Don’t let tradition cloud your judgment

James Haywood who heads up the Cloud Accounting team at Page Kirk says it’s time that businesses relegate old-style book-keeping to history and embrace the cloud.

It’s quite surprising how many businesses are still keeping manual accounting records. With Making Tax Digital very much on the agenda and real-time digital information being required by HMRC, these old-school methods are no longer to be an option in the years ahead.

I’d always encourage clients to look positively on new technology though. Once you embrace it, the chances are you’ll never look back. After all, we now take smartphones and tablets for granted, when they once seemed futuristic.

Cloud accounting is much more efficient and is very secure. I know that some people may worry about sensitive information or banking details being accessible online, but all data is encrypted and there haven’t been any security breaches reported on direct or indirect bank feeds. In fact, paper records are far more vulnerable to inappropriate access and data tampering.

Increasingly the cloud accounting world is being changed by artificial intelligence too. With machine learning, the software is able to look at patterns and anticipate where particular expenses should be allocated, for example. You still have the ability to check the decisions, but a lot of the hard work is taken out of your hands.

Why choose cloud accounting?

• This human friendly, multi-user, low cost service can be accessed anywhere in the world at any time providing you have an internet connection. This means you can use your laptop, tablet and even your mobile phone.
• Online accounting packages can link straight to your bank account and transaction data, avoiding the need to manually input transactions. They will also attempt to match transactions against invoices and will allocate transactions automatically based on your pre-defined rules, which will save you valuable time.
• Set your own key performance indicators meaning you can choose which information you want to see on a daily basis in real-time such as cash flow, debtors and creditors.
• As it is cloud based, there are no slow updates or the need to perform manual backups as all information is backed up multiple times on different servers to prevent the possibility of data loss.
• Subscription-based service that incurs a small monthly fee and avoids the need to purchase software outright.

Thinking about cloud accounting for your business?

If you are considering how you can get more visibility around your business's finances, you may already be evaluating the different cloud accounting options available. There are many options on the market. QuickBooks, Xero and Sage Business Cloud Accounting (formerly Sage One) are the UK's three leading cloud accounting software providers. Your accountant may be able to recommend a particular cloud accounting software and even provide you with some training if you’re uncertain of how to use it. You’ll then be able to access your financial information anywhere at any time - particularly useful if you travel as part of your business. Meanwhile, your accountant can access the data in real time and give you more up-to-date advice and direction, rather than reviewing historical figures.

So my message is not to be frightened. There’s nothing to lose and everything to gain.

To find out more information about cloud accounting, talk to one of our experts by calling 0115 955 5500 or email enquiries@pagekirk.co.uk for a free no-commitment, initial consultation.

Your Ultimate Guide to Cloud Accounting

Page Kirk are teaming up with QuickBooks and Receipt Bank to bring Nottingham business owners the ultimate guide to cloud accounting. This free event is on 7th March, 11-2pm at our offices on Gregory Boulevard, lunch and networking opportunities will be available but booking is essential. For more information and how to book on click here.