Recently, I seem to be advising sole traders and owner-managed small limited companies about accounts packages.
Whilst buying an accounts package when your business is small or starting off seems like a major expense, the benefits that it can bring to your business is normally worth the expense.
Here are 5 reasons why accounts packages are worth investing in:
1. Accounting packages provide discipline in record-keeping – ensuring that all cash (incoming and outgoing), revenue and expenses are properly captured. Important if you want good information about your profitability before your accountant produces your tax return or statutory accounts.
2.Acounting packages provide debtor and creditor information – not only what is outstanding or owed – but very often in the case of debtors, how much one client spends with you.
3. The time producing sales invoices, especially for those with a high volume of debtors, decreases if the accounts package has the facility to produce pdf versions which can be emailed.
4. An accounts package can easily produce monthly management accounts. This information is a powerful tool for driving your business forward.
5. The management accounts, with a bit of tweaking, can act as a ready reckoner of your expected tax bill as you move throughout your financial year.
As a final thought consider the fact that if a PC -based package is bought, it’s a one-off cost (and tax deductible) for a bit of software that you’ll be using for the next 3-4 years which gives you valuable information about your business.
