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Why You Should Move Your Accounting Away From Excel


Published: 29th Mar 18

Categories: Planning, Success

Why You Should Move Your Accounting Away From Excel

Why You Should Move Your Accounting Away From Excel

Improve your business functionality with a move from Excel to cloud accounting software

You often find that small businesses such as those in the retail and hospitality industry often start out using Excel – but that can only help you so far before it starts to hold your business back. As your business evolves and grows, you need to switch to online accounting software instead. Below we discuss some of the top reasons why this switch from Excel to cloud accounting software is vital to grow your business.

The problems with Excel

It’s not that Excel is a terrible system, rather it just doesn’t fit the needs of a growing retail business and its accounting needs.

Using Excel can be complicated

To use Excel successfully, you actually need to train yourself or obtain training in the system. It’s like having to know a programming language. Many businesses misjudge their level of expertise and the programme fails to deliver

It’s time-consuming

To actually set up a good Excel spreadsheet that meets all of your financial needs requires a lot of time, planning and thought. It is a timely process to set up things like invoice tracking, or expense reports and you may find yourself in a position where you constantly need to change or add information to your spreadsheet.

You need a strategy in place before you start

When you use Excel, you need to know exactly how you are going to use the data before you begin. You need to know what you want to name your various reports and the cells you wish to print and ensure each report is correctly time stamped.

There’s no audit trail

The use of Excel spreadsheets means a higher risk of fraud due to the fact it’s easy to alter information and difficult to track who it is making those changes.

It doesn’t integrate with other business applications

Many small businesses who use Excel often run into performance issues when they work with large amounts of data, include scripts or combine lots of worksheets. This is particularly true for retailers who deal with lots of information on a daily basis. The system basically overloads. You don’t have an option to alleviate this stress either because it doesn’t integrate with other small business applications that can help you run your business more efficiently. For example, if you use accounting software for your small business, it can integrate with apps that do time sheeting and inventory management.

What makes accounting software better than Excel?

Below we discuss seven main advantages cloud accounting software has over the use of Excel.

1. Feel confident with the system

Accounting software is a lot easier to use than Excel. With an easy-to-use dashboard in place, you’ll feel confident from the start. Armed with a clear financial view from the beginning, you won’t need to worry about making uninformed business decisions.

2. Your data is accurate

Your business’s real-time financial data is kept in one central place, in the cloud, online. Everything is ‘automatic’ in that bank statement information is directly sent into your software. This reduces the sheer amount of data being entered and the risk of human error.

3. Out-of-box reports

You won’t need to wait until the end of the month for your reports, you can obtain most of the reports you will ever need, with a few clicks. Budgets and reports in real-time are easy to share and view, making various tasks much easier, including the burden of the VAT return. You can complete the return in minutes instead of days!

4. Up-to-date information

Small businesses evolve each day, so you can be ready with all the necessary data any of your investors might require at any time. Your business can be equipped to manage its finances more accurately and efficiently.

5. You will have a clear and clean audit trail

If your investors (or potential investors) need any information about your business, it’s available at their fingertips. By having a proper audit trail in place, you can ensure that your data will not be compromised. It also records every business transaction, including payments to employees, sale contracts, and business expenses.

6. It syncs with other business applications

When you use accountancy software that is cloud-based, you can take advantage of the multitude of apps that sync with your business’s financial data. Invoicing and inventory management can take the hassle and time out of small business accounting, leaving you to focus on more important things, such as the growth of your business.

7. 24/7 Access to data

You can access your data wherever you need it, whenever you need and by whoever you wish. Cloud software allows you to share your financial information with your accountant, employees, and financial adviser.

The benefits of moving from Excel to cloud accounting software are clear for your business. It’s perfect for small retail businesses who have lots of financial information to deal with on a daily basis. If you’d like to know more or need a helping hand, get in touch!


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