As an accounting firm grows, the needs of the business rise. QuickBooks is a versatile software suitable to cater to accounting needs. However, the accounting process is complex, and can still need assistance from external software applications.
As an accountant, you need a seamless workflow. Especially, during the tax season, the inability of accomplishing some functions can become irritating.
Hosting makes accounting more manageable for the accountants and CPAs. However, it might not have a few functions that you might need in order to create a complete accounting solution.
Here is where the add-ons come into play. Add-ons are the third-party applications that integrate with QuickBooks accomplish a variety of tasks.
The QuickBooks add-ons can be used by you for multiple accounting tasks like managing cash flow and automating inventory management.
Here is how integrating add-ons with QuickBooks software can help you streamline your accounting process.
1. Payment Methods
In today’s time, no client wants to pay the full payment in one go or have a plan for the lifetime. Every client prefers periodic payment plans which help them to strategize and plan better.
QuickBooks add-ons such as Bill & Pay allow you to automate the payment feature. Moreover, it helps to regulate the frequency, terms and the fees of the payments and updates the balance of the invoice in QuickBooks.
2. Expense Management
QuickBooks add-ons make expense management simpler and quicker. There is no need for processing, collection, and management of paper receipts. You have the option to click a picture of the receipt, with the help of which the application would create a digital data and push it forward for approval.
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Expense management add-ons such as Expense Watch enables the synchronization of the purchases made by the credit cards. The data of the expenses would be updated to the specific accounts which have been present in QuickBooks.
3. Automation
Integrating Add-ons with your QuickBooks enables automatic on-boarding of clients along with automatic workflow categorization and delegation. The variety of add-ons available help the accountants and CPAs to streamline the process of client acquisition.
The add-ons like Adobe Business Catalyst also enable you to send invoices easily along with the amount collected on the dashboard which analyzes the data available and present it in the form of graphs and charts. A CPA can easily watch the standing of the business against the competitors.
Another added benefit is that the clients can easily schedule the appointments by checking the availability in real-time and booking without the need to contact every time.
Moreover, with the integration of add-ons, you get automatic reminders, approvals and follow-up messages which can be synced with the QuickBooks account.
4. Stock Management
Even though QuickBooks is known for its ability to put most of the business-related information in one place, it can use some help in the domain of inventory management.
There are plenty of add-ons available which help the businesses with stock management, support tools, and sales orders, all of which is readily available from anywhere at any time.
Some QuickBooks add-ons such as Fishbowl Inventory also provide unique features like the ability to track the stock by using the serial number and providing support for inventory worldwide, along with the price history of specific items.
5. Enables Paperless Work
QuickBooks add-ons not only help in increasing the efficiency of the business, but it also helps to make the business paperless. QuickBooks add-ons help to store the files and documents easily. All you have to do is scan and attach the data with the invoices, bills and other entries.
All the information is stored in one place which makes the auditing of accounts easy and helps the external and internal auditors to examine the files of the business in a smooth way.
6. Employee Management
QuickBooks add-ons also help to facilitate the management of employees with the help of efficient time tracking. Right from the creation and delegation of work schedules to the time tracking, the QuickBooks add-ons such as Count Me In make it easy to clock the time of the employees.
The added benefit of QuickBooks add-ons is that it is not necessary to have Internet connectivity to track the time. The add-ons can monitor the time even when it is offline and provides the updates when the system is online again.
7. Forecasting of Cashflow
Another benefit of having QuickBooks add-ons is that they help to keep the company’s finances in order. It enables the CPAs to be on top of their finances which allows them to stay ahead.
The QuickBooks add-ons help to streamline the bills and invoices taken out from the QuickBooks software.
Integration of add-ons with the QuickBooks software eliminates the requirement of hand-operated tasks such as data entry which increases accuracy along with reduced time consumption. Also, it helps all the users to be constantly updated.
At the end…
QuickBooks in itself is a feature loaded software; however, as businesses and firms grow, different kinds of challenges arise. Here is where the QuickBooks add-ons come into the picture.
Where on one place they enable easy expense, employee and stock management, on the other hand, they help to forecast the cash flow and automate various tasks.
Also, allowing of paperless work and different payment methods make the life of an accountant easier.