Here’s how to regain financial control of your business

As a business owner, there’s no doubt that you are aware of how important accounting departments and financial intelligence are when it comes to the overall health of your firm. Having financial control is key. But the development that modern enterprise demands – and the excitement and change that comes with it – can hide a lingering danger: times of growth cause accounting needs to increase and the pressure to perform skyrockets. This is because you’ll require accurate financial insight to make key business decisions if you are to take full advantage of opportunities as and when they appear. For this top-level visibility to be achieved, it is imperative that your accounts and finance teams have the tools and flexibility befitting of the fast-paced, always-on digital era. Only then can your people in charge of the figures dovetail with all other facets of the business and collaborate effectively as growth occurs. However, it’s also true that today industries have access to unprecedented levels of financial software designed specifically to bring clarity, simplicity and efficiency to accounting departments. So why are so many medium-sized businesses still being held back by slow transactions, inflexible systems, poor communication and fogged knowledge, therefore leading to a lack of financial control?

Business decisions made on old data

The way in which financial data is shared directly impacts upon communication and effective collaboration, and this in turn has a huge influence over how effectively your business runs. An events company might use a software platform to compare revenue streams against costs to create financial forecasts. Meanwhile, that same firm’s staff might communicate and take care of clients on a different application. This application might work well for specific teams but it’s an independent entity. Any changes in client requirements or amendments to the value of contracts being delivered take place away from the eyes of those in control of the finances. In such a disjointed climate, any potential cost increases have to be updated on one platform, communicated to the accounts department and factored into processes on another platform. In practice, it means multiple workers are dealing with the duplicates of the same critical data. Spread this culture across a growing organisation and it’s easy to understand how business processes become restricted; collaboration is frustrated and the door is thrown wide open to errors that cost money. At the sharp end, this disorganised culture leads to business decisions being executed based on obscured, old or slow data. It’s the tip of an iceberg of corporate inefficiency that’s guaranteed to have titanic implications on competitive cutting edge. Thankfully, life doesn’t have to be this way.

How cloud financial software can help

When your business was smaller, you could get away with using multiple products. But as your organisations grows, you need a solution that’s fit for purpose in the digital age. By using cloud accounting software, your executives can take back financial control of your firm’s proceedings to gain absolute clarity, wherever and whenever it’s needed. This strength finds root in the centralisation of all customer data at a single online location, where it can be integrated with all other business functions.

Better use of your critical data

Cloud technology streamlines your business by taking the complexities associated with disjoined environments out of the equation; instead, critical data is fused to your financials, so your executives are always one click away from the whole picture. Unprecedented insight is generated through connected metrics that inform at speeds you simply can’t achieve when reliant on traditional business infrastructures. For example, sustainable growth revenues can be analysed against quotations or ratio of leads to orders, which in turn can be tracked to produce sales forecasts of unprecedented detail with minimum confusion or fuss. In the same way, your managers can swiftly pinpoint priority accounts, clients that are at risk and business opportunities – and this means any potential pitfalls are identified and rectified with minimum disruption.

Use necessary data when it’s needed

In the real world, this efficiency of information means your executives can get the data they require, whether a major decision is about to take place or if a quick snapshot of your figures is needed prior to a board meeting. The insight is there in a reader-friendly format, in whatever quantity is needed, and without the need for a salesperson or financial guru to be at your side to help with the analysis. While other managers lose precious hours fumbling to track financial data through any number of disparate apps, cloud-based accounting solutions save time and energy, allowing your executives to have a much clearer grasp of how their day will pan out.

Get financial control and you’re free to build your business

Finally, using cloud financial software is about freedom. It means your organisation’s mainframe is accessible at any time, from any place – and therein lies the difference. This dexterity is fundamental to running and growing your business in the way you want to in the 21st century and it means you are equipped to go way beyond customer expectations.