There is an app for everything! A well-used cliché but also a truth, and never more when it comes to accounting software. There are providers a-plenty: Xero, Sage, QuickBooks, Freeagent and ClearBooks. Even banks are getting on board, providing dedicated tools to analyse bank transactions for business purposes. In fact, HMRC’s Making Tax Digital compliance software list has over 400 software apps available from a large number of suppliers. Primarily accounting software keeps track of business finances. But good apps are capable of much more. You can save a significant amount of time recording transactions and get a wealth of information that can help run the business.

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• Time Savings: Accounting software is now at a stage where it can record and analyse financial transactions for you.
• Bank Feeds: Accounting software can link with bank accounts to import transaction from statements into the app.
• Bank Matching: Accounting software can automatically match bank transactions to sales and purchase invoices in the system.
• Bank Rules: Processing rules can be set up within accounting software to automatically post a bank transaction based on selected criteria (description, amount, date, etc)

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Invoice Processing

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Sales invoices and purchase invoices can be emailed or photographed into accounting software, which then extracts the information for checking and agreeing. For simple invoice software can also automatically post the invoice without input from the user. If set up correctly, accounting software can take care of most transactions so that the user only has to deal with more unusual or complex transactions. Apps are also designed to learn how to process transactions more accurately. The more the app is used, the less the user has to input manually.

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Information

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Accounting software provides numerous reports to assist in managing a business. Complete customer and supplier details can be stored and then accessed easily and quickly. Amounts owed by customers are always up to date so debts can be monitored and managed. The software can be set up to automatically chase what’s owed by customers. Amounts owed to suppliers is kept up to date and email remittance advices can automatically be sent when payment is made. A running balance of a business’ VAT liability is visible so there’s no need to wait until the VAT return is prepared to find out what’s due. Financial updates including profit and loss, balance sheet and a cashflow reports can be run to check on how the business is performing.

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Accounting Software – Selection and use
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To maximise time saving and get accurate information, selecting and correctly using the appropriate accounting software is paramount.

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To achieve this, we recommend businesses talk to an appropriately qualified accountant. At CFW Accountants we use Xero in conjunction with Dext. Xero is accounting software that keeps track of businesses finances, files VAT returns, provides reports. Dext is processing software that takes sales and purchases invoices and processes them automatically for entry into accounting software.
We provide set up, training, support and operation of both Xero and Dext to many of our clients and businesses who require help. Our goal is to ensure accounting software demands a minimum amount of time and is as accurate as possible. Where businesses prefer to outsource their bookkeeping, VAT and management accounts requires, we ensure this is done so with the least amount of fuss.

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To discuss getting the most out of your accounting software, or transferring to a more suitable app for your business needs, please contact us on enquiries@cfwaccountants.co.uk or 01536 713555.