Seven keys to select the most appropriate accounting software

Accounting software solutions were born several decades ago to fulfill an important function: keep accurate records of companies’ financial data -such as their purchases and sales-, to facilitate management and support compliance with tax provisions. Undoubtedly, an important and vital task for the growth of any business.

With the consolidation of software in the cloud and the use of new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, some advanced applications, such as Zoho Books, now integrate functions to know the accounting reality of the business in real time, optimize the operation of the company, increase sales and pay tax obligations easily. They also allow you to carry out electronic invoicing processes, calculate taxes or manage projects easily.

“Artificial Intelligence plays an important role in the automation of accounts payable and expense management. This can be seen in the extraction of information from receipts and invoices, the detection of fraud and duplicates, and the automatic routing of invoices to the next stage of processing, eliminating manual data entry processes,” says Raju Vegesna, Zoho’s Chief Evangelist.

With this, there are several features that organizations should look for before choosing a platform to manage their finances. Here are some of those keys:

1. smart billing. Along with support for traditional and electronic invoices, accounting applications must create recurring profiles for regular orders and schedule automatic shipments each time orders are placed. They can also set up automatic reminders based on invoice due or payment dates, as well as keep track of unpaid invoices, to send reminders to customers.

2. Compliance with local regulations. A good tool has to comply with Mexican tax regulations and facilitate tax filing, especially when there are various tax rates. In the case of Zoho Books, for example, it also provides a better understanding of taxes through summary reports that help keep you organized and ready when it’s time to pay.

3. integrated analytics. Accounting reports allow businessmen to understand financial trends and analyze growth patterns of businesses. “The most advanced and recognized solutions in the world already use Artificial Intelligence to consolidate data, enter formulas and generate automatic detailed reports, which help make business decisions quickly,” says the Zoho executive.

Along with the three crucial financial statements an organization needs to know—the cash flow statement, the profit and loss statement, and the balance sheet—they now compile information on other things like sales, purchases, taxes, inventory, and projects.

4. Online payments. A modern accounting solution integrates various digital gateways that offer customers fast and secure ways to pay online, through various payment methods, such as credit and debit cards or bank transfers. Likewise, with clients all over the world, these applications are prepared to manage all types of currencies, but do the accounting in pesos. This eliminates discrepancies and additional calculations in foreign transactions.

5. Bank reconciliations. By connecting bank accounts to accounting software, businesses get their statements automatically, can customize bank criteria and rules to automatically categorize and match transactions. With this simplified feature, the business is audit-ready throughout the year.

6. Inventory management. This is an essential requirement to guarantee product availability and provide better customer service. With this feature, the company has the ability to track the location of its items, as well as post and generate reports. Accounting software helps with recording stock codes (SKUs), adding item images, creating packages, and tracking the movement of items by serial or lot number. When you receive an order, you can use the solution to register it, convert it into an invoice after payment approval and associate the corresponding taxes, for example.

7. Take advantage of ‘the cloud’. Being cloud-based, accounting systems like Zoho Books are always up-to-date with the latest accounting standards, and data is backed up 24/7 in centers that meet high privacy and security standards. This also represents savings, by paying it monthly and only for the number of users required. Entrepreneurs can now review and manage company finances from their smartphones, using mobile apps.