subject: Online Accounting For Small Businesses [print this page] Even a few years back small business owners used to outsource their accounting works to a local bookkeeper or buy a bookkeeping program to them job themselves. But none of these options are good. If you outsource the work you need to pay a good deal of money and handling the bookkeeping program without knowledge and expertise will lead to errors.
If you buy an accounting program you need training to handle that. Besides you would need to hire an outside consultant who would come and set up the software for you. He would also configure a chart of accounts. The software would need regular updates.
Outsourcing the work has another problem. If you send everything out to the bookkeepers place you can not get hold of the records when you suddenly need them. The accounts details would be inaccessible to your business on short notice. You will have to call the bookkeeper and ask him to come down with the records. In case if he is unavailable it would be a great problem for you.
However these days you can avoid these hassles and simply your business accounts with online accounting. It is ideal for small business owners who wish to save time and money on their accounting jobs. A hosted accounting is the ideal solution for you. The software lives on the service providers server and not on your computer. You can have access to your account over the Internet.
Online accounting has got several benefits such as:
Remote Data Storage: Your business data is stored offsite. That means if your business experiences any physical loss due to fire, earthquake, flood etc your valuable data would be safe. The accounting records of your business would be secure in the service providers server.
Access from Multiple Location: If you have Internet connection you can have access to your accounting data from anywhere in the world. You dont need to call anyone. You can get hold of the data from any location. Remote access is the perfect solution for businesses with multiple locations.
Regular Backups: You dont need to take care of the back up jobs. Your host will do the job of backing up your data. It will be devastating for the hosts business if the clients valuable data is lost. So they will maintain your data very sincerely.
Paperless Invoicing: You can create invoices in the accounting system directly and mail the invoices. The client can create the invoice on the spot after closing a sale. The client can then make the deposit by credit card. So the paper work is automatically reduced.
Collaboration with Partners: With online accounting it becomes easier to collaborate with your partners. Since your business accounting data can be accessed from anywhere your partner can check the data as per requirement and collaborate with you much easily.
Reasonable Cost: Online accounting is the best solution for small business accounting because it is very inexpensive. You need to offer a minimal amount to your service provider. The low monthly fee is ideal for small businesses.
