With the wave of innovation rushing through the years, the finance and accounting (F&A) industry witnessed the evolution towards a more streamlined and cost-effective process for businesses. However, even with these drastic changes onboard, one thing has remained constant: our continual consumption of paper in our transactions.

We organize and store our most important documents in the form of paper. Paper documents have been around since the inception of accounting. But this doesn’t mean that it is the best way to deal with data. Complete dependency on paper exposes businesses and firms to various complications related to employee productivity and document storage cost.

The desire for a paperless accounting has been around for quite some time. However, not many businesses have been able to achieve it. Why? Because such changes take time to implement, and humans resist change. Going completely digital means that new protocols will need to be in place, people will have to adapt to a new way of doing things, and will have to learn a new way.

Fortunately, there’s a simple way out – adopting the cloud.

Cloud-based computing is the use of on-demand computing services like data storage, processing, databases, networking, etc. over the internet and on a pay-as-you-use basis.

Companies can lease access to the internet-based services they need rather than investing heavily in creating their IT infrastructure. This way, accountants and businesses can ditch the massive upfront costs and keep the cash-in-hand to use it for other purposes. It creates a digital environment that can be accessed from anywhere using any device.

Cloud computing covers multiple accounting services, such as keeping records of necessary accounting data, hosting accounting software on the cloud, and executing daily accounting tasks.

The average time an employee spends on retrieving data from documents is 18 minutes. By shifting and using cloud-based accounting software, it will only take a few seconds for an employee to search for a file. Uploading your files to an online platform gives you a more organized library of your books, all arranged with date, document type, and all kinds of property information data.

Big file folders, file cabinets, and lugging a bunch of papers around is burdensome, time-consuming, and takes up physical space. By going paperless there is no need to print out documents, and you are not needing to chase down documents that you are missing because they are all organized and store in one place that you can do simple search for and group together. With a significant amount of time you save from doing these tasks, you can focus more on doing valuable work for your company.

As a business owner you have a lot on your plate, that is why it is important to have procedures in place that save time and maximize efficiency. Having remote access to your financials makes monitoring easier. With a stable internet connection and a computer/tablet/phone, you can have real-time updates of your books and transactions and track the movements of both your receivables and payables.

Instead of sorting through mountains of paperwork to find lost invoices and contracts, you can retrieving data from an online platform that is more convenient and secure. In addition, you can make changes to your books anytime, anywhere without any manual intervention. Sending out invoices and billing can also reach people right away, without any hassle.

Here are a few examples of cloud-based accounting software that can be customized to fit your business needs:

• Quickbooks
• Xero
• Freshbooks

To know which one is best for your business, reach out to a bookkeeping or accounting professional. They are knowledge in the best bookkeeping systems out there.

If you store all your financial documents in paper-form, you will need a large physical storage space. This method of data storage has so many limitations. What if an accidental fire breaks out at your office? All those paper documents will be damaged or worse destroyed. Now it will be impossible to retrieve the data. This puts your company in financial jeopardy and can ruin its reputation.

However, cloud-based storage is safer than storing hard copies. Your service provider will ensure that it is safe and keep its confidentiality. Reputed cloud service providers also have a team of experienced IT professionals who monitor your data for any suspicious activity and use the latest antivirus and firewalls to create a foolproof secure storage infrastructure. Plus, they keep digital backups of all of your data to prevent loss of data in any circumstance.

Bookkeepers, accounts, and CPAs have to work within a team to assist you as a client. This also allows you to outsource your books. If you still operate by paper, that means you are constantly making copies and having to deliver paperwork to your outsourced accounting firms. Plus, how can you ensure everyone is using the most up-to-date documents. You simply can’t.

Cloud-based accounting allows multiple users to access the data at the same time. This way, you can discuss strategies, analyze the digits, and make changes to the data without any hassle. It also leads to better transparency, eventually creating a system that saves time and gets the work done quicker.

Yes, it is a fact that implementing the cloud creates a digital environment that minimizes the use of paper, reduces work travel, and is beneficial for the environment as well. Now there is no need to regularly travel to meet your clients and gain access to their data and applications. If all this data and accounting applications are hosted on the cloud, you and your bookkeeper and accountants can work together without traveling. This way, you save the money spent on commuting and other costs associated with it.

Similarly, going digital means that you’ll use your printer less and save on printer ink, purchasing paper, and other similar expenses. Dealing with less paper also encourages sending digital invoices, automating the invoicing process, and increasing the chances of fast and timely payments.

Going paperless business is a realistic milestone your business can achieve with careful planning. Aside from saving resources and cutting your costs, it also increases productivity and streamlines your business process. With Bookkeeping Enterprises, we guarantee that we can help you shift shift to a cloud-based accounting solution, and can implement an accounting system to help your business make sound financial decisions.