are a few that are clearly better than the rest. The first and most popular is Intuit QuickBooks Online – QuickBooks offers a range of features and is easy to use whether you are just starting out or have an established business. The price is affordable too with numerous plans to fit your business; not to mention, the excellent live support so you can get help when you need it most. Another winner is Xero with many of the same features as QuickBooks and pricing options as QuickBooks. Wave is a different option that is free, although with ads which can be infuriating, while offering almost all the features of QuickBooks and Xero. Finally, there is FreshBooks which again is very similar to the rest but has the best mobile app if that is something you really are looking for. In the end, you cannot go wrong with QuickBooks, Xero, Wave, or FreshBooks, and you really should give them all a brief test run to figure out which one performs the best for your business’s needs.

 

Nate Trimmer is a Co-Founder of Omnibeat. As a social media enthusiast with a background in organizational development and computer technology, he strives to help businesses understand and embrace social media.

Omnibeat is the digital marketing outsource solution for growth in Los Alamitos and the greater Long Beach area.

Tags: , , ,

No comments yet. You should be kind and add one!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.This is a required field!

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

Join Our Newsletter

Search Our Blog