While the phrase ‘accountancy software’ fills lots of people with dread, it’s actually just a super easy, fast, and accurate way of ensuring all your accounts are up to date. And if you’re spending less time (and stress!) managing your accounts, you can spend more time running your business.
But if you’re not already using accountancy software (and you really should given Making Tax Digital is steaming ahead and all Self-Assessment returns will have to be done digitally from April 2024), then the first foray can seem both daunting and stressful.
The good news is – we’re here to help you choose the best one for your business.
Benefits of using accountancy software
If you think accountancy software is just about recording your income and expenditure and making sure you’re ready when it comes to filing your tax return or annual accounts, then you’re missing a trick. Accountancy software allows you to do so much more, including helping you to:
- Maximise your profit margins by making it easy to monitor your revenue and costs
- Identify what is and isn’t working well for your business through real-time access to all your financial information
- Improve the accuracy of your data as it’s a lot easier to spot mistakes
- Spend more time running your business rather than wasting time on managing your accounts
And of course, it also makes it easier to share the data with your accountant and discuss any issues together, as you’ll both be seeing the same information at the same time.
How to choose the right accountancy software package for you
With numerous accountancy software packages on the market, it can be tricky to know which one to choose. Some of the packages our clients use include:
All businesses are different, and software for a large corporate will be very different than for a small or medium-sized business, so we would always recommend you consider the following before you make your final discussion:
1. Your business’s needs
While all accountancy software will help you keep basic accounting records, have a think about what other functionality could be useful. Would you like to use it to raise quotes, purchase orders and invoices? Would it be useful for it to keep track of your stock? Do you need it for multi-currency transactions?
You might also want to take a look at industry-specific software which might provide functionality not offered by more general accounting packages.
Most accountancy software offers a free trial period, so have a play around with a couple before you make your final choice.
2. Your own skill level
Yes, accountancy software does make managing your books easier, but it’s only as good as the information entered, and the person doing that may well be you!
Whoever is using the software needs to be confident and comfortable about what they are doing. We suggest looking at online reviews to get an idea about how easy or hard a system is to use and then take advantage of those free trials to try it out for yourself.
3. Scalability of the system
While changing accountancy package is possible, it’s much better to choose one that can grow as your business grows. This will save you the time and the headache of researching a more appropriate package and then moving across to it.
Give some thought to whether down the line you will need more licences; whether you’ll be processing more transactions and whether the software offers add-ons that might be useful in the future. And, of course, look at the cost of all those extras!
4. Desktop and cloud versions
Most accountancy software packages offer a cloud-based option. This offers a number of benefits, including:
- access to your accounts from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection
- being able to easily give your accountant or bookkeeper access to your records
- knowing your records are kept in a secure data centre in the cloud, rather than on your physical premises
- not needing to purchase software licences or the servers to run the software on.
Of course, the disadvantage of cloud-based solutions is not being able to access your records if your internet connection is unstable, so that’s worth bearing in mind.
5. Your budget
Business accountancy software is available to suit all budgets, and there are even some very basic free options you can download.
The cost will be higher if you want more functionality and user licences, so work out those details upfront.
And don’t get duped by the promise of lots of amazing functionality if it’s not something you will ever use. Be realistic, otherwise you’ll just end up wasting money.
6. What your accountant recommends
If you need any advice on what software would be best for you and your business, we can most definitely help. As Xero and FreeAgent partners, they are our default choices, but we also happily work with other cloud-based and desktop packages.
Ultimately, you need choose the system you are most comfortable working with, so we are happy to talk through the different options and provide advice on how to get the most out of your chosen system.
Hopefully, we’ve given you some insight into how accountancy software could really benefit your business. If you need any further information or clarification on the online accounting software options available, please get in touch.