The term cloud accounting seems to gather a lot of buzz recently and everyone seems to have a definition to best describe it.
A closer look and one would ask what prime value it brings to business organizations? The term “cloud” basically refers to the internet and this becomes clearer when you think of the needs of business organizations IT makeup.
The idea of cloud accounting is way to add value and capacity to organizations without investing in personnel training and setting up new systems and software. It comprises of either broad based subscription or pay-per use service that, adds value to the incumbent IT capabilities by providing real time over the web.
The benefits of Cloud computing as an Accounting Solution are practically limitless, and particularly for a small business, turning to the cloud can provide an alternative to crunching numbers, which obviously is a nightmare because it can be confusing and time consuming.
A cloud computing system, with the right middle-ware, could potentially own all the capabilities running all the programs that a normal computer can, essentially everything from generic spreadsheets and word processing programs to user defined computer programs for specific organizations. These features offer great potential to users with the need for accounting solutions.
Here are a few reasons why adopting cloud accounting could be beneficial:
• One of the key advantages of cloud accounting is that it is location independent; where servers serve a broad range of levels (shared servers) provide software, data and resources or any other services on demand.
It defines a new delivery model and consumption for web-based IT services, and it essentially involves over the web provision of virtualized tools and resources which users can access and use through an internet browser, just like ordinarily the way one would use installed software. All these applications work with either Mac or PC.
• Clouds normally appear as unit points of gaining access for consumer’ computing needs. Cloud Accounting works as a byproduct remote access where just like an e-mail account, it can be accessed from anywhere and the software and storage is not defined specifically to one computer-it’s on the computer cloud.
• Cloud Accounting allows you to allow business partners and other companies to gain access and can help with the job tasks that need to be done. Additionally, most cloud-applications have an inbuilt feature for backing up of data automatically, eliminating the risk of data loss. Many users on cloud often allay security concerns, therefore you should ensure that the cloud-accounting tool is verified by a third party, most common are TrustE and VeriSign.
• Small businesses often encounter unlimited amount of data that needs to be tracked, and an efficient automated system in cloud accounting would save time drastically. Automation is also a benefit where manual entry of all purchases and transactions which typically would include costly human error and duplication of work is eliminated.
• A good accounting solution would also allow you to automatically create and register income into invoices and cloud accounting features, have incorporated all this in one package. Cloud-based accounting solutions are here for a very long stay despite security concerns.
The benefits are worthwhile and many businesses are opting to reduce time spending on accounting to focus on core business operations.
There are two sides to the coin: You acquire a cloud-based accounting tool, which has brutal efficiency of keeping track your year-round transactions, all automated and the availability of a tech support team to come to your help at any particular time to manage your balance sheets and income statement, OR do it all manually and go through all the back and forth e-mail with your accountant to get it done.