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Unleash the true potential of your business with the right accounting software
Without leveraging the right tools, your business can't function efficiently, and accounting is no exception. In fact, a significant number of businesses have already adopted the latest cloud-based accounting solutions to streamline their accounting process.
Some businesses still prefer on-premise software and other traditional ways of accounting, believing that adopting a new accounting system can be a challenging task. Well, it is true that switching to new accounting software has its own challenges. But despite its challenges, it offers significant long-term benefits for your business.
Enhancing your accounting system will save a lot of effort and time for your business, which can be utilized for your core business activity. If you are using legacy systems, now might be the right time for your business to reconsider your choice regarding your accounting software; read further to know why.
Traditional accounting software can limit your business growth potential
There has been a significant development in the way the accounting process has been carried out due to consistent changes in regulations. Accounting standards are also being amended to make them globally relevant. Businesses have been doing their best to keep pace with these obligations as they continue to cater to the ever-expanding market demands.
So it’s essential for your business to maintain streamlined financial (and accounting) operations while staying agile to respond to market demands and seize growth opportunities. Conventional software may not be your best bet to strike this balance.
Accounting solutions have advanced to the point where you can even automate several crucial workflows that put more time in your hands. Many accounting tasks, like making the right journal adjustments, calculating depreciation, ensuring tax compliance, and perfecting reconciliation, are easier than ever with the latest technological developments.
Here are a few features that your business might be missing by sticking to legacy systems.
| Features | Benefits |
| Cloud technology | Cloud accounting software can transform your accounting system by:
Enhanced collaboration: With appropriate access, multiple users can simultaneously perform accounting tasks. |
| Mobile application | Important accounting tasks like sending invoices, approving transactions, and recording expenses can be performed through your mobile accounting software. |
| Integration | Your accounting software can be connected to banks, payment gateways, and other business applications like banking, CRM, inventory management, and payroll to synchronize operations seamlessly. |
| Client portal | A personalized client portal will help your clients with self-services like
This improves customer satisfaction. |
| Vendor portal | A dedicated vendor portal helps your business communicate effectively with your vendor and manage your purchase orders, invoices, and payments effectively. |
| Direct GST filing | File GSTR 1, GSTR 3B, and GSTR 9 returns directly from your software. Reconciliation of GSTR 2B is also possible with the right accounting software. |
| Contextual communication | Scaling a business can strain communication among teams, accountants, vendors, and customers. The key to overcoming this is having the right tool that facilitates context-rich commenting, chatting, calling, and screen sharing, ensuring everyone is on the same page. |
| Creating recurring expenses and bills | Generate bills and record expenses automatically for transactions occurring at regular intervals. |
| Document scanning or OCR (Optical Character Recognition) | The OCR feature helps you avoid manual entry for transactions, saving a significant amount of time. All you have to do is scan documents like tickets, challans, receipts, and bills to record the transaction in your books automatically. |
| Auto-categorization of transactions | Automatically categorize your regular transactions using specific criteria. For example, set a rule to classify all the transactions with the description "Bank fee" as "Bank Charges." In this way, you can keep track of every single penny. |
| Online sales channel merging | Manage your inventory efficiently by merging with the online sales channel without any third-party applications. |
If you still haven’t considered upgrading your accounting system, it is understandable—you might be worried about the challenges associated with switching to new software. Let's explore how we can move forward with confidence by addressing some commonly perceived barriers in adopting a new accounting system.
Why are businesses reluctant to switch to new and better software?
There are quite a few reasons why businesses do not want to upgrade their accounting system. Here are some of the key points.
Migration challenges
A business has to migrate data from their current system to new software, which can be tedious. Differences in the data format and nomenclature between the old and new accounting systems are some of the main challenges associated with data migration. Other challenges include the transferring of opening balances and histories of transactions, as every piece of data has to be recorded accurately in the new software to maintain consistency in the accounting record maintained by the business. Migration may even halt accounting activities for a particular period of time. However, modern accounting software offers resources, from help documentation and guided tutorials to dedicated onboarding support and migration tools, to relieve you of the significant load involved in the process.
Training
Businesses opting for a shift in their accounting software may have to invest time and effort to educate their users on leveraging the new tool in an efficient way. Investing in training is non-negotiable while adopting a new accounting system. Considering the workload involved in the process, businesses may shy away from making the right choice. It is advisable to prefer accounting software with a gentle learning curve—the one that requires less training. Leverage the training webinars hosted by the accounting solution's support team and ensure your professionals are well trained to utilize the software to its best capability.
Cost
The legacy system businesses conventionally use might look appealing with a one-time upfront cost. But the real (hidden) costs come later with periodic maintenance, updates required to sync with hardware, costly integrations, and the cost for external IT support for implementing some of the above tasks. While cloud accounting software works on a subscription model and may seem like an ongoing cost, it includes benefits like automatic updates, built-in security, and a responsive supportive team, eliminating the need for dedicated infrastructure or specialist help.
No flexible plans
Businesses might not find the right software that suits their accounting needs in the market. They might be forced to choose a plan with extra features, which they don't need but have to pay for—an unnecessary cost. On the other hand, the alternative plan might be affordable but will lack necessary features. This forces businesses either to go with a low-feature plan to avoid the unnecessary cost or to pay those extra bucks. The key is to choose the right accounting software that offers a considerable number of plans so you can just pay for what you use.
Resistance to change
Apart from the above reasons, businesses tend to prefer their outdated accounting systems because they are familiar. It is a human tendency to resist change; switching to something unfamiliar can seem overwhelming. Considering sunken costs and the fear of losing what they already have further affect the decision.
Breaking this barrier can be pretty tricky. However, most modern accounting solutions are designed to ease the transition. Awareness of the benefits offered by the new solution is often all they need to make the right choice. Other efforts include involving the professionals in the decision-making process, which will help them embrace the change. Comfort feels safe, but growth comes from choosing what works best.
The necessity
Despite the challenges involved in choosing better accounting software, businesses should go for it. Because adopting the advanced tools in this technological era cannot be considered optional anymore—it is a necessity. Leveraging efficient tools not just in accounting but in every possible department will keep your business ahead of the curve.
Let us know about Zoho Books, a well-established cloud accounting software in India and across the globe, providing businesses not just with top-class features but also a great customer support team that aids in any hiccups that occur during the accounting cycle. It is known for its taxation engine and compliance capabilities. Above all, the software is user-friendly, which makes it easier for businesses to adopt. Zoho Books will transform your business's accounting system and help you overcome the above challenges that are holding your business back. Check out its features to learn about the enormous benefits it can offer your business.
The free trial lets you explore the powerful features that can help you make an informed decision.
Explore Zoho Books: https://www.zoho.com/in/books/