The importance of accounting software for small business owners

Key takeaways

• Accounting software providers (ASPs) automate time-consuming tasks like invoicing, payroll and tax reporting, freeing you up to focus on your business.
• Cloud-based ASPs deliver real-time financial insights and enable seamless collaboration with accountants, bookkeepers and your bank.
• Connecting your ASP to your business banking makes it easier to access lending and overdrafts when you need them.

Effectively managing your finances has long been one of the biggest challenges that small business owners face. Between invoicing, payroll and super requirements, expense tracking, and GST and income tax obligations, keeping track of where your money is at any given moment can easily become a time-consuming and stressful task.

Fortunately, a lot of these accounting complexities can be automated and integrated with ASPs such as Xero or MYOB. This article will explore how these ASPs work and how they might be able to help you run your business more easily and confidently.

How do accounting software providers work?

ASPs are designed to be a total replacement for manual bookkeeping.

Instead of marking down your income and expenses on an Excel spreadsheet, ASPs have an app that you can use on your phone or desktop computer to enter incomings and outgoings as they occur. You can generate quotes and invoices, track sales and inventory, and create budgets and cash flow reports.

ASPs also offer a range of automation services so that you can quickly and confidently calculate your Business Activity Statements (BAS), payroll obligations, daily reconciliations and more.

The information you provide is hosted in a secure cloud environment, meaning that it can be shared with accountants and banks, and be accessed from multiple devices at the same time.

Benefits of using an accounting software provider

While each ASP package has its own style and set of features, in general they operate in a similar fashion. Some of the key features they tend to offer are:

• Automation: simplify repetitive and error-prone tasks like data entry, end-of-day reconciliation, BAS and tax reporting, payroll and invoicing.
  • Understanding GST and BAS for small business
• Instant insights: generate up-to-the-minute cash flow insights, profit and loss statements and balance sheets.
  • Small business cash flow
• Cloud capabilities: grant different employees different levels of access and let your accountant track your financials in real time.
  • Six reasons your business needs an accountant
• Banking integration: share data directly with your business bank and payment provider for easy funding applications and faster and more accurate reconciliation.
  • Activate your ANZ bank feed

Why your business needs accounting software

The single clearest benefit of using an ASP is the time savings. Using these apps, you can quickly create reports, invoices and activity statements that would take hours with a manual system – time you can direct towards growth plans and better customer engagement, or even just your own wellbeing.  

Simple reporting and visualisations can give you a clearer picture of your cash flow, allowing you to make smarter and more strategic financial decisions. Having your data stored in the cloud means that you can also work more easily with bookkeepers and accountants, saving you plenty of money and stress around tax time.

Sharing your ASP data with your bank can also streamline your processes, especially when it comes to reconciliation and business lending. ANZ offers simple integration with your ASP’s data feed. With six months of business data, you can apply for business loans, overdrafts and business credit cards via ANZ GoBiz, and if eligible, get conditional approval in minutes.

• Easy online business loans and overdrafts with ANZ GoBiz
• Using accounting software to get a business loan faster
• Six steps to prepare for business lending

Take control of your business finances

Investing in accounting software isn't just about keeping better records, it's about giving yourself the freedom to focus on what you do best: running and growing your business. By automating time-consuming financial tasks and providing real-time insights into your cash flow, ASPs help you make smarter decisions with confidence.

Ready to take the plunge? Check out these deals on subscriptions to Xero and MYOB to help you get started.