Having the right accounting software for small business is vital for anyone wanting to run a successful organisation. A recent study carried out by the Harvard Business Review looked at a Fortune 500 consumer goods organisation and found that to execute a single supply chain transaction, a single employee would have to jump through different tabs and apps a whopping 3,600 times. Needless to say, this is a laborious and inefficient process.
However, with good accounting software in place, the hassle of flicking between endless tabs can be removed. This is because high quality accounting software inputs data automatically, stores it in one easily accessible place and continually updates it. It is thus able to automate and complete tasks that may take a single employee hours or even days; for example, the task of generating financial reports.
Why Choose Cloud Accounting Software for Small Businesses?
Cloud accounting software is a form of accounting software that allows businesses to have real-time access to their financial information online at any time, keeping all the information secure and up to date. With on-premise software, financial data is kept on local computers or servers, but cloud-based accounting software is more efficient in that it utilises remote servers that are accessed over the internet.
Cloud accounting software is the ideal solution for remote-based office users, who have greatly increased in number since the pandemic. This is because the data can be securely accessed from anyone anywhere, and in real time. Cloud accounting software also prioritises business security, with sensitive information being safely transported via encryption, meaning that even if data was to be accessed by the wrong person, it would be illegible. Effective security is imperative for businesses as their customers can be reassured that their personal financial data is safe. Other additional security measures are also in place, such as secure access, whereby employees have to go through a process of authentication before being able to access financial data. These encryption and secure access measures make cloud accounting software a more reliable tool; one that is not only easy to use but also more trustworthy than other forms of accounting software.
Another stand-out feature in cloud accounting software is its ability to be cost effective and scalable. Cloud accounting software is beneficial to any business that is eager to grow because it enables organisations to easily increase their accounting capabilities as the business expands. It often has modules and add-ons that can take care of business growth, being able to integrate with bank accounts, credit cards inventory and other accounting elements. It can also delete unnecessary features during down times, or when the business is in transition.
Cost effectiveness is also a huge benefit of cloud accounting because its automatic updates remove the need for paying for new licence fees, hardware, system maintenance and integration, thus freeing up a great deal of time and resource within the organisation.
Why is Iplicit So Effective?
Minerva are proud re-sellers of iplicit, a groundbreaking accounting software that has scooped a myriad of top-level industry awards in recent years. It is widely regarded as the UK’s best cloud accounting software for mid-market businesses and was named as one of the UK’s top 100 fastest growing companies by the Financial Times in 2024.
Iplicit has a short and seamless migration process of just 16-18 days, meaning that users do not have to spend weeks installing it and can continue to work on their old systems alongside the migration, without experiencing any downtime. Iplicit is the perfect solution for mid-market businesses; those who have outgrown their on-premise systems, yet do not have need for corporate level software. Iplicit brings enterprise-level functionality without the sky-high costs.
What also sets iplicit apart from other enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is its breadth and depth of functionality. It is both time and cost effective in that it can create and send branded quotes and invoices in an instant, generate purchase orders rapidly and manage credit risk effortlessly, thereby monitoring collection performance across all customers.
Another standout feature of iplicit is its revenue recognition system. Over the years, revenue recognition has been one of the most time-consuming tasks for any finance team. Hours and hours of staff having to manually collate information from various resources has traditionally been a highly laborious task, but iplicit’s sophisticated automation function now takes care of the whole job. Not only does this process make life much easier for employees, it also provides large amounts of reassurance to internal stakeholders, auditors and potential investors, because they know that deferred revenue is treated with care and transparency.
In conclusion, good accounting software should be flexible, cost and time efficient and secure. All these factors are combined in the best cloud accounting software products, with iplicit being one of the most highly-regarded examples.
Here at Minerva, we are experienced re-sellers of iplicit, and we have a highly skilled technical team in place to support you through your migration from start to finish. If you would like to discuss the options for migrating your current accounting systems to the Cloud, please feel free to book a call with our Commercial Director, Jon Parnell, here, and he will be happy to help.