When we start a new company we choose an accounting business and we prefer sticking to it.
Why? For most of the accountants, switching accounting software can feel like a chore. Better the devil you know and all that. But sometimes business growth has forced them to rethink other options.
So, let’s talk about the switch. Switching in mid-year brings complication of having x number of information in one accounting software and the remaining months in another. It will also increase the chance of errors.
Every accounting software asks you to enter opening balances during the set-up procedure. The easiest way to obtain a service which transfers your information into Xero, effectively copying your previous information. You can download all the reports and store them for future reference.
Switching accounting software is easy but there will always be a challenge. So, here are some challenges that you might face.
Opening balances not ready
Let’s say you haven’t quite completed your earlier financial year yet.
You aren’t completely sure who you owe money to or who owes you money.
In such a case you need to enter the balances you have but be prepared to modify these once or twice after you finalize the earlier financial year. Online based accounting software like Xero will let you start with only the opening balance.
Transferred data not accurate
So, let’s say after you transfer the record you realized that the information isn’t correct. Which means the information you have entered in your new software is not correct.
So you have to go through the imported bank information to find the gaps. Deleting or importing entries, checking your VAT Returns. Because this is new software, you find it harder to spot the errors and correct them.
If it looks like a big work then pay someone to help but the errors would always need to be corrected. So as tough as it seems, try to understand this as a bookkeeping check is so once done, your data will be better than it was before.
New software missing on features of old software
Sometimes, after switching accounting software some features in our might be missing.
For example, the wave can take payments directly. This is a feature that most other software packages like Xero do not have.
It could be frustrating. Especially if you didn’t know that you were about to lose the feature. But there are workarounds, doing some research will find you a way of solving the problem.
Takes longer time
When you know an accounting software package well, then everything is easy.
If you are new to software which saves reports in different places or uses different names for things. You’ll find some initial difficulties in getting used to with the features. Be prepared to spend some of your time into learning and make some mistakes.
You don’t get friendly with it
You can’t get the data out of the organization that you want. You can’t take customer payments as effortlessly as before. You are spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to operate things.
If you find yourself in this condition you can invest in some training. Contact a professional bookkeeper and pay for an hour of training. You can do it online as well. Work through things together and ask for help when you get stuck somewhere. You can always look at another software option because changing is okay.
If you want to switch accounting software you can definitely try Xero or FreeAgent. Both are great for freelancers or outsourcing agents.
Xero is highly recommended for any renowned accounting companies which deal with international clients and complex taxation procedure. It is easily linked to PayPal and copes with foreign currencies. You can also link it to million apps like Epos systems, expense capturing software, timesheets, detailed reporting and many more.
