There’s really no need to fear the bank feed...

Are your bank feeds connected to your accounting software? Accounting Technician Jessica Maddams has noticed that some clients remain hesitant. Here, she alleviates those concerns and provides peace of mind, by emphasising the security of your financial information.

It has now been a while since HMRC introduced Making Tax Digital (MTD), turning most businesses' financial processes on their heads and forcing them into new ways of doing things. Many companies are now finding the changes have saved them precious time, which can be spent doing what they do best (not paper pushing or updating cash books or spreadsheets).

Yet, surprisingly, we are still coming across clients who are nervous about connecting a bank feed to their accounting software.

Here we look at Intuit's QuickBooks Online as an example of how the bank feed works and to give some reassurance that your information is secure:

• Read-Only Access: The main point to highlight is that when you connect your bank using the bank feed, the information is always 'read-only'. Think of it as a live bank statement which updates the transactions daily, or more often if you need to refresh the feed throughout the day. (You might be waiting for a payment to come in from a customer before an order can be released, for example).
• Protection: No one can use your information in QuickBooks to actually move any of your money.
• Privacy Assured: None of your information is sold, rented or shared with any third parties for their promotional use.
• Robust Security: QuickBooks use state of the art encryption and authentication technologies to protect the security and privacy of your financial information, including SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), digital certificates and RSA encryption.
• Access secured: No one has access to your QuickBooks data unless you have granted this to them, which you would do by setting them up as a user and choosing which features they can have access to. You can restrict certain parts of the software as you wish.
• Encrypted Banking Details: All your internet banking details are stored in an encrypted state that no one at Intuit is able to view or access.
• Multi-Factor Authentication: Multi-factor authentication is in place for accessing QuickBooks online, which means even if your log in details were compromised, you are protected from anyone actually being able to access the data.

If you are still feeling nervous, then maybe one of our team at Page Kirk could put your mind at rest. Get in touch by calling 0115 955 5500 or email enquiries@pagekirk.co.uk.