[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Starting a business is challenging because you don’t have the blueprint to success. In the beginning you might start small and do things manually. As you notice recurring patterns, you begin to create standardize systems and processes to streamline your business. In this day and age, it is inevitable to integrate technology with your business processes in order to grow, scale, and take your business to the next level.
Cloud accounting has become a popular choice for business owners and it is used as the backbone to build a successful business. With the ability to integrate with thousands of third-party applications, the possibility of cloud accounting is endless. Let’s explore some of these features and benefits to see how it can position your business for growth.
Online invoicing
Your business gets paid faster with online invoicing. It lets you take the work out of chasing payments by sending automated invoice reminders for you. All you have to decide is when and how often the reminders are sent out. You can see whether your customer has viewed the invoice and if the invoice has been paid. Online invoicing gives you the ability to invoice wherever you are and whenever you want. You can create send online invoices straight from your phone or tablet device. It can make a big difference in reducing the time between sending an invoice and receiving payment.
Accept payments online
Make it easier for your customers to pay you by accepting payments online. Accepting payments straight from your online invoices can help the company improve its cash flow. Also, you will save time because the more ways you give your customers to pay you and the easier you make it, the less time you will spend chasing the payment. You can configure your cloud accounting system by adding a payment service to your online invoice and your customer can pay it with just a few clicks. When your customer views it online, they can use the ‘Pay now’ button to pay you securely using one of your chosen payment services such as MasterCard, Visa, PayPal, and Apple Pay. Ultimately, the easier it is for the customer to pay you, the faster you will get paid.
Monitor business performance
The best cloud accounting system provides insights on how your business is performing at a glance. Business dashboard charts, graphs, and key metrics such as gross profit, net profit on sales, debt to equity are beautifully displayed to help you make informed business decisions. You can gain deeper performance insights by drilling down from the dashboard to show more detail and get in-depth analysis on the numbers. You can also leverage the financial data to easily set goals and track performance – see what’s working well, and what you need to work on.
Expense management
Cloud accounting provides all the tools and insights you need to track and manage expenses efficiently. Capture, submit and approve expenses on the go and keep every team member up to date with push notifications. It eliminates hidden costs and provide better visibility because you can see the most important information at a glance, so you always know where your expenses and cash flow stand. It supports a paperless environment where you can take photo of receipts to keep tax records clean and simple with everything online, easy to record, easy to claim, and easy to find. You can gain more control by managing all expenses in one central location – one login, no double-handling, and real-time tracking help you and your team manage expenses from anywhere.
Globalization
Cloud accounting empowers you to do business outside of Canada with the ability to handle multiple currencies. Your business can get paid in over hundreds of currencies and the system will do the hard work in tracking foreign currency gains and losses and the impact on cash flow. It has the ability to set currency preferences on specific customers and suppliers you do business with, where you can send invoices, bills, quotes and purchase orders for that contact in the selected currency.
Pay bills
Streamline bill payments and get an overview of where your business is spending money. It has the capability to schedule payments, so you spend less time on business admin. You can monitor bills that are due for payment to avoid late fees and build good relationships with your suppliers by paying your bills on time. The purchases dashboard gives you a complete overview of your bills and purchase orders. For vendors that you do business with on a regular basis, you can save time and improve your business efficiency by setting up recurring bills, making this process practically painless.
Project management
Cloud accounting provides a clear overview of which project is profitable, and which one is slowing you down. You can use the project management feature to monitor budget, cost, staff time, and most importantly, profitability across all projects. It’s easy to set up new projects, invite users who are in your team, and your business advisor. You can capture time and expenses for each project as you go, and easily monitor time as it is recorded using the staff time overview. At anytime during the project, you have the option to invoice the way you want to – fixed price, progress payments, or based on time and material. The detailed reports will let you see how much time you’ve logged on each project, how you are doing compared to estimates, and how much you can potentially invoice your clients.
Payroll
When you are ready to hire additional help to grow your business, you can integrate payroll with your cloud accounting system. To achieve maximum efficiency, set up your employee for direct deposit and create a personal account for each employee where they can access online pay stubs and T4, and set up a time tracking system where they can submit their time for your approval. As your workforce grows, you can implement a system for employee to request time off and submit businesses related expenses for reimbursement. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]