The concept of cloud accounting has been around for years. Companies and software providers such as; Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, Reckon and many others offering a vast array of products and services. Both clients and their accountants have adapted quickly to take advantage of the efficiencies that can be made from this software.
But in a world where time is often compared to money, we are left wanting more and more from these platforms to make our lives easier. As API’s develop and machine learning progresses these are just a few of the changes we feel are needed and expect to see soon in this software.
Automation
- Bank Reconciliations – Irritating tasks that are time-consuming will be a thing of the past. Scouring through statements to collect expenses to build a report will become automated. Eg; A $60 direct debit from your phone service provider will be automatically put into an expense report as $60 telephone expense.
- Reporting – It’s the end of the financial year and your bank needs financial statements to review your position. Addition of software that is smart enough to generate and if the correct access is given, send these on your behalf. Completely removing the time-consuming process of collecting and sending the requested information.
- Voice Control – In due time there will be voice activation services, such as Siri, Alexa etc. An example of what voice activation will be able to do for accounting is the production of invoices and reports. “Hey, Xero can you prepare an invoice for John Smith for the ABC project, $2,000 + GST”. The invoice is prepared and coded against the relevant account. Perhaps the system has made a small mistake, “Hey Xero, can you change the account to Product Sales”. Voilà, once again avoiding the somewhat tedious task.
Management
- Key Business Ratios – Whilst already available in a limited fashion, generating ratios and KPI’s from your software will become increasingly important. We will see the software vendors build-in industry benchmarks from data that is collected. These benchmarks will be able to provide important insights into your performance by geographical location, industry and size.
- Bank Account Management – Payments and receipts will be linked between your bank account and software. This will remove double handling and uploading of time-consuming files to your payment system. Integration between the two systems will be seamless and efficient.
Cloud accounting changes will happen quickly. As accountants, bookkeepers and the underlying businesses demand more and competition between providers increases it will speed the process up even further. There has been obvious growth in technology for mobile phones, apps, payment platforms, instant messaging, data analytics and more but developments in accounting software still have some catching up to do.
Would you like assistance in your accounting processes? Get in contact with your local Accru Office…