Your accounting software could be holding you back – here’s why

Why doesn’t your accounting software solve every need you have?

The answer is simple. Many large organisations have complex requirements from their accounting software. Most software packages can’t cater to all of these needs without a bespoke implementation.

For example, a global charity would need cross-location and multi-currency functionality at an affordable price. These features would be available in a large enterprise-level business accounting system, but the charity would need a different set of reporting tools to stay compliant.

An organisation that can’t find a software package that suits them has to either adopt several accounting packages or dramatically change the way they work. In the case of our charity, this could increase the cost of their financial management many times over.

This can hold an organisation back. Simply put, accounting software should fit around your needs – not the other way around. Even worse, accounting software could be piling extra work onto busy accountants that could be automated by a more sophisticated system.

Shared pain points

Your accounting system could be piling more workload onto you than it should. There’s a multitude of common ‘pain points’ that most organisations share.

For example, ledger consolidation can eat into accountants’ time. If you find yourself suffering from wasted time consolidating ledgers, you may need to look for a more sophisticated system that can take over this low-value, high-effort task for you.

One of the best ways to cut down your workload is to implement a modern system with robust automation options.

Are you futureproofed?

Does your system fit with the modern and ever-changing finance landscape? The future of accounting is automation. It enables smooth and fast workflow processing that a human can’t manage. On top of that, automation unlocks powerful business analytics and insights and real-time data overviews.

Now more than ever, it’s crucial to have the ability to create reports which show a true overview of your finances. These reports can power reliable, finance-based decision-making.

Does your software enable this? If not, it might be time to ask tough questions of your supplier.

Compliance and security

Nowadays, security and compliance are crucially important. The penalty for not keeping compliant with regulations can be severe and could lead to heavy fines.

Cloud-based computing can help to prevent your systems from being hijacked, as the supplier will take responsibility for your security (find out more on our blog here). If your software isn’t cloud hosted, you could be holding yourself back – a fact that the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has brought into stark relief.

Remote working and collaboration

Now more than ever, remote working and remote collaboration are key to financial success. Your solution needs to be cloud hosted and work with commonly used business tools.

This is why integrated and flexible systems such as IRIS Financials are the best option. The full IRIS Financials suite isn’t just for accountants, either; there’s also integrated modules for HR and purchases and expenses as well as invoice matching and analytics capabilities. It’s a full back-office administrative suite for busy professionals.

We can also set up customers without ever visiting their premises thanks to our remote implementation service – in fact, we recently set up Bolton Cares using our service.

“We thought it would be difficult to achieve, but working jointly with the IRIS Financials team, we managed to go live on the planned date of the 1st of April.” – Lisa Antoni, Finance Audit and Resources Manager.

If you’re looking for accounting software that ticks all the boxes, you can always speak to the IRIS Financials team about remote implementation for your organisation. Don’t waste time and money hunting down several different systems – we can set up the ideal financial system for you. Find out more about how we help organisations with IRIS Financials.