As they say, time is money. If your employees are still manually working on time-consuming processes that could easily be automated, you are not performing at the top of your game. And since all financial processes are virtually the same, no matter the size or niche of the company, it may be about time to look to technology to free up some of your employees’ valuable time. But that’s not all – some other benefits of automation include fewer errors and delays, greater consistency, and less chance of fraud.
The website FitForMoney.de reports that a recent survey of over 500 top executives from Germany, Canada, India, Japan, Singapore, France, the UK and the US, has revealed that 73 percent of them are very satisfied with automation and 88 percent have said that they believe it will speed up “human achievement.”
Here are the four main financial processes that are not only tedious but can be revolutionized through automation.
Bookkeeping
Traditionally one of the most consuming tasks for any company, bookkeeping involves keeping tabs on the company’s revenue and expenditures. Today, many smaller companies use Excel to regularly record and tally this data on a regular basis. Bigger businesses, on the other hand, usually invest in specialized accounting software, such as QuickBooks or Zoho Books, to simplify the tasks associated with bookkeeping.
Invoicing and Accounts Receivable
Since revenue is one of the most important aspects of running a business, it is imperative that you have a stellar invoicing system. Since human beings are not as meticulous at making calculations as machines, traditionally the process of issuing and tracking invoices was prone to errors and delays. Luckily, today’s invoicing software can help a company generate and reconcile invoices with sales and delivery records. It can also catch non-payments from clients and remind you to send out payment reminders.
Accounts Payable
Making timely payments for products or services rendered is essential to a company’s reputation. After all, no supplier wants to deal with a business that does not seem to care about paying its bills. In the past payments involved manually checking invoice information, sending each invoice for approval, and processing and recording the payment. Automating the area of accounts payable can help to standardize this process by scanning invoices, capturing information and ensuring prompt payments.
Tax Compliance
Tax reporting is usually a time-consuming and complex process – in fact, so much so that most companies have been engaging the services of professionals to calculate their tax obligations. Accounting software can be used to work out how each of the company’s transactions should be taxed – this is particularly helpful for transactions that take place in different international jurisdictions. There are also online platforms like Bolt that can help you work out your company’s business obligations.