Why cloud accounting is good for your clients

These days, businesses are moving faster and faster. For your business to keep up, using cloud technology has almost become a prerequisite. The cloud enables you to make smarter and faster business decisions, and work more collaboratively and efficiently with your teams from anywhere at anytime.

Small business owners often don’t have real-time insight into their finances. This often means that they are conducting their day-to-day operations blind. A lack of timely financial information can make or break a company. It’s no wonder 50% of Canadian startups fail within the first five years. Cloud accounting solves this. It provides entrepreneurs with up-to-date information about the financial health of their company. At Xero, we’re making progress when it comes to startup success rates – 85% of small businesses on Xero survive beyond their first five years.

The result? The chance for you to truly partner with your clients to provide high-quality, real-time service. This will help your clients become more productive and efficient by automating manual tasks and data entry so there’s more time to spend on running their business. Your clients can get back to what they love and you are freed up to support more clients or focus on higher paying work.

Let's look at how traditional accounting software compares with cloud accounting software.

Here are some common issues with traditional desktop accounting software:

• Accounting information is only fully up-to-date on one machine
• It's expensive, difficult and time consuming to upgrade the software
• The software may only be licensed for use on one computer
• Using a USB drive to move data is inconvenient, unreliable, and not secure
• It can be slow and challenging to access financial data remotely
• Adding more users can cost a lot of money
• It's costly and complicated to keep backups

In comparison, online software has several advantages:

• Financial data flows automatically into the software from bank accounts and other third party sources
• You have instant access to information such as cash flow from anywhere, anytime, and across multiple devices with an internet connection
• You can use powerful tools and applications to process accounting data
• Collaboration is easy with access for multiple users
• It’s scalable and can grow as your clients' businesses grow
• There are no more worries about outdated software, IT costs, or server maintenance
• You pay on a simple subscription basis, paying only for the services your clients need

Increasingly, small businesses are looking to you for support and advice on new technology and apps. Perhaps you haven’t made technology consulting a part of your accounting practice. But if you discover a product or service that might help your clients be more productive in their day-to-day business, then you ought to share the information with them. After all, your firm’s success depends on the success of your clients and on your reputation as a business expert.