Cloud Accounting — When and How to Make the Move

If there’s anything these last few weeks have shown, it’s that businesses need to be adaptable. With a new normal where organizations are allowing employees to work from home, running a business remotely is shining a light on operational vulnerabilities and making it even more critical to address them promptly.

If your business wasn’t prepared to have a remote workforce, now is the time to change that, including adopting a cloud-based accounting system.

While you may have been hesitant to make the move to cloud accounting previously, the COVID-19 outbreak has made implementing a cloud accounting solution a necessity. With more people working from home, a business cannot function as usual without the ability to access software and tools outside of the office. Moving to cloud accounting not only keeps your business running, but it also helps you keep staff home, protecting them from risk of infection.

• Reduce business disruption: While the COVID-19 emergency is unprecedented, there are other situations where you may be unable to access your office, such as a natural disaster or even a power outage. Having access to your accounting systems helps you to minimize business disruptions and continue working from anywhere.
• Make timely decisions: Businesses require prompt decision making to continue operating effectively in a crisis.  Even when offices are closed, businesses may want to apply for government relief programs, purchase a new piece of equipment, or change their investing strategy. Cloud-based accounting enables you to work quickly and seamlessly, using up-to-date data to make the best decisions.
• Streamline processes: Cloud accounting is much more than a new bookkeeping system. It provides integrations, such as with your bank, that will make your processes more efficient. With fewer repetitive steps and opportunities for clerical errors, implementing a cloud accounting system increases accuracy for tasks such as bill pay and credit card processing thanks to integration with online systems like bill.com.

Moving to a cloud accounting solution provides simple efficiencies to improve productivity, but it’s not without adjustment. While we recommend connecting directly with the Aldrich Client Accounting Services Team to help you select and implement a cloud accounting software that works for you, we’ve compiled some steps you can take to help ease the transition:

While there are many cloud-based accounting solutions out there, it’s crucial to find the right fit for your business. When deciding on a provider, consider:

• Available features for processing invoices and quotes, managing inventory, sending purchase orders, and any other processes you might want to include
• Additional integrations to manage things like payroll, invoicing, CRM, or time tracking
• Customer support reviews and availability
• Ability to scale with your business
• Cost

Our team works with Xero and QuickBooks Online to provide our cloud accounting and bookkeeping services. If you’re not sure where to start or want someone else to take it off your hands, give us a call and we’ll do the heavy lifting to get you set up with a solution tailor-made for your company.

As with anything new in business, there will be a period of learning and adjusting that we’ll walk you through step-by-step. It may take time to import your company records into your new cloud-based system. Once you’re up and running, invite users to access the system and set their security levels. Consider adding two-factor authentication for tighter security.

Give yourself time to adjust. Run new reports, invite your advisor to review, and look for opportunities not just to re-create your old processes, but design new ones. If you’re not sure where to start, we’ll guide you through best-practices to ease the transition.

The implementation process for any new software typically uncovers inefficient workflows and strategies. A cloud-based accounting system may reveal a need for a new process altogether. Revamping your accounting processes might not happen overnight, but starting to incorporate ways to work more efficiently can help optimize productivity.

For example, rather than reconciling paper bank statements, your accounting software connects to your banking system and the reconciliation process happens directly in the software.

Have your accounting staff start updating their workflows to make the most of the benefits that come with cloud accounting. These new, streamlined processes will benefit your company well beyond this crisis.

If you’re ready to get started, you don’t need to navigate alone. We partner with our clients to help them get set up: we train their employees, convert their data to an online system, and set up remote systems for your business.

Contact the Aldrich Client Accounting Services Team and we can review your current situation and make recommendations tailored to your specific business needs.

For more resources to help you navigate the developing impact of coronavirus on your business, visit our COVID-19 Resource Center.