In our experience, 8 or 9 out of every 10 businesses we speak with are still managing their day-to-day operations using offline or asynchronous accounting systems.

This means that many business owners are making important decisions based on out-of-date information. In fact, it can take weeks or even months before they get their hands on an accurate picture of their company’s financial health and well-being.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Thanks to the widespread availability of cloud-based software, real-time access to financial information is no longer simply the domain of deep-pocketed corporations.

Businesses of all shapes and sizes can now affordably introduce real-time accounting, and in this post, we’ll explain why you need to follow suit, and how to get started.

The Benefits of Real-time Accounting

Running and growing a business is challenging enough without being unprepared to respond to opportunities and threats in your industry and marketplace.

And this – in a nutshell – is precisely why you need real-time accounting: to take better-informed decisions in the pursuit of growth and to avoid potentially damaging cash flow challenges.

The good news is, it’s really not that difficult to make the switch to a cloud accounting platform such as Xero. Provided you have the right foundations in place to digitally capture relevant financial and business information, you will quickly experience the benefits of real-time accounting.

And here’s how we help you get started:

We can help you implement real-time accounting in four simple steps.

Step One: First, we reduce your admin time by setting you up on Xero. And with access to the necessary data, we book and reconcile transactions each week, providing you with a list of missing documentation or queries.

Step Two: Next, we undertake weekly accounting. We start by focusing on document and data capture, with the aim to further reduce administration time, go paperless where possible, and ensure the right audit trails are maintained.

Step Three: We then reconcile your accounts. With steps one and two in place, we commit to providing you with fully reconciled management accounts soon after each month end.

Step Four: Finally, we provide monthly reviews. Where necessary, we hold monthly meetings with you to a) review your financials and b) look at ways to improve related processes and controls.

By following these steps, we can streamline your internal operations, and provide you with access to accurate and up-to-date numbers. And when you start running your business in real-time, you’ll wonder how you ever managed it before.

Embrace the Cloud with Stepping Stone

Real-time accounting doesn’t have to be costly, nor complicated. By working with Stepping Stone, we can ensure you have the correct foundations in place on which to build robust and reliable cloud accounting processes.

Ready to get started?

Contact us today to speak with one of our friendly Xero experts.