Accounting Frontier Blog

Bookkeeping automation facilitates a structure in which financial management, controls, and oversight are centralized, but the data entry is decentralized.  In our wagon wheel example, the applications on the edge of the wagon wheel serve as entry points for your data.  Users are granted access to each application based on their needs in that function and they submit data (i.e. expense reports, purchase orders, or timesheets) which then funnel to approval checkpoints and into accounting software (such as Xero or QuickBooks Online). 

By pushing data entry down to the person who initiated the accounting transaction, you accomplish a few important things. 

Most people are familiar with the online bill pay feature included with their bank, but did you know there are bill payment platforms specially designed for small businesses?  These systems not only print and mail checks for you, but they can do direct electronic payments with your vendors as well. The banking profile of the vendor can be managed by the vendor without you ever being involved with it. Wires, domestic and international, can all be handled within this system. And perhaps the best feature is the interaction with the bill payment system and your accounting system. Bills automatically sync between both systems for a seamless experience. This drastically reduces the amount of time for data entry. In this article, we’re going to discuss why you should consider moving away from hand-written checks and move toward a bill payment platform.

When should you consider outsourcing your bookkeeping? What are the benefits of outsourcing? In today’s post, we’re going to share some bookkeeping warning signs and then discuss the benefits of outsourcing your bookkeeping.

Most businesses rely on credit cards to make daily purchases in their company. From inventory to supplies, materials and advertising, almost every purchase makes it on the company credit card. It’s a convenience most people rely on, but it has its challenges as an organization grows. It can be tedious to keep up with all the transactions, but this is vital for the owner to have accurate and up-to-date financial reports.

The other challenge is oversight with the team. There are four areas that should be considered for your credit card policy.

Time tracking is an integral part of many businesses but it’s often a tedious and disliked part.  Despite this, time tracking is highly important on both the revenue side and the expense side. 

In its simplest terms, a budget is a realistic estimate of future revenues and expenses. This is an important exercise for a business to do at least annually just prior to the new year. Budgets should include your normal operating revenues and expenses, but also factor in capital improvements, staff additions, infrastructure investments (like software or equipment), and other long-term purchases. A great budget allows the team to plan future expenditures that align with the mission and vision of the organization.

Now that you have a company credit card, it’s time to implement a system to oversee it. The two big players in the industry are Abacus and Expensify, and both would meet the needs of most businesses. These accounting applications are designed to solve three problems: (1) data entry and efficiency, (2) recordkeeping, and (3) oversight.

So you’ve made the decision to move from a desktop accounting application to the cloud. The next question is, which vendor will you choose? There are many worthy choices out there that will serve most businesses. However, we’re looking for the most optimized solution and there are certain factors that need to be considered. QuickBooks Online is the most widely used and recognized player in the industry.

Our firm reviewed QuickBooks Online and Xero, another major player in the could accounting space.  After reviewing both QuickBooks Online and Xero, we settled on Xero for these four reasons.

Bookkeeping is the daily recording of financial transactions so you can tell how much income your business made, how much you spent, and how much was left over.  The purpose of bookkeeping is to give you an accurate set of books, so you know how your business is performing.  Bookkeeping is one of the things that often gives business owners a lot of heartburn and many view bookkeeping as a necessary evil.  You likely started the business because of a passion you have, because you wanted the financial freedom that comes with owning your own business, or maybe it was a combination of both factors.  Bookkeeping became a necessary function of your business as you grew but one you would probably choose to skip if you could.  It doesn't have to be difficult though and you can learn to love how your accounting helps you monitor your business' performance.  There are so many resources and tools that are available to businesses these days and it is easy to set up a business' books in an accounting software like Xero or QuickBooks.  In addition to that, there are countless tools available for every industry to help streamline accounting processes, reduce the time involved in bookkeeping, and save your business money. 

Before technology and credit cards ruled our lives, cash was king. It was simple to not spend more than you had because if it wasn't in your wallet, you couldn’t spend it. The “envelope system” became a great way for those struggling to get out of debt to plan their monthly expenses and climb out of the financial hole. After receiving a paycheck, you would cash the check and then place money into each of your envelopes representing a segment of your expenses. Examples of envelopes for an individual may include: mortgage, utilities, savings, insurance, and general purchases. The result is that you take control of your money and plan out your finances instead of being a slave to debt. The same can be done in a business!