Accounting Software for Small Businesses

One of the administrative tasks that lots of small businesses struggle with is accounting.  It can be complicated and tedious, you probably never studied it in school, and it isn’t all that interesting, either.  But accounting is super important for any business because you need it in order to be able to do your taxes and prepare financial statements to tell yourself and your lenders how well your business is doing.

Lots of businesses eventually turn to accounting software to help them get the accounting right.  Theoretically, an accounting software package can lead you through all of the steps for any given accounting period.

But there are lots of different accounting software packages available on the market, and they all come with different features and benefits.  It’s important to think through not only what features and benefits you’ll want, but also whether you’ll need to integrate your accounting software with any other software packages in order to get full value out of it.

Key Features

Any accounting software package needs to be able to handle the basics.  It has to have a general ledger so that you can record the debits and credits for all of your transactions.  It has to have a chart of accounts so that your accountant can understand all of the accounts that you use in your business.  And it has to have a way of closing your revenue and expense accounts so that you can get accurate financial statements as of the end of every accounting period.

But there are some other common practical features that you’ll want to look for, too.  For example, you’ll want your accounting software to make it easy for you to track your expenses so that nothing falls through the cracks.  You’ll also want it to help you reconcile the accounts that correspond to your bank accounts with the actual amounts shown on your bank statement or in your banking app.  And you’ll want it to be possible for your accountant to log into your account so that your accountant can make any adjusting entries for more complicated accounting issues.

Key Integrations

But accounting systems don’t exist in a vacuum.  They provide you with more value when you put more information into them, and if you have separate pieces of software for different functions in your business, then you have to get information out of one system and get it into your accounting system, and it usually requires integrating different software applications to pull that off.

For example, if you have a separate software application for billing and accounts receivable, then you need to know which customers have gotten invoices from you, for how much, and whether they’ve paid them yet.  That information is directly relevant to how much money your accounting software will show sitting in your accounts receivable as opposed to your cash accounts.  And if your accounting software doesn’t have access to up-to-date information, then your financial statements won’t be correct.

Another software application that you might want to integrate with your accounting software is your customer relationship management software.  A CRM can be a great way to keep track of your clients’ contact information and details about your marketing interactions with them.  But wouldn’t you also like to know whenever you look up a customer’s information in your CRM whether they’re late on any invoices and how much they currently owe you?  In order to get financial information about a customer, your accounting system needs to talk to your CRM and share that information.

Try Haven!

Don’t feel like you’re tech-savvy enough to pull off even those few integrations?  Then try Haven!  Haven unites small business teams with a single, easy-to-use platform that includes all of your core business functions in one user-friendly interface.

With Haven, you actually don’t even need to go through the hassle of integrating different software applications because Haven is designed to have everything you need in one place.  Your accounting system will always know what’s going on your accounts payable and will match everything to customer records in your CRM because they’re already a part of Haven, and you can spend less time managing your business and more time actually earning revenue.

Reach out to us today and schedule a demo!

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