What is Accounting Technology?

Work smarter not harder.

Whoever first said this must have run a small business. As a business owner, you are always looking to grow and build your business. With growth comes new challenges and the possibility of burning out and exhausting yourself. How can you grow in an environment that doesn’t support it?

You already have daily tasks like bookkeeping, accounting, and payroll to complete, which might take you longer than you’d wish, and then you add the hope of scaling your business on top of having a life to live… so how do you manage it all?

You need smart technology to help you simplify your business and cut down on the long hours you put into those daily tasks. This way you can focus on building your business.

This is where Accounting Technology comes in. But what exactly is Accounting technology? And how can it help you simplify your business so you can focus your time on growing? Keep reading to find out!

Accounting Technology

Long gone are the days of filing cabinets full of invoices, ledger books carefully crafted in pen and pencil, and mountains of paperwork to sort through for bookkeeping purposes.

Accounting technology is the culmination of processes and systems that were once used on paper and streamlining them into computer software that helps with bookkeeping, accounting, payroll, expense management, bill pay, and more.

Accounting Technology and virtual accounting have completely changed the game in terms of accounting and have helped millions of businesses stay on top of their accounting and bookkeeping by simplifying the process and saving time.

Benefits of using Accounting Technology

There are endless benefits to using accounting technology. We have laid out a few below to highlight what this technology can truly help you with.

1. Paperless systems – no more piles of paperwork!
2. 24/7 access from anywhere with cloud-based software
3. Streamlined processes – from auto categorizing to transactions to scanning receipts with a click of a button from your phone, there are so many processes that can be streamlined.
4. User friendly – follow the prompts and watch informative videos to get you started.
5. Helpful community – there are people in your corner to help answer questions about the software and how to use it!
6. Ability to hire a virtual accountant – let the experts help you! You don’t need an in-house accountant when you can have one right on the other side of the computer screen.

Types of Accounting Technology

There are quite a few different types of virtual accounting software when it comes to managing your bookkeeping, accounting, payroll, expense management, and so forth.

At Redmond Accounting, we use virtual accounting technology every day. We have been paperless for over a decade. We help small businesses and accounting firms from all over the county do the same.

Below is a list of the accounting technology that we love and utilize regularly in our accounting firm and for those who hire us to do virtual accounting.

QuickBooks Online for Accounting Software

QuickBooks Online (QBO) makes it easy for you and your bookkeeper or accountant to manage and track your business’s finances online – no software required.

QBO automates tedious and mundane accounting process, like invoicing, payments, income and expense tracking, and more.

You can even print out financial statements and manage your cash flow from this one, centralized platform.

Expensify for Expense Management

Expensify is a great tool for managing and organizing your business expenses.

It’s loaded with features that simplify spend management, including:

• SmartScan, which scans receipts to make expense reporting faster and easier.
• Invoice management to help you get paid faster.
• Real-time data and insights into employee spending.

Expensify also integrates with tools, like QuickBooks and Gusto (another one of our favorite tools), to simplify your accounting processes.

Want to see this tool in action? Here is a great Expensify example!

BILL for Billing

BILL helps businesses manage their accounts payable (AP), accounts receivable (AR), spending and expenses all from one platform.

BILL makes it easy to send and receive:

• ACH payments
• Card payments
• International payments

You can also create and manage budgets, manage expenses and more.

Over 5 million network members use BILL to pay and get paid. According to the company, the average user saves about 12 hours of work and $10k a month. Those are some impressive stats and a big part of the reason why we’re fans of BILL!

Gusto for Payroll

Gusto streamlines payroll processes to save you time and money. This robust platform can help:

• File your taxes automatically
• Ensure your business is compliant
• Identify tax credits
• Manage employee benefits
• Track employee hours, PTO and holidays
• Keep employees happy through feedback surveys and compensation tools

Gusto integrates with the tools you already use and love, and their support is top-notch.

How We Can Help

As a 100% online accounting firm, we are experts in the field of accounting technology. Wherever you are in your business, whether you are starting up and getting established or have run your business for a few years, we are here to help you succeed!

We offer virtual accounting and bookkeeping services to those who want a hands-off approach. Additionally, we offer accounting technology setup, guidance, and support for those who desire to manage the day-to-day accounting and bookkeeping theirself, but they desire someone to help them with their accounting technology. This is a great option for those who want to move their accounting to the cloud or need additional help ensuring they are maximizing their use of the technology.

Schedule a call today to see how we can help you grow your business without creating extra stress and burnout!