What Are the Benefits of Cloud Accounting?

Have you heard about cloud accounting? It utilizes online servers for your accounting needs so you don't have to worry about expensive equipment or constant software upgrades.

I want to take a moment today to tell you about cloud accounting.

We CPAs are involved in varied areas of accounting and tax. One of my specialties happens to be income tax and tax problems. I also specialize in accounting and consulting for small business, which some may refer to as bookkeeping and consulting. Today, I wanted to introduce some things to you in the area of cloud accounting.

Cloud accounting is similar to traditional, desktop-based accounting solutions, except for the fact that it uses Internet servers to host the programs and data rather than your in-house machines and software. Most of the services are provided very inexpensively as software or as a service, rather than requiring a large up-front investment.

You also don’t have to worry about maintaining expensive equipment and constant software upgrades. You can access your programs and data on almost any device, including your iPhone, Android, iPad, or computer. As long as you have a good high-speed internet connection, you can work on cloud accounting programs without the expense of the latest and greatest hardware.

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With cloud accounting, you don't have
to maintain any expensive equipment
or constantly upgrade software.

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The companies who now provide cloud accounting services to small companies include Intuit Quickbooks, Xero, NetSuite, Freshbooks, and more. All the good cloud accounting services are secure and have a high level of protection. Here are some of the many benefits of cloud accounting:

• Safe storage of financial data; you don’t have to worry about backups.
• These programs offer many automated processes that link your bank and loan accounts to the software. This saves a huge amount of time in data entry as some of the account coding can become automatic. Your bank accounts are also reconciled very quickly, saving more time.
• The software can size with your company, starting out very inexpensively with modest increases for additional features, adjusting to the growing needs of your company.
• Your data can be synced between your cloud accounting software, add-on software, and other vendor offerings to help your business run more efficiently.
• Multi-user issues are simplified with access for all your users from anywhere.
• Cloud applications are more reliable than a local application on your computer. You never have to worry about backups or hardware upgrades.
• Access is secure, usually with multi-level security requirements.

If you are interested in learning more about the growing cloud accounting revolution, please give me a call or send me an email soon. I'd be happy to help you.

What Can the 21st Century Office Do for You?

As technology advances at a rapid rate, your business needs to be able to move more data than paper. 21st Century Office can help you accomplish this. Our Sales Manager, Stan Newton, covers this in our latest video.

Who remembers Y2K? You know, the predicted ruination of the power grid? A lot of people were concerned about this, but when the clock passed midnight on Dec. 31st, 1999, nothing much happened. A new millennium began, and technology advanced into the 21st century quietly.

Since that memorable non-event, technology has exploded. There has been more growth in computer capabilities in the last 10 years than the last 50 years of the 20th century. Your car has more computing capacity than the lunar module that landed on the moon in 1969. You can make bank deposits on your phone without ever having to actually step foot inside the bank. Can you keep up with this technological advance in your business office, or are you still stuck in the 20th century?

The 21st century game is limited to two elements: paper and data. If you move more paper than data, you lose. This means you need to focus on data. Accounting and bookkeeping are the historical data of what happens in your business numerically. The challenge has always been to record this historically in as close to real time as you can economically. The information is most useful when recorded as a current event. Some people settle for information that is months or even years behind. To deal with the challenges of the 21st century, you must be on top of your business at all times.

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If you move more paper than data, you lose.

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What if you could remove 80% to 90% of the paper that you move around in your office? What if you could outsource your bookkeeping that would eliminate the necessity of having an in-house bookkeeper in your office? This is what the 21st century office looks like. What if you could scan your documents to a portal in the cloud and be able to retrieve them electronically without keeping any copies? What if your outsourced bookkeeping department right here in Tucson could access the documents in the portal, record them in your accounting system, and do it for less than it currently costs you?

Accelerated accounting has the technology to do this for you and provide you with current and accurate financial statements on a timely basis. We also have the expertise and decades of experience as chief financial officers to help you understand and use your financial statement to accelerate the growth of your business.

Here’s what the 21st Century Office does:

• Pays its bills electronically. No checks.
• Pays its employees electronically by direct deposit or debit card.
• Collects money from its customers mostly by credit card or debit card.
• Stores its accounting records on the cloud electronically.
• Strives to use a minimal amount of paper.
• Records useful and timely information for the business owner.

If you have any questions about transitioning your office into the 21st century or using 21st Century Office, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to speaking with you!