Cloud Accounting - Software Choices for the for SME Business

Cloud accounting is the new way for SME businesses to maintain their book-keeping records. Accounting software is hosted and delivered over the internet, allowing live data to be accessed from any fixed or mobile location that has an internet connection. Although this medium of delivery has been around for approximately 10 years now, previously referred to as online accounting, software as a service (SaaS) and application service provider (ASP), SME business users have been slow to adopt this new technology. But are we now at the 'tipping point'?

With the speed of internet connections increasing, combined with a reduction in cost, SME businesses can see the benfit in adopting a business model where non-core activities are outsourced to managed service providers. The case for actually owning software, and hosting it on your own pc or network, is now no longer so convincing. Numerous other benefits also arise from cloud accounting:

• The ability to actively share the data, or passively interrogate it, from virtually any location, without the complications and costs of establishing a wide area network.
• The platform has built in scalability.
• The security issues of the data being kept off site and letting someone else worry about most of the disaster recovery issues.
• The software rental costs are spread out, rather than an up front purchase, converting CapEx to OpEx, which assists with cash flow.
• The business's own in-house IT function can then concentrate more on innovation of IP delivery and other value added projects, rather that routine platform maintenance.
• Future software and platform upgrade procedures, migrations and costs are all included.

For SME business clients who require our assistance with ongoing book-keeping, or management accounting, using cloud accounting gives us shared access to your live data, without the need for travelling or exchanging data backups.

Although we are not a supplier of Cloud Accounting software ourselves, we have experience of the related operational issues. We also have expertise in acting for the type of modern SME business that will typically be interested in adopting cloud accounting. Such a business will often run a virtual office. We can assist you in software selection, in considering the following relative merits of each package:

• Functionality.
• Security (access and backup).
• Cost.
• Down time.
• Support.
• Product development.
• Stability of supplier.
• Future plans.