Five Good Reasons Why Small Business Software Is Essential In UK Micro Businesses

Using an automated accounting system can deliver many benefits. You might think it costs a lot to automate your accounting records and of course there is usually an initial cost, but if you use the application well you can actually help to accelerate the growth of your business. How? Your company can make a good program work for you. You can make your business more efficient by cutting down on accounting time and spending those hours saved on going out to develop leads etc. Once you have updated your systems and have used that time saved to attract more customers you can then offer a faster service to those clients. For instance in some systems invoices can be generated super fast from within the system and even emailed out for speed, whilst cutting postage costs too. A fast and efficient service helps nurture customer loyalty which in turns helps improve the return on your investment.

Another benefit that is realised from using an automated accounting application is that mistakes are often less likely to happen. Calculations should be done instantly by the program. Any application should store the documents that it creates too. You should also be able to save reports. Errors in manually created invoices can cause a delay in delivering your goods or services. It can also annoy your customers. A good accounting system should minimise such errors. So inaccuracies should be scaled-down significantly thus enhancing your customers' experience. Furthermore this type of efficiency should result in good accounting records, which show a transparent audit trail that adds up.

Thirdly any accounting procedure is quite cumbersome when done manually. A small business would very likely be compelled to hire extra workers to carry out any such physical documentation process. However, when you automate the books, the number of employees required to work in the accounts department can be considerably reduced. Indeed it could be just you. Moreover, automation in accounting reduces paper documents, which take up a lot of storage space. Of course when you use less paper you are also supporting the environment. We are all striving to go green.

My fourth point is all about reporting. Seeing real time information about business performance is essential for small and large businesses alike. Using a computerised accounting system should definitely improve your hold on the underlying trends of the company. Are you making a profit? Do you have enough funds in the bank? You should also be able to see who owes monies to the business at a glance. Now you can simply track customers you owe money to as well as any late payers. This reduces the chance of some of your customers not paying for the services and goods that you have supplied to them.

My fifth point concerns how the use of an automated accounting system can enhance your compliance with any legal entities. Using bookkeeping software, provided you keep all your data up to date of course, you should be able to produce account statements, VAT returns and so forth instantly. Some packages go one step further and let you submit your VAT returns to HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) straight from the program. This can avert penalties for late payment.