In recent years, technological advancements have streamlined how businesses provide their services. This is now becoming a key deciding factor when contractors are choosing who to appoint as their accountants. As technology has made it both easier and convenient to access your accounts, it’s no surprise that contractors are now proactively switching from traditional to digital.
The key advantages of using an online accounting software are:
- Real Time Information
Your up-to-date accounting records can be viewed at anytime, anywhere in the world. You’ll be provided with an online dashboard which displays your business’ current financial information, ensuring you can respond immediately to business change. Obtaining a real-time status of your accounts is important in understanding how much money is available for you to extract.
- Security
Online accounting software will generally offer data security that is compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. In addition to this, it is easy to set up secure connections with a business’ clients and bank accounts. Before selecting your accountant, ensure that their portal has a high level of security.
- User Friendly
Contractor friendly portals tend to be fairly straightforward to use. Services such as FreeAgent are developed for freelancers to understand how to input data. An advantage of using an online offering is that the data can be uploaded automatically. This makes it much more efficient than traditional bookkeeping and ensures that both the business and accountant can be more efficient with their time.
- Payroll
With HMRC’s continued focus on real-time reporting, processing payroll through online accounting makes it easier to comply with their deadlines.
- SaaS (Software as a service)
Most online portals don’t require you to download any software, instead you’ll update the portal through your internet browser or dedicated app.
At Gorilla Accounting, we work with the FreeAgent service. FreeAgent is widely renowned within the contracting industry and has over 40,000 freelancers operating the service. For more information on the Freeagent software watch the below video, alternatively call Charlotte on 0330 024 0406 and request a demo.