Bookkeeping automation can be an effective way of improving efficiency in any business, saving time and money while providing accurate financial insights when needed.
Establish an accounting manual as the first step toward improving bookkeeping operations. This should include documenting procedures and training staff on them.
1. Automate as much as possible
Automation helps agencies minimize errors caused by manual methods of data entry and report generation, saving a great deal of time with less rework needed and increased accuracy.
Simplifying bookkeeping processes allows your accounting team to dedicate more of its resources and energy to more important tasks such as financial projections and process optimization. Instead of spending hours performing tedious menial tasks manually, your team could use automation tools like digital receipt readers or invoice creators that automatically send information into accounting software for processing.
Investment in an automated system can help your accountants spend less time performing tedious, repetitive tasks that drain their time and limit them from performing high-value activities, like providing financial advice or performing data analysis. But automation shouldn’t replace having a standardized accounting process or knowledgeable financial professional on staff.
2. Eliminate paper systems
Bookkeeping often brings up mental images of disordered files, tight payment deadlines and laborious calculations. But efficient bookkeeping can actually save agencies valuable time, reduce stress and enhance their overall reputation with suppliers, clients and customers.
Reducing paper use in your accounting department means adopting new processes that reduce physical document consumption. These may include setting up digital filing systems, adopting cloud storage solutions and creating file naming conventions to optimize digital files.
Your team must also receive training on these new systems in order to effectively navigate them. Implementing new workflows will help ensure everyone remains productive and reduce time-wasting tasks such as waiting on others to submit paperwork or searching through files.
3. Automate reconciliations
Reconciliations ensure that a company’s internal records correspond with external documents like bank statements or direct payments. Reconciliations help businesses quickly detect and address payment errors. The more frequently they’re performed, the sooner a business can recognize and address-issues related to payments.
Manually reconciling financial statements takes both time and effort; however, with the use of add-ons or accounting software this task becomes far simpler.
Reconciliations that account for everything from foreign currency transactions to numerous suppliers and direct payments can be automated using formulas like VLOOKUP and SUMIF to automatically check bank records. This ensures accurate reports are generated quickly while also helping maintain team morale by eliminating tedious work, as well as helping reduce regulatory and compliance risk and strengthen internal controls within your business.
4. Create invoices in real-time
Making sure customers are paid on time is one of the key components of running any successful business, which can be accomplished by setting up a system for tracking bills and invoicing. Accounting software is useful in streamlining this process as it will automatically record transactions as they happen.
Streamlining your bookkeeping can not only benefit both you and your accountant, but will also improve communications with clients. By eliminating paper systems, all parties involved will find it easier to access and share information around the clock without manual calculations which are subject to errors. Furthermore, streamlining will simplify bookkeeping closing processes which involve reconciling accounts and producing financial-statements more accurately while guaranteeing compliance.
5. Track expenses in real-time
Cloud-based accounting systems such as Xero make it simple for all members of a company to access and update information anytime, anyplace. This eliminates manual data entry needs and frees teams up for higher-value activities like budgeting, forecasting, and planning for growth. By streamlining processes more effectively than before, financial statements become more accurate while costly operational errors such as double invoicing are minimized or avoided-altogether.
Make it a priority to implement expense reporting tools that make the process easy for employees. Install a mobile app that encourages employees to upload receipts instantly while also allowing administrators to easily review and approve reports before submission. Make sure reports adhere to company policy while also identifying any budgeting or expense anomalies early and mitigate year-end headaches caused by miscalculations and missed invoices. This can help avoid year-end headaches caused by miscalculations or missed invoices.