28 November 2017

Cloud accounting: Integrating apps to streamline your business

Cloud accounting has transformed the way businesses manage their finances and streamline operations.

Convenient, efficient and easy to integrate into your existing business model, software as a service (SaaS) solutions are becoming the norm for SMEs and larger companies.

Cloud accounting capabilities have developed rapidly. Today there is a plethora of downloadable apps available that cater to your specific accounting and operational needs. The Xero marketplace offers over 600 apps that will save you time and money, making accounting and other day-to-day business processes, such as payroll, bookkeeping and stock or inventory management more efficient.

So, what kind of apps are available, and what are the benefits?

Streamline your bookkeeping

Many cloud accounting apps are designed to streamline your bookkeeping.

Apps such as Receipt Bank and WorkflowMax allow you to manage your receipts, invoices and jobs quickly and securely.

Clients can submit invoices to a custom email address instead of contacting you directly, freeing up precious space in your inbox. These apps do all the hard work for you, so there’s no need for manual data entry. They let you view your workflow in one place, making bookkeeping far more intuitive and, crucially, far quicker, leaving you with more time to focus on different areas of your business.

Get paid more easily

Other apps make the process of paying much easier for your clients, your suppliers and yourself.

An app called GoCardless, for example, allows you to reconcile invoices automatically with Xero, significantly reducing your admin burden. What’s more, you can add a “pay now” button to your invoices, which simplifies the payment process for the client.

Huge players such as PayPal and WorldPay also offer payment apps that are compatible with Xero, and both allow businesses to accept payments in a variety of international currencies – a big plus for companies operating on a global scale.

Payroll processing made simple

Every employer knows how difficult it can be to keep on top of Payroll, especially if they rely on a large number of temporary staff. Thankfully, however, help is at hand.

Payroll and HR functions are being transformed by apps with Xero compatibility. Deputy, for instance, not only lets you track your employees’ shifts but will also calculate overtime, allowances and so on, automatically.

You can manage your payroll at the click of a mouse, which as anyone with any experience in this area will testify, represents a gigantic, time-saving leap forward.

Dealing with debtors

For those who have trouble tracking debtors, well…there’s an app for that, too. Or more accurately, apps.

Chaser, which was Xero add-on Partner of the Year in 2016, manages the frustrating process of chasing overdue invoices automatically, so you don’t have to. The app sends polite reminders to your debtors in the event of late payment.

Other apps, such as Debtor Daddy, can chase an infinite number of invoices simultaneously and will even send text messages to debtors to remind them that their payment is due.

Managing mileage

Last but by no means least, there are apps on the market which will track your business mileage.

Tripcatcher, for example, sends your data directly to Xero and calculates how much VAT you can claim back. This particular app is inexpensive and only requires a GPS or the postcodes of your destinations in order to function.

Apps for everything

This is just the tip of the iceberg. A wealth of apps designed to cater to a wide variety of business and accounting needs – CRM, eCommerce and Conversions, for example – are available to complement your business operations.

The world of Cloud Accounting is expanding at lighting pace and it is changing the way business is conducted in the 21^st Century.

Connect with RWB

As a Xero Platinum Partner, we can offer cloud-based accounting packages to a wide range of firms. Through our sister company Online Accounting we also provide consultancy on moving to the cloud with Xero and its range of apps which can be easily integrated to your business to streamline day to day operations.

The views provided in this article are for general information purposes only. Nothing in this article represents advice of any nature whatsoever. Accordingly, RWB CA Limited does not accept any liability or responsibility for the information contained in this article or any decision or other action that may be taken in reliance upon the information contained within it. RWB CA Limited accepts no responsibility for any errors of fact or opinion and assumes no obligation to provide you with any changes to its assumptions.