5 bookkeeping processes you should automate
Today’s technology offers us amazing and time-saving solutions. As a business owner wearing lots of hats on a daily basis, it’s a good idea to stop for a moment and think how you can implement these solutions to your own benefit. So, check your calendar, book a slot so no-one will be disturbing you, read our list of 5 bookkeeping processes you should automate and implement them.
Bank reconciliations
Our accounting and bookkeeping practice is a fan of Xero accounting software, but other software providers offer this solution too – live bank feeds. A live bank feed is a connection between your bank and your accounting software. This connection pulls all the transactions from your bank and shows them in the accounting software, so you don’t have to log into your bank and manually reconcile your transactions in your books. It’s a great time-saving solution and when paired with various bank rules, it can cut down on your admin hours significantly. Make sure though, that you periodically check your bank balance in accounting software against your actual bank.
Bank rules, which you can easily create in Xero if you use it, speed up bank reconciliation processes because you don’t have to manually categorise your transactions each time. They work great with recurring transactions. For example, if you pay for Google Workplace subscription or Shopify or Zoom etc, you can set up a bank rule and all you then have to do when doing a bank reconciliation, is to click one button to confirm a match. Bank rules not only save you lots of time, but they also ensure consistency in your records which is very important for your reporting and decision-making.
If you use Xero and aren’t sure how to set up a live bank feed or bank rules, our bookkeepers from Wantage and Oxford can help you.
Invoice processing
Processing supplier invoices can be time consuming. Typing all the information yourself manually is also not guaranteed to be free from errors. Invoice processing is definitely one of those bookkeeping processes you should automate. And here’s an amazing solution you can implement to do this – automated data entry software. There are quite a few on the market including AutoEntry, Dext, Hubdoc or Apron. You send all the invoices to the software of your choice and the magic happens. The software can read the information on the documents and fill out some of that for you. And if you set up rules for regular suppliers/expenses, you have a very powerful automation. Our bookkeepers use this solution with our clients as it reduces admin time, introduces consistency and minimises mistakes. If you’d like to implement this solution for your Wantage business, talk to our bookkeeper.
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Invoice creation
Do you have regular customers? Do you offer them subscriptions, regular payment plans, bill them at equal intervals? Invoice creation is definitely a bookkeeping process you should automate. In order to do that, you need accounting software, for example, Xero. You can then create recurring sales invoices, set them up to be not only created but also emailed directly to your clients. Without you lifting a finger. Apart form only once when you need to set up the automation.
Debt management
If you are already utilising the invoice creation automation mentioned above, we need to mention this bookkeeping process you should automate and pair it with – debt management. If you are using accounting software for sending invoices to your clients, you have a really powerful tool which can serve as an audit log for you. You can see when the invoice was sent and even when it was opened by your client. To help you monitor and improve your cash flow, you can additionally set up reminders to go out to your clients and remind them about the payments. We provide bookkeeping services to other business and we can see form your practical experience, that lots of overdue invoices are simply due to clients not remembering to pay. These reminders work great in these cases because they help you collect the payments without your active involvement. You can then focus on other areas of your business or more problematic clients.
Expense management
If you have a team which needs access to money to make business purchases, our last but not least bookkeeping process should be on your radar to automate. Managing employee expenses can be a nightmare. Are you using a spreadsheet to do this? It’s probably painful, isn’t it? And how many times did you find mistakes, mistyped numbers, wrong totals, missing receipts and so on? A great solution is to introduce pre-paid cards for your team. You can easily control who has access to what amount of money, what the money is being spent on in real time and you can usually integrate them with accounting software. There are a few pre-paid cards for managing employee expenses available, so you can choose the most suitable for your needs.
Why not get in touch with our professional Wantage accountant today to see how we can help you and your business achieve its potential.
Your Accountant in Oxford
Oxford Office
Joanna Bookkeeping
The Wheelhouse Angel Court
First Floor, Angel Court
81 St Clements St
Oxford
OX4 1AW
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joanna@joannabookkeeping.co.uk
01865 591952
