What is outdated accounting software?
Outdated financial software from several years ago only assists with parts of the work that finance managers do, leaving the staff still stuck with a stream of repetitive and time-consuming tasks.
From the hours spent collecting month-end reports to manually updating each figure of payroll information and checking on supplier payments, an enormous amount of time is spent on menial tasks.
An outdated finance system also means that finance leads can struggle to keep track of when projects overrun, which is both costly and affects other work. One of the disadvantages of not updating software, in any form of business, is that it creates more opportunities for errors and inaccuracies, particularly when moving between disjointed systems.
Is outdated financial software holding your business back? Discover our leading accounting software solutions today.
5 ways old accounting software could be damaging your business
1. Inaccuracy
Accurate financial reporting is only possible when you have access to real-time, up-to-date information. Once you have reached the stage where software incompatibilities force you to manually key in data every day, the potential for errors rises significantly. This can cause all sorts of problems.
Furthermore, the longer you use an outdated system, the greater the risk of data corruption and the loss of updated data due to automatic resets. Switching to a new financial reporting system significantly reduces those risks.
2. Disorganisation
Over time, growing businesses tend to gather a lot of excess data, documents and records of interaction.
Even the most diligent worker will find that there comes a point when the software is no longer adequate for the task. Important documents and data can be lost within the system and retrieving data can take a lot longer than it should. This is compounded by the fact that older systems are simply not designed to handle as much data as the newer ones.
3. Inefficiency
In business, time is money. Every year millions of hours are wasted on manually retyping and rekeying data into new documents as part of financial admin. This is especially true for businesses that do not have integrated financial systems, as a significant amount of time must be spent to compensate for this. Automated systems help to eliminate this wasted time by completely removing any need for manual rekeying.
4. Security risks
Using outdated software of any kind exposes you to an increased risk of being hacked and having data destroyed or stolen. As Verizon’s 2019 Data Breach Investigation Report shows, there are few areas more sensitive than finance. The fact is that when you use a new system from a reliable supplier, less time has been available to criminals to work out how to undermine it. Your finance and business data will be backed up via secured systems so they will be much less vulnerable to hacking, loss and theft.
Improved software integration also reduces the vulnerabilities in your system. By reducing the need for manual input, your business will be able to conform to data security regulations more easily, without running the risk of any important financial data being lost or stolen.
5. Impeded reporting capacity
Older finance software lacks the capacity to display real-time data, making it harder for your staff to produce accurate reports. Being able to create dashboards from selected information, even when working at speed, makes it much easier to visualise the whole task when preparing board reports or information packs for senior staff. This lets staff produce more complete and cohesive materials in a shorter time frame, improving efficiency and increasing the organisation’s ability to react quickly to changing events.
Taken together, these factors illustrate the importance of upgrading and updating finance and accounting software. Failure to make necessary upgrades promptly can harm a company in many ways, eating away at its day-to-day efficiency and damaging its reputation when it leads to errors, putting the business at a serious disadvantage.
What are the main features of advanced accounting software?
The main features of high performing, advanced accounting software are:
- Data collected from across the business in real time
- All information and analytics accessed via a central dashboard application
- A high level of automation, reducing time taken by staff and scope for human error
- Updates automatically to ensure continual compliance with regulations
- Budget forecasting and data harmonising, to support decision-making processes
Our leading financial management and accounting software is designed to improve business-wide efficiency via advanced functionality and seamless automation. Download a brochure to see all the features or book a free demo to view our accounting software in action.
5 benefits of updating your accounting software
1. End time-consuming manual processes
The time spent by accounting staff on performing repetitive tasks is freed up by the automation of the system, allowing them to spend time working on more productive and complex tasks.
2. Accurate team monitoring
Finance leads can understand more accurately and more clearly where a project stands and how much time is spent on it. This helps to avoid costly overruns.
3. Clear, automated analytics
Comparison of real-time data, from a variety of sources throughout the business and accessed via a central dashboard, gives much greater assistance to decision makers.
4. Reports generated automatically
Instead of hours spent creating reports for the end of each month or year, these are now created automatically. Again, freeing time for staff to work on other things.
5. Drastically reduced opportunities for human error
The numerous risky and dangerous potential points for human error to enter the system are almost completely eliminated.
How to switch accounting software with ease
Although for every business switching to a new system is unique, there are key steps and considerations each finance team has to consider when changing accounting software. We have picked out five steps that every finance professional should be going through to make switching a reality:
1. Identify your challenges
For every finance team, the challenges they face with day-to-day responsibilities varies. Whether it's the burden of manual reporting or too much resource focussed on tasks like invoicing or expense management, a finance team needs to understand the problems it needs to solve to switch to the right accounting package.
2. Do your research
Once you’ve identified your challenges it’s time to do your research. Even before you think about speaking to an accounting software provider, you’ll want to gather as much info as you can on their software packages and solutions. Download brochures, take a look at their latest reports and blogs, check out their key team members on LinkedIn - get to know the product you're interested in even before you’ve had any conversation with the provider.
3. Find the right provider
There are a lot of accounting packages out there. Many are very similar in their functionality and the tools they offer. With SaaS, it's often the provider who makes all the difference.
What are your product innovation plans? What does your product roadmap look like? Tell me about your downtime policy? What customer service support do you provide? These are just some of the questions you should be asking a provider to start to distinguish between the competition.
4. Understand the risks
Switching accounting systems of course has its risks. Like with any software migration, it’s a complicated process, but the right provider can mitigate risks for you and should have a rigid migration plan in place that suits the needs of you and your business. This plan should include business continuity processes, data protection and training for your team.
Make sure you speak to other finance professionals and other businesses in the industry who have migrated systems. Don’t be afraid to ask your new provider if you can speak to other customers of theirs who have recently made a similar journey.
5. Build your case
Once you’ve identified what you want your new accounting software to resolve, found a provider and done your research, it’s about building your case. Like with any outdated software, it's the user who understands its pitfalls and the frustrations better than anyone.
Whereas finance professionals don’t often hold the key to the investment needed to switch, more businesses are recognising how important it is to give their people the best tools for their role. So putting forward a watertight case to finance or IT directors will be key to switching success.
Is your business ready to switch to more powerful and reliable accounting software? Get in touch with our team or download a brochure.