“Accounting is a fundamental part of running a successful business, and accounting software for MSMEs — micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Accounting software is one that cultivates under the same roof all systems and applications dedicated to managing and processing financial data. If consolidated well, it can be an essential part of your system and substantially improve all things finances inside your company from bookkeeping to tax accounting.” – Entrepreneur
Accounting is central to any business, no matter the size, but it can become overwhelming if dealt with manually – or not attended to every day. Even minor errors, which are not picked up early enough, can lead to significant penalties and unnecessary costs to your business at a later stage when it comes to auditing. Fortunately, modern enterprise accounting software, which can be integrated into businesses from small-scale to large corporates, provides the ideal solution to all accounting needs. It’s just a matter of choosing the best accounting software with the right features for your accounting needs.
What is enterprise accounting software?
If you’re fairly new to the concept, this software monitors all your financial transactions and accounting-related data. Depending on your business type and needs, the software can attend to basic billing and payroll through to more complex accounting requirements. You can also opt to customise the software further to cater to your company’s unique needs.
What are the key features of accounting software?
The great thing about enterprise accounting software is the range of features you can choose from. The best step is to perform an overview of your accounting needs and then match them to the relevant software features on offer. Here’s a look at some of the most essential ones you’ll come across.
1. Reporting
When it comes to business finance, you need to be able to maintain a budget, predict your cash flow and forecast your revenue through a profit-and-loss balance sheet. Reporting is just the accounting software feature to facilitate this visualisation of your business’s financial health. With a strong reporting feature, you’re able to have a quick overview of your financials which can also be shared with stakeholders to ensure you’re operating a healthy business. Some of the reporting options in terms of accounting software include:
- Graph summaries: This is where the software translates long lists of data into easily navigable visual images such as pie and bar charts. If the software has colour-coding capabilities, you can also benefit from comparisons with previous years’ graphs.
- Cost predictions: If your accounting software’s reporting feature includes budgeting and estimation, among other functions, you can identify trends and make statistical analyses and business forecasts. This makes planning fact-based rather than guesswork.
- Subsidiary reporting: Where you have multiple branches or different companies, you might want to consider the subsidiary reporting option. This allows for the amalgamation of certain financial aspects so that you have a great overview of your entire portfolio.
- Standard reports: A standard report is your best bet if you are running a small-scale operation with quite straightforward accounting requirements. It will include the accounting basics such as statements, balance sheets, accounts receivable and payable, cash flow statements and a payroll summary.
- Customisable reports: However, where your accounting needs get a bit more complex, you might want to consider enterprise accounting software that offers you the customisable reporting function to do things like resizing or removing columns.
2. Forecasting
This is a very useful accounting feature that doesn’t simply record your financial data; it empowers you with the ability to make informed business decisions using this data. With the forecasting feature, you can identify trends and patterns in your business – both good and bad – that are impacting your business and implement ways to improve on this.
3. Payroll
This is another important accounting software feature that allows you to calculate, process and distribute payments to all your employees. This is valuable as it ensures you never miss a payday, and it’s no problem if your employee numbers grow over time. The system will also generate payslips, calculate bonuses and adjust according to unpaid leave or after time.
4. Invoicing
Just as the accounting software will need to deal with your outgoing payments, it will also need to keep on top of your incoming finances by issuing invoices accurately and timeously. Great accounting software will automate all transactions, sending out invoices and invoice reminders to clients when needed. You can even customise the invoice templates to better reflect your brand.
5. Inventory
This is an important software feature for manufacturers and other large-scale operations dealing in supply chains. It will provide you with real-time inventory information across your organisation, all from a single platform. Automating inventory management will streamline operations, reduce errors, save time and increase revenue.
6. Security
Finally, you will want enterprise accounting software with sophisticated security features that ensure you’re not at risk of any cybercriminals. Your and your customer’s financial information is highly sensitive and should be treated as such, so you need to check the security features.
What are the benefits of accounting software?
Now that you have a firm idea of the essential features of enterprise accounting software, then you need to consider the many benefits of this system. Here’s a look at how accounting software will drastically improve your business prospects.
- Control your finances: To run an effective business, you need to keep on top of your finances to ensure you’re not spending more than you make! With accounting software, you’ll be able to accurately monitor exactly what’s happening in terms of income and expenditure with one quick overview.
- Collaborate with your accountant: When you input data into enterprise accounting software, your accountant can access this and attend to it as needed. This ensures you always remain compliant with tax requirements and that nothing is missed.
If you’re considering integrating enterprise accounting software, then get in touch with Omni Accounts. The Omni Enterprise Bundle is ideal for businesses that require sophisticated accounting and ERP solutions with great analysis and control tools. Find out more about this accounting software solution today.
