Category: outsourced accounting

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Why Accounting in the Cloud?

Why Accounting in the Cloud?

Business owners and managers need to keep close control of their financial data.  They need to know where they stand at all times, and having information available to make business decisions is essential.  When the financial information is in the office but the owner isn’t, how can wise decisions be made without access to supporting data?  They can’t, and that’s a problem.  The solution is simple: work in the cloud.

A cloud computing model properly applied to accounting and bookkeeping systems helps businesses of any size keep their financial data and accounting applications in a safe a secure environment, yet accessible to those who need it.  By locating the business applications and data in a protected central location, access to programs and data sets can be provided to authorized users regardless of location or computing platform.  For a small business owner, this means that working from home or on vacation can be as productive as working in the office.  In larger businesses, cloud-based accounting means the accounting department, CFO and financial advisers might all access the same financial records and applications no matter where they work from.

Cloud computing and hosted application models applied to accounting and bookkeeping represent a viable option for managing, securing and providing access to critical financial information.  Businesses outsourcing their accounting or bookkeeping work find that cloud based approaches offer workflow and process efficiencies to help get the necessary information in the hands of those who need it, quickly and efficiently.

Keeping accounting and bookkeeping systems safe yet available, providing business decision makers with the flexibility of accessing their financial data from anywhere and at any time is a highly valuable service. Accounting and finance professionals can act as the trusted adviser to their clients, providing important business insight and information, with guidance in developing cloud computing and online accounting approaches being among the benefits the firm offers.   Working closer with clients allows professionals to produce better, more accurate and insightful results.   Cloud computing models remove distance barriers and allow professionals and their clients to work more collaboratively with applications and data than ever before.

Many firms are just recently discovering the relationship between technology adoption and business competitiveness.  Those that embrace new computing paradigms gain the ability to meet client requirements in innovative, efficient and timely ways while those that do not adopt these new models continue to struggle, unable to communicate value and differentiation in their service offerings.

There are some recognized truths in business, and one is that is isn’t what you know but who you know.  Another truth, an understanding that is just now being fully recognized, is that it’s not what you do, but how you do it that matters.  Accounting and bookkeeping for business is absolutely an area where cloud computing and the wise application of technology and service can improve cost efficiency, accuracy and turnaround times, allowing the firm to provide a higher level of service to clients.  Accounting in the cloud is a technology-enabled approach which propels the firm into an entirely new range of capabilities and potential service offerings, reaching higher levels of performance and profitability.

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J

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Efficiency and Value with Cloud Accounting

For some accounting professionals, the problem is finding a way to provide services that are valuable to the client, and doing it in a way that makes it profitable for the provider.  Outsourced and online accounting models are the answer, employing innovative tools in the practice and with clients: tools and resources necessary to get more informed and run the business better.

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With online accounting solutions the firm is able to increase profitability with the range of services offered, often adding clients and work without hiring more personnel.  Online solutions allow professionals and their clients to work from anywhere at any time, providing both with the freedom to focus on core business capabilities (and lifestyle).

Reducing the requirement for sophisticated on-premises technology may mean providing everyone with the ease of use and security of server-based computing models, which is among the benefits of a cloud IT approach.  Centralizing and managing applications, protecting valuable data resources, and streamlining business processes are among the benefits to be achieved with an outsourced, managed application hosting solution.  Businesses who outsource their IT management often realize an increased capacity to do business simply by leveraging the cloud to make the current working models more efficient and effective.

Leveraging mobility and real time access is also about increasing the overall range of opportunity to deliver value.  Contractors, employees and clients all find improvements in getting the information they need when it matters, and the firm finds a greater agility in meeting client demands and expanding service offerings.

Cloud computing and online accounting solutions have proven the viability of anytime, anywhere working models, and professional accounting practices of all sizes and orientations are realizing the benefits of working closer with their clients by applying them to the engagement.

Cloud accounting is really about improving the profitability of the accounting practice while delivering higher levels of service to the client.  The movement of information from one place to another; translating data from one form to another – these are the processes representing the cost and inefficiency in the practice, and are specific areas where a collaborative, online approach may introduce new service efficiency and value.

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It is worth noting that “cloud accounting” and online accounting models do not necessarily require the use of a SaaS solution.  QuickBooks Online, Xero, Freshbooks – these are new small business offerings that exist purely on the web.  QuickBooks desktop editions can be “cloudy”, too, when they’re hosted by an authorized QuickBooks hosting provider.  The point is not necessarily to use web software, but to approach IT management and systems from an outsourced perspective, allowing for centralized management and administration and delivering secure remote and mobile access.  The systems should facilitate the working model, not force it.

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The Productivity Paradox: Accounting for Returns on IT Investments

The Productivity Paradox: Accounting for Returns on IT Investments

There has always been somewhat of a struggle between the IT department and “management”, much of the difficulty existing with the need to demonstrate clear returns on investments for IT purchases.  Unfortunately, expenditures in information technology are often the result of short-term views of long-standing problems, applying “solutions” that do not fully address the requirement or which do not deliver the productivity or performance gains expected, particularly in a dynamic and rapidly changing business environment. The assumption is that a wise investment in information technology will result with improved profitability and performance.  Demonstrating this on paper is not always easily accomplished.

There is a great deal of research on the subject of accounting for returns on IT investments.  Some of this research describes “The Productivity Paradox”, referring to early studies on the “relationship between information technology and productivity, and finding an absence of a positive relationship between spending on IT and productivity or profitability”. [1]  Previous to the emergence of cloud computing and widely available remote and mobile technologies (and now possibly even more with the prevalence of available options), businesses invest heavily in IT infrastructure and applications which deliver nominal benefit to the business when measured against the cost of acquisition and implementation.  Heavy IT investments are made with little or no measurable benefit to profitability, even if operational performance improvements are created.  In many cases, the difficulty in “proving” benefit from information technology investments rests with the lack of information relating to impacts in non-operational areas, such as with investors, auditors or analysts.

The early research has become a foundation for making the argument that accounting professionals should be more directly involved in determining the value and impacts of IT investments – due largely to the fact that accounting professionals are generally familiar with the variety of formulas and approaches which become relevant in measuring the effects of IT purchases.  Information technology spending will result in short-term impacts, but will impress on the business over the longer view as well. With a foundation in accounting principles, valuation and analysis, and accompanied by IT knowledge and experience, management accounting benefits from an improved ability to recognize the relevance and value in IT implementations even where no direct profit improvement is visible.

Can difference in firm performance be explained by differences in IT investments?
Can differences in firm performance be explained by differences in IT investments?

Emerging technology models are having huge impacts in business capability as well as risk, and this new paradigm requires that accounting professionals apply their skills to understanding more fully the influences from and results of IT spending in the enterprise.

Having a basis for studying valuation and recognizing the good and bad of focusing on various key measurements (return on assets vs equity vs sales vs investment…) is essential in developing a “formula” for predicting impacts of and potential returns from IT spending, and solving the puzzle that is the productivity paradox.

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J

[1] Journal of Information Systems Vol. 16; “Returns on Investments in Information Technology: a Research Synthesis”

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Happy Holidays from CooperMann

Ninjabread cookies in the kitchen, an appearance by the Christmas Elk, and Minty Fresh (fresh cat, not canned) looking for Frangos all clearly indicate that the holiday season is here.  2013 has been an eventful year – some would say it was “fraught with peril” while others see opportunity in change. It’s all a matter of perspective – pursuing goals and taking action rather than resting on ones’ laurels and trying to wait it out.  This cloud stuff isn’t going away.

With technology and social computing adoption increasing at almost alarming rates, I can’t wait to see how 2014 goes!  This certainly isn’t a time for the tech-timid, as it appears as though the nerds and geeks do rule the world (aren’t we all a little nerdly, really?).

I hope you and yours have a wonderful season.

jmbunnyfeetCheers

J

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Read the Best of CooperMann.com from 2013

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Accounting, Technology and Small Business – The Best of 2013 from CooperMann

Accounting, Technology and Small Business – The Best of 2013 from CooperMann

cooper-mann-top-20It has been an eventful year, hasn’t it?  With the NSA lurking about collecting data, innovative new approaches to information and identity theft emerging almost daily, and complete turmoil in the IT services industry challenging trusted sales and distribution models, most of us have simply become numb to the noise.  Information technology is evolving at an increasingly rapid pace and the way people and businesses interact with and use technology is being forced to change along with it.  It’s starting to become almost, weirdly, natural.

Much of this change can be attributed to “The Cloud”, which is not a thing or a place.  Cloud has become the term which applies to just about anything having anything to do with the Internet.  For technology “purists”, cloud means something fairly specific, but for normal people (no offense to the nerds and geeks, but you know what I mean), cloud applies to pretty much anything accessible via the Internet.  Photos back up to “the cloud”; music gets stored in “the cloud”, websites are hosted in “the cloud”; businesses run their applications in “the cloud”, and you can do darned near anything you need (or want) to with a phone.  The cloud could be some guy’s server in his basement, or it could be a sophisticated network of systems housed in secure facilities around the globe.  They both qualify, sort of.  The point is that mobility, Internet services, subscription access to technology, and social computing are changing how people view technology – resulting with changes not simply in how IT is purchased, but in how IT is used and applied to daily life.

There are, however, some things that do not change even if the working environment does.  The accounting profession, for example, is undergoing a great deal of change, and much of it fueled by the advancements in technology and social computing.  But accounting fundamentals – the “truth of debits and credits” and the good old accounting equation – remain.  The basics of running a business are also unchanged, even as methods of doing business evolve and globalization of markets continues.  Business fundamentals – fiscal responsibility, cash and growth management, and focus on value and sustainability – are as necessary now as every before.

With all this change and IT “advancement”, there have certainly been impacts to how and where we work.  But the more things change, the more they remain the same.  Good business generates goodwill and more business – that doesn’t change – and bad news still tends to spread faster than good news (much faster, given social platforms that are designed to spread the word far and wide).  And when it comes down to the fundamentals – the basic and essential foundations supporting building, operating, and accounting for business – we generally find that they remain constant even as the environment in which they exist experiences change.

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J

Here are the top 20 ranked posts for 2013 from CooperMann.com

  1. The 2 Most Popular Models for Working with QuickBooks Desktop Editions and the Cloud
  2. Accounting Professionals, You’re right – your clients don’t care about the numbers.
  3. Remote access to client bookkeeping comes in many forms because clients come in many forms
  4. What Small Businesses Need To Know about QuickBooks and the Cloud
  5. Intuit Introduces Changes to Authorized Commercial Host for QuickBooks Program, Introduces QuickBooks Enterprise Rental Licensing
  6. Managed Applications, Cloudpaging, and a New Flavor of Hosted QuickBooks
  7. The Language of Accounting: Disconnect between Accountants and Bookkeepers
  8. Why Accountants and Bookkeepers Use the Cloud
  9. Small Business Owner to Accountant: Make Accounting Valuable to ME
  10. Changing How We See Software: QuickBooks 2013 interface frustrates power users
  11. Bookkeeping and Benchmarks – Getting the Numbers Right
  12. In Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Information Technology: The Value of Outsourcing
  13. Hosting All My Applications in the Cloud
  14. 4 Rules of Thumb for Business Success
  15. Intuit Hosting Program for QuickBooks Website Goes Live
  16. Re-defining the role of the accountant, or going back to the good old days?
  17. Cloud Computing for Small Business: It’s All About 3 Apps
  18. The Collaborative Online Model for Small Business Accounting Professionals
  19. QuickBooks Hosting: New Program Tier Announced for QuickBooks Hosting Providers
  20. 4 Rules for Building Service Customer Loyalty
Posts by category – with Accounting Professionals, QuickBooks Hosting, QuickBooks Software, and Small Business being the top categories with ranking articles.
ACCOUNTING PROFESSIONALS
Small Business Owner to Accountant: Make Accounting Valuable to ME
Accounting Professionals, You’re right – your clients don’t care about the numbers.
The Language of Accounting: Disconnect between Accountants and Bookkeepers
Why Accountants and Bookkeepers Use the Cloud
Bookkeeping and Benchmarks – Getting the Numbers Right
In Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Information Technology: The Value of Outsourcing
Re-defining the role of the accountant, or going back to the good old days?
The Collaborative Online Model for Small Business Accounting Professionals
Remote access to client bookkeeping comes in many forms because clients come in many forms
QUICKBOOKS AND BUSINESS APPLICATION HOSTING
The 2 Most Popular Models for Working with QuickBooks Desktop Editions and the Cloud
What Small Businesses Need To Know about QuickBooks and the Cloud
Intuit Introduces Changes to Authorized Commercial Host for QuickBooks Program, Introduces QuickBooks Enterprise Rental Licensing
Hosting All My Applications in the Cloud
Intuit Hosting Program for QuickBooks Website Goes Live
Cloud Computing for Small Business: It’s All About 3 Apps
QuickBooks Hosting: New Program Tier Announced for QuickBooks Hosting Providers
Managed Applications, Cloudpaging, and a New Flavor of Hosted QuickBooks
QUICKBOOKS SOFTWARE
Changing How We See Software: QuickBooks 2013 interface frustrates power users
SMALL BUSINESS
4 Rules of Thumb for Business Success
4 Rules for Building Service Customer Loyalty
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Hosting Intuit QuickBooks Desktop Editions Delivers Big Benefits for Small Business

Big Benefits with Hosted QuickBooks

diagram_self_hosting-500_289Everyone, it seems, is adopting outsourced IT and cloud computing models yet one size does not fit all when it comes to serving business – whether it’s the software or infrastructure under discussion. Cloud, mobile and online application models deliver big benefits for small businesses, but it is important to know the options available before investing in something that’s hard to get out of later. Initially, a hosted application model might be the best approach, allowing the business to achieve the mobility and on-demand service they desire but without an investment in SaaS solutions that are much more difficult to change out of or grow with later.

When “QuickBooks” and “cloud” are mentioned in the same sentence, most people are likely to think about the QuickBooks Online Edition, which is Intuit’s version of QuickBooks accounting software that was developed specifically for the web.  But QuickBooks Online isn’t the only QuickBooks “flavor” finding success in the cloud.  QuickBooks desktop editions have made their way into online and hosted deliveries, giving customers the ability to run the business and grow the organization with the software they’ve already invested in, but running the apps in the cloud.

QuickBooks Online lacks the features and functionality present in the desktop product lines, and the range of 3rd party applications which integrate or work in conjunction with QuickBooks desktop is huge and continues to grow.  Developers with SaaS products often find that their target customers prefer the desktop editions of QuickBooks, even though there may be connections to QBO available.  All of these connected software products can be hosted with or connected to hosted QuickBooks, providing businesses with mobile and remote access for all their business applications, not just the web-based ones. *Note: not all QuickBooks hosting companies will also host whatever 3rd party integrations a business needs, so make sure to verify before you buy! What sounds like a great hosting deal now could turn into something you need to change later.  The good thing is, you can change…. unlike with QBO.

The popularity of desktop application hosting continues to grow because users have investments in software, data and business processes. Adding remote access and mobility doesn’t require an entire change of software, but it does introduce new benefits that can have a big positive impact on work quality, productivity and efficiency. QuickBooks hosting models and application hosting in general gives business owners a basis for helping employees balance (or integrate) work and life time and activities, and addresses the issues of data security and mobility by keeping information securely stored on the host.

Better information security, work/life balance, mobility, making the most of your existing investments and creating sustainability in the business so you can grow. These and more are benefits of hosting QuickBooks software for your business.

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J