Thursday 25 May 2017

Normal Chartered Accountant vs. Smart Chartered Accountant



Chartered accountants are professionals that carry out different critical functions of accounting for their clients, such as taxation, audit, general management, and preparation of financial documents. They may work with government bodies or private sector clients. Traditionally, most companies used to hire professional chartered accountants for taking care of their accounting needs. These professionals used to manually maintain each and every accounting detail and spend long hours in drawing the documentations and details associated with a business organization. They also used to carry out staff meetings and discussions with their clients on how to best manage their finances and instructed the staff on managing its operations effectively so as to enhance its prospects for the future.

Since all of these works were mostly done manually, managing hundreds and thousands of minute details took a lot of tedious work from the CA professionals. They often handled assignments that took weeks and months to complete. Over the years, this became more and more difficult for the CA professionals as the number of documents and records that they needed to handle increased tremendously. This naturally demanded the need for the introduction of more effective ways to manage all of the work in less time without losing on the efficiency and accuracy of the process. This led to the introduction of cloud computing in the field of accounting. 

Ever since cloud computing was introduced within the realm of accounting, it has completely transformed the way CA professionals operate around the world. While at one point in time, it became necessary for companies to hire and use more numbers of professionals to manage the accounts of a single accounting client, now the large bulk of accounting tasks are handled by a few CA professionals who manage all of the accounting data over the cloud systems. With cloud computing, it is now possible to make use of scalable and flexible IT services that can be used over a secured network. 

A cloud computing system can be managed completely online or over the network. It is not dependent on any platform or a single computer and can be accessed from multiple devices at the same time as long as they are all connected to the same network. This naturally saves a lot of time and money while working with the same files and documents. Moreover, it also increases operational efficiency among the professional CAs and makes it possible to communicate easily with one another. The latest cloud computing systems are robust facilities that can be perfectly scaled according to the needs of the users. The programs can also be easily installed and maintained which makes them perfect for accounting business. 

Different types of cloud systems are now in use to ease the whole process of accounting and they all come with advanced security measures. Using these programs can increase the smartness and effectiveness of a CA firm and enable it to meet the needs and expectations of the clients in a better way. It is due to such reasons that cloud computing systems are now in great demand in the CA industry.

Friday 12 May 2017

How to divide your day for maximum effectiveness with Accounting Management Software?

Every accounting firm should make use of an accounting management software nowadays as it improves the smartness and effectiveness of that accounting firm. There are a number of different ways in which a well-chosen software system can benefit an accounting firm. Here is a list of operations that are carried out by an accounting firm all throughout the day that can be regulated and monitored by these software systems. Performing accounting procedures in this way can greatly enhance the overall efficiency of the accounting firm.

Accounts Receivable and the Cash Receipts

·         The remote deposit service of the bank should be used for this purpose.

·         The site is integrated with a donor database or association member.

·         The constituents can update all the records and make the payments on the official website of the accounting firm.

·         The transactions are effectively processed in donor database or association using same batching criteria that are used by the bank with a logical batch naming method for smooth tracking.

·         The donor database or association member works in tandem with accounting software set in batch mode.

·         Cash receipt transactions are imported automatically regularly into accounting software and manual entering is avoided.

·         A periodic review is conducted to evaluate the credit card fees charged to the organization.

·         All the credit card receipts are properly credited to the gross fees of the organization.

·         The cash receipts are processed directly at events on the website of the organization or with the help of credit card reader.

Accounts Payable

·         An online accounts payable system is to be used to handle all accounts payable cases. The implementation of paperless accounts payable service can improve the overall efficiency of the company. Alternately, ACH payments can be made by tracking the vendor invoices through the features of the accounting software.

·         Purchase cards should be used for paying vendors.

·         For managing the accounts payable for larger organizations, a module can be used for tracking purchase agreements so that the commitments can be effectively reported and tracked.

Month end documentations

·         Assets and liability accounts are perfectly reconciled at the end of the month.

·         All bank reconciliations are effectively prepared with the help of the bank reconciliation module that comes with the accounting software. The bank transactions are monthly imported into bank reconciliation module for automatically clearing the matched transactions.

·         Financial institution reports are used for streamlining the reconciliation process.

·         The details of the general ledger are reviewed monthly.

Payroll

·         The payrolls can all be managed online

·         Such systems can also be used for automated timekeeping

·         A self-service, online module can be used for the employees to update tax withholdings and benefits

To make the most use of these software systems, the employees working with an accounting firm should be provided with adequate training so that they can properly use its various features. The software should also have remote access features that can present users with greater flexibility while they are using them.