Accounting and bookkeeping aren’t the easiest processes to overlook to manage. This is why we think that a guide on streamlining difficult accounting processes with the help of dedicated financial accounting system would be useful to businesses and individual entrepreneurs from around the world. By giving you tips and insights, we can help you find the many benefits of dedicated or more versatile computer solutions bring to the table. Let’s begin!
First off – the integration of your general ledger would make things much easier
When discussing streamlining, you can’t possibly overlook the added benefit of dedicated accounting system and software solutions that allow you to integrate the general ledger within the financial accounting system.
As it’s the central-most document and the main record of all of company’s finances, the general ledger integration feature can help reduce administrative workload for your accounting staff. Some of the more advanced software solutions are capable of generating and adding data to the ledger after a certain timeframe. Accountants would be able to manage every individual transaction in detail or focus on the whole group of transactions and make more group changes. All in all, this feature saves time for everyone by automating data transfers between individual transaction spreadsheets and your general ledger.
Now choose a familiar interface for your accounting system
If you’re set on streamlining and implementing capable software solutions, it’s time to look at the wide array of options available, first. Our first piece of advice when choosing a particular software would be to look for familiar and user-friendly interface. You definitely don’t wish to end up with expensive, but barely usable software that is a nightmare for the accounting staff to work with.
Microsoft Dynamics NAV seems to be the most optimal choice. Powered by much of the same technology that everyone in the business world is familiar with (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), the MS Dynamics NAV will make it an easier transition for your company. A familiar interface will provide all of the necessary tools for a rolling start, right from the get-go. It’s also easier to remain compliant after a switch to a new accounting standard. Lease accounting is especially tricky because you have to do a lot of estimations and calculate a lot of variables. Thus, providing and generating financial disclosures isn’t all that simple without the right set of computer programmes. In the end, luckily, you can find MS Dynamics-based financial accounting system for lease management and help your accounting staff do more in less time!
Get rid of paper
Most companies can agree that managing, archiving and properly taking care of paper documents is much more difficult than it can seem from the outside looking in. A centralized and standardized accounting system does remove the need for paper documents. If you keep on piling up paper, it can become too much of a burden, requiring enormous expenditures in human resources and finances just for upkeep alone.
There are cloud-based solutions as well as apps that work both offline and online. We would recommend sticking with software that can be used both on-premise or in the cloud. In this way, you can protect data management from internet outages or other obstacles whilst remaining flexible for data upload to the cloud, if such necessity should arise.
Cloud-based apps are convenient in the sense that they can help different departments monitor accounts and data in real time. You can’t possibly imagine doing that with paper documents.
Finally, the elimination of paper documents will eliminate management and data sorting-related organizational nightmares as well as open up a lot of physical space in your archives or warehouses (wherever you keep the data).
Training & Education for your staff
Even if you select a proper computerised financial system that has tons of benefits and is user-friendly, you still can’t expect your accountants to do everything 100% right. There is the so-called human factor or human element which has to be managed, in order to streamline bookkeeping and accounting processes within the company.
With specialized parts of accounting, like lease management, we would recommend seeking an experienced accountant and recruiting them to join your staff, even on a temporary basis. Furthermore, there are dedicated courses and training programmes for particular software solutions where the developers share insights and give precise tips on maximizing the use out of computer software solutions.
What this does, is prepares your staff for the day-to-day task management in lease accounting or other niches. By training your staff to use the system, you have implemented, you’re making input and data management processes much more tailored towards efficiency. In short – it’s good for your business and for the accounting staff too!
Make use of the features which are available
When it comes to lease management, it’s quite difficult to estimate before-hand, on how much work, exactly will be necessary, in order to manage a contract or oversee operations.
However, it’s quite difficult for us to see that numerous businesses have purchased a licensed piece of computer software for accounting, but aren’t making the most of it and only use a fraction of the features which are available. That’s not streamlining. Streamlining would be when the company which is trying to implement the software, is making use of every possible feature.
For example, more advanced lease accounting systems can deal with lease contracts with variable conditions. For example, if CPI (Consumer Price Index) or different interest rates have to be calculated, some platforms are able to re-price and renumerate according to the changes in that data. This is a super-important feature to have for more complex operation management. There’s also the aforementioned G/L integration, client and contract management, dedicated liability calculators and contract as well as agreement management. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Your software will likely have tens of different features that you can take advantage of. Don’t hesitate to do so!