Before going straight to the simplifications that Cloud Accounting offers, let’s begin with the root concerns. So, let’s understand what a ‘cloud’ is and what the problems in traditional accounting management techniques are.

What do you call a “cloud”?

You must be familiar with internet banking, right? Thus, every time you make any transactions, you use the cloud. So, what’s your mind telling you now? Transaction performed but no hardware involved, no big machines involved, just you and your smartphone/tablet/PC. Just a few taps and you’re all done! 

Hence, basically, the cloud is a massive server over the internet that is accessible from anywhere, any device. Now, this platform acts as your central hub. No involvement of your local hard drive.

Traditional accounting management practices

Before the rise of the ‘cloud’, businesses used to store accounting records on desktop systems. They used to manage the records either in spreadsheets or on-premises applications. Also, a dedicated team of professionals is appointed to perform day-to-day operations of bookkeeping, transactions, bill payments, and invoice generation, etc.

As manual power is involved in order to execute the aforementioned operations, many tasks remain undone and postponed to the end of the timeline. Whereas, merchants often prioritize spending their greater time on clients than working on accounting and bookkeeping. And, lack of revenue does not allow them to hire resources. This results in a scenario where a greater workload is divided into lesser people. This poor management of resources and balance lead to several ripple issues. Here’s a list of such common issues.

Traditional accounting management problems

• As there’s no cloud computing, nothing is synchronized.
• No automation in record updates.
• As management has to carry out via on-premises accounting application, data is not accessible by any distant workplace.
• Security threat is a major issue. For example, the USB drive is used to transferred data from one place to another.
• Reliability is another issue. For example, if spreadsheets are used, any authorized person can make changes to damage data authenticity.
• One user can access the system at a time. No co-working ability.
• Difficult to store backups. The damaged hard drive may result in loss of data.
• Slower customer service.

As you have studied the errors of on-premises accounting management, let’s read how Cloud Accounting Software benefits your organization.

Benefits of Cloud Accounting Software

There are many benefits of Cloud Accounting Software. So, in this article, we are going to discuss the most amazing ones!

➔       1. Automation saves time and effort

Classical practices involve the manual processing of invoices and record entries. With a cloud-based accounting system, you don’t have to spend time doing these tiring operations.  The tool frees up your time and generates invoices on its own — at regular intervals. This means, no more need to manually scripting invoices to keep track of transactions. Many cloud accounting systems have integrated payroll and HRMS systems as well. SMACC is one such life-saving tool for SMEs. 

➔       2. Access anything, from any device, anywhere

Everything is managed on a central hub; cloud. Simply access anything, from any device, anywhere. Look at the factors below to understand how your working mode becomes easier!

• You no longer need to worry to maintain those confusing spreadsheets. Maintain account records and transactions, on smart and intelligent systems.
• Nor, you need to buy any on-premises product to install on your system. It’s just one web link to access your software.
• No need for any physical hard drive to set up your accounting system.  Cloud is the hard drive.
• Just a good internet connection and your personal device – and start working!
• No worries about backup on hardware, keep your data secure on cloud servers.
• The device-bound approach is not a thing of cloud systems. You can access the software from any device either mobile, tablet, or laptop.
  
  

➔       3. Easily connect your bank account to your software

All online banking systems are working on the basis of this feature. Therefore, the cloud-based accounting software lets you handle your transactions within the tool. For making any sale or purchase, you don’t have to interact with the app of that particular bank where your account is created. Also, yo All you need to do is, sign-up with your account number in a few clicks and it’s ready!

Moreover, automated bank feeds allow you to track your business’s balance sheet in a more convenient way.

➔       3. Up-to-date data

The most amazing feature is the quick, iterative, and automatic updates. Unlike spreadsheets or desktop applications, you don’t have to manually update the balance sheets. It’s a big hassle, especially when records are massive. So, no matter how massive the record is, the system automatically updates records in real-time.

For instance, there is a global update in a payment schedule of a particular department. So, the salary fields of every employee of that department from all the branches will be updated within no time. 

➔       4. Keep your information secure

As your data is saved on a secure cloud server and is constantly backed up, you don’t need to worry about your data being hacked or compromised. Even if yourcomputer crashes, everything is still saved in the cloud.

➔       5. Give access to multiple users and set permissions

If different people manage different elements of your business, it’s easy to add multiple users to your account and tailor permissions so that people with specific job roles only see what they need to.

➔       6. Forecast budget with quick & accurate reports

The report generation is a huge feature on which the business plans and decides the course of future actions. So these reports have to be very accurate. Thus, the cloud accounting software, with every change,  quickly updates every relevant record. Therefore, these reports reflect the actual values and fields of the accounts. Whereas, such systems generate many types of account reports that professionals can use to get an insight into the business’s finances. For examples can be listing reports, general reports, payment reports, debit reports, invoice reports, and many other financial reports.

Hence, online financial accounting software provides a clear connection between your business and its finances.

Besides that, with the help of these reports, you can forecast the budget and make a budget comparison as well. These accurate reports will help you improve your financial planning and decisions.

➔   7. Seamless transaction tracking

With cloud-based financial accounting software, you can review all the expenses in a simpler way. Extract the insights of all incoming and outgoing money within few clicks. Unlike, traditional spreadsheets, you don’t have to switch through a bulk of tabs and rows to track the transaction history.  Just one single screen is enough to display what you need to see. So get rid of the hassle to review the scattered massive transaction records. You can smoothly track all receipt types in a few clicks. Either it’s cash, cheque, deposit, or e-Transfer – track them categorically and quickly.

Final Words

Cloud computing is an integral part of this world of modern technologies. Similarly, there is a significant need for cloud accounting as well. So, if you’re willing to automate your business processes of finance, go for intelligent accounting software. There are many tools available online. As discussed above, SMACC has always been the best choice of famous business markets across the globe. It’s an umbrella tool that covers cloud-based accounting software along with HRMS and payroll systems as well. Get everything under one roof!  So what are you waiting for? Get rid of manual operations and save time and money now. Therefore, switch your business from on-premises to cloud-based tools to automate, centralize and simplify its processes.