A new small business has to start somewhere when it comes to bookkeeping.If that somewhere has been tracking your finances in a fancy notebook or through excel, that’s okay, at first. We at ReInvestWealth are sure you realize that these methods will quickly become burdensome and too time-consuming for your startup as it grows. Staying on top of your financial statements, sales tax, payroll (the list goes on and on!) as you expand your company becomes increasingly difficult. This is when accounting software becomes your best friend.
The best accounting software gives you simplicity, security, and automation. The software you use should meet government regulations, have strong security measures in place, and automate the process for you. That being said, Canadian business owners should know these key accounting terms when using cloud accounting software.
Top accounting software means you won’t have to spend tireless hours doing the mundane tasks of accounting and can focus that time on the other important areas of your business. Accounting software will assist in compiling your financial statements, get financial reports, prepare your income tax filings, calculate your sales tax, and so much more.
Small businesses may not have the budget to hire an in-house accounting team. So, hiring a virtual CFO and using simple accounting software can be a low-cost form of accounting, and an easy to use solution. Accounting inevitably becomes a massive headache for business owners. Proactively utilizing the best accounting software for small businesses saves owners from added stress and frees up time for other more pressing tasks.
1. Save Yourself Time
It’s always a benefit as a business owner when you can automate some components of the business. Our accounting software at ReInvestWealth for small and mid-size businesses allows you to automate the traditional month-end process and saves you time and effort. Some business owners spend hours upon hours completing accounting tasks each week. And if they don’t, tax season becomes even more of a nightmare. Manual payroll and bookkeeping is a tiresome process that eats up precious hours. Automated accounting software will perform these tasks for you with minimal time and effort on your part.
2. Scale Your Business/Startup
The financial planner notebook or Excel spreadsheets will work somewhat fine when you’re first starting out. But, if you want to scale your small business, you can’t rely on these methods forever. Growing your business means finding ways to delegate some tasks so you as a business owner aren’t drowning in tedium. Using a low-cost accounting software will simplify one major area of the business for you, and in turn, your focus and your energy will be directed at growing the business.
3. Avoid Legal Issues
When you’re relying on your own two eyes, it is likely that you will end up making a mistake at some point - you’re only human! But, when it comes to parts of your business that are government regulated, this can put you in a sticky spot. Using an accounting software that is programmed to match the regulations of your government takes the worry away for business owners. Online accounting companies, like us at ReInvestWealth, are matched to Canada’s government regulations, so you don’t have to worry about the government knocking your door down over a tax filing mistake or incorrect sales tax calculations.
On top of that, at ReInvestWealth business owners get greater peace of mind because they not only get the best accounting software for SMEs, but a CPA preparing and reviewing their tax filings.
4. Maximize Security
Security should be a top priority for any serious small business. ReInvestWealth accounting software ensures credentials and data are encrypted at all times. This means that your important information is protected under enterprise-grade security, making it extremely difficult for criminals to access. It’s important to look for proper access controls in place with your software of choice, such as Two Factor Authentication and identity-based controls. This ensures that your credentials and data are protected at every point of access.
5. Connect Bank Account
Accounting software such as ReInvestWealth allows you to connect all your business bank accounts to make tracking your finances frictionless. When you connect your account, your transactions are recorded automatically for you each day. No more worrying about typos from manually entering your bank activity. Tracking finances is accurate and organized after setting up ReInvestWealth accounting software, which takes less than 10 minutes to set up.
6. Automate Sales Tax
Sales tax can be difficult to track correctly. Bank statements don’t track your transaction taxes which means it’s a time-consuming and downright frustrating task for a business owner to have to deal with. Luckily, our ReInvestWealth’s accounting software automates this process for you when it comes to recurring transactions. You can flag a specific word like “Shaw” for your Shaw Internet, and then the tax will automatically record for you each time.
7. Save Money
Hiring an in-house accounting team is a massive expense for a business. Most small businesses don’t have the budget. Low-cost accounting software is a frugal solution, while still getting all of the benefits and ease of hiring someone to do the accounting. At ReInvestWealth, our pricing packages range from $0/month to $699/month, an option to fit any business owner's needs. This is a fraction of the cost of hiring someone to join the team. Reap the benefits while saving your money!
8. Help Save The Environment
There is no doubt that the dated method of printing every important document and filing away the papers is not the best for the environment. Billions of trees are cut down each year to keep up with the world's paper demands. Accounting cloud software like ReInvestWealth stores everything in the cloud (a secure online storage system) so you can save the paper and the hassle. Not printing hundreds of documents year after years also saves you money as a business owner. The cost of paper and ink is astronomical these days!
9. Digital Invoices
If you are still writing your invoices by hand, or typing them up line by line, then I’m sure you will be excited to hear this. ReInvestWealth’s accounting software works with any online invoicing software. You can add late fees, offer multiple payment options, and even send reminders automatically! This won’t only make your life easier, but your client is going to love you for it, too. Check out this blog post for more information on the benefits of online invoicing.
10. Access From Your Cell Phone
We saved the best for last. With ReInvestWealth’s accounting app, you can access your data from your mobile device at any time. Business owners have approximately a million and one (give or take) things on their mind at any given moment, so being able to refer back to your accounting data from your phone can free up some of your brain space for other things. You can log in to check on your transactions, your analytics, your financial reports, or anything else you may need to look at. Gone are the days of hunting down café wifi to check your statements from your laptop!
And that concludes the top benefits of using accounting software! Hopefully you learned something new and have gained a better understanding of why a small business should use accounting software. If you want to obtain more information check out our many resources provided on ReInvestWealth, or set up a complimentary appointment with one of our advisors who can answer any questions you may have.
Written by: Cara Cooper
ReInvestWealth Founder and CEO: Behdad Karimi Dermeni