T for Technology – Accounting Made Easy

For too long, has the mundane business of running a business been in the way of running a business – doesn’t make sense but neither does accounting. Some tasks can be downright soul draining. Other than counting profits, accounting is that task. Sarcasm applied: Balancing books, running journals and keeping ledgers sounds terribly exciting and is followed closely by the statement: “I would rather pay someone to do this… professionally!” Not all months have cash flows for paying a professional. There might be no escape from Accounting Alcatraz.

Then one must go DIY. Traditionally an accounting software package was installed on a dedicated computer or server and depending on user numbers; additional licenses had to be purchased. Next the struggle of setting up document layouts, sets of accounts, printers and networks to make it all work in states ranging from “…it keeps freezing…” to “… it kicked me out again…” – After all the effort and money spent… you could have paid the professionals! There is hope, always in technology.

The recent advent of cloud computing managed to storm in several excellent accounting packages that are accessible as cloud services. What does this mean for small and medium sized fledgling enterprises?

Pay as you go, intuitive systems that are available where you are and when you need it most. No more setting up accounting servers or doing accounts manually. Most of these options are subscription based and require registration on a website. A free trial is then available for a month to test the services before “committing” to the hefty month-to-month contract for a minimal monthly or yearly fee.

South Africans seem to have narrowed it down to two major players due to the presence they had when we only had option A or B. Pastel and QuickBooks have long been frontrunners locally. Both companies, Intuit for QuickBooks and Sage for Pastel have transferred their applications to a web-based cloud hosted system. Keeping it familiar but also completely different, again this doesn’t make sense – but it is still accounting.

Xero Accounting is relatively new to the market in South Africa but is a serious contender for balancing books and more. All options mentioned offer similar experience and features. So how do you choose? It could come down to something as simple as colour scheme for some users.

Features included in all options are Invoicing, Quotations, Stock Management, Supplier Management, Tax Management, Banking and Statement Creation. These features are standard with just about any accounting package out there. Where the online versions become useful is with the additional features.

Connect your Bank account Sage Business Cloud accounting from Pastel lets you add your bank account to import automatically every time you log in. This creates transactions that you can allocate to invoices or purchase orders directly, reconciling your account in a few clicks. Xero and QuickBooks use imported bank accounts.

Collaborate All options have the function to connect your tax practitioner and other role players to the accounting system, for an additional fee. Permissions assigned to users allows them to engage in selected functions, like invoicing or quotations only. Because of the cloud based so􀁛- ware; role players can connect from anywhere to do their part.

Applications There are apps for everything today, why not accounting packages. Connected to your subscription, an app can be used to check stock, quote and invoice on the road. Your serviced clients might pay or place orders before you are out of the door.

Reporting Get the inside information by looking at your reports instantly, beautifully displayed custom reports at an instant. This gives the opportunity to plan for any opportunity the business world will throw at you. Stock outages? Ordered extra. Most profitable products? Sold them. Worst paying customers… still have them. This brings us to the next point.

Instant Payments Sage Pay is an additional module for the Sage Business Cloud product. It will setup a payment gateway to your bank account. Much like an online order, your client can pay instantly online by clicking on the link in the accompanying email. Xero offers the same functionality. There are so many features in all three packages to explore, without a doubt the Sage Business Cloud product is more intended for South African companies and has been tailored around small businesses wanting to grow.

Pricing ranges from R115-R473 per month, QuickBooks being the cheapest at R115 per month for the start package and R473 for up to 25 users. Luckily there is the free trial period. It would be worthwhile registering on all of them for a quick test before hanging up your accountant hat, for good.