5 Steps for Selecting the Best Accounting Software for Your Start-Up

Handling the accounting records manually can be intimidating in this digital age. Even if you are using the spreadsheets, you may not get the desired level of efficiency. As a start-up business, using the accounting software with automation features will be much helpful. It will reduce the time spent on redundant data entries and bring higher efficiency in your accounting systems.

Mostly, the accounting software is easy to use even for those having no or little experience of maintaining accounts. There are many companies offering the best software for bookkeeping and accounting. However, it must be selected according to your requirements. Here are the steps that must be considered in this regard:

Understand Your Individual Accounting Requirements:

The requirements of software in your start-up business are centered on two major factors, viz. your budget and software features that your business requires. The accounting software offers much technical functionality for management of your finances and accounting processes. It provides multiple features like ease of operation, automation, tax preparation, estimate creation, multiuser interface, mobile access, and lots more. However, you should choose the features specifically required by your business.

If you are in a budgetary crunch, you can opt for the free version of accounting software offering some basic functionality. You can later upgrade to the paid version offering comprehensive solutions.

Take Recommendations and Referrals:

Before investing in any software for bookkeeping and accounting services, it is always advisable to ask for referrals and recommendations from the other business owners in your industry. They can offer you better advice about different offerings and vendors in the market. You can also seek help from the online review sites for getting proper suggestions on this selection.

Check the Customer Services and Tech Support:

Using this software may seem easier but handling technical glitches, most certainly, is not. It requires expertise and experience of the highly skilled developers working extensively in these products. Hence, you must ask about technical support offered by the vendor. Secondly, their customer services should be available 24/7 to help you overcome the issues that hamper your accounting capabilities and efficiency.

Ask For A Free Trial:

Once you have narrowed down your options to a selected few, it’s time to ask for a free trial from each vendor. This will help you assess their software on various parameters and see if they can suffice all your business requirements. Mostly, the developers offer this option to sign up for a free trial on their portals. If they don’t make such an offer, you must reach out to them and ask for one.

Indulge Your Accountant In Selection:

Accounting software is designed to simplify the job of your accounting and bookkeeping department. It can’t replace the accountants. In fact, their suggestions matter a lot while making this decision. Hence, ask for their recommendations because they have dealt with many such software solutions. They can tell you which software serves the accounting needs of your startup in the best ways.

At Infognana, we have developed an advanced accounting software solution that caters to the multiple needs of our clients. Our accountants will help you choose the right software based on your business needs.

How to Tackle the Long Overdue Invoices?

Nothing can be more nightmarish for a small business than the long overdue invoices. A healthy cash flow is all that you need to stay in the business. But, the reality is that invoices are seldom paid on  time and you are in catch 22 every time your own bills become due.

The problem is aggravated by the fact that you may not be comfortable chasing the money and asking your clients frequently about payments. In such situations, you have to think rationally and tackle the unpaid invoice without being tongue-tied. Here are some simple fixes to do that:

Make your Payment Terms Clear:

Before you expect anything from the clients, it is essential to make clear payment terms and stick to them. You can either go for a 30-day payment term which is sort of a norm for many industries or opt for an immediate payment. Set the rules according to your requirements of cash flow management so that your business is not affected. At the same time, it is significant to explain these terms of payment to the client as well.

Consider Charging Interest on Late Payments:

Late payments can be penalized according to the government rules and legislations as well. It is termed as Statutory Interest that may go up to 8% on the late commercial payments along with some debt recovery charges. You can make your own set of rules for charging interest. It can be extra 2% for payment after 30 days or a 3% delayed payment fee for overdue invoices. The choice is yours. And also, make it known to the client before you start working on the project.

Don’t Chase Hastily:

After the 30-day payment period lapses, don’t get reckless. Have patience and allow a grace period of 2-3 days before you pick up the phone and talk to the client. When you call them up, maintain a friendly tone because you may not like to lose a client with your rudeness. You can also send some  friendly reminders through emails with a warm tone. Attach a copy of the invoice with this email. If it doesn’t work, send a statement citing your payment rules and charges for late payment. This strategy mostly works. Picking up the phone and charging interests should be your last resort.

Consider Upfront Payment:

If none of these work and you want to get rid of late payments forever, this is the best thing you can do. Ask your clients for an upfront payment. Don’t start the work until they clear the invoice. Convey your expectations to the client even before taking up the project. At the time of discussing the work details, talk about the payment terms also to avoid any misunderstanding later. You can also stop working on their project at any point if the payments are not cleared within the stipulated time.

Offer Discounts:

You can make the deal lucrative for the clients by offering discounts on upfront payments. Tell them that you will offer 10% discount as a ‘thank you’ gesture for advance payments.

In this context, you can also seek the automated and professional accounting and bookkeeping services at Infognana. We can take care of your accounts while you take care of your business.

Three Distinct Cash Flow Techniques To Increase Revenues

It is rather easy to start a business, however, the difficulty lies in acquiring customers, and even if you manage to get some, retaining them is probably the biggest challenge. On top of all this comes the hardest part, managing your cash.

Here are some tips from bookkeeping and accounting services experts on how to manage cash in your business so that you are never short.

Don’t hate bookkeeping, start liking it

Reconciling cash on a daily basis, or at least once a week is a great idea. You may have acquired your majors in marketing, but that cannot make you adept at handling cash. For some, reconciling cash is probably the most nightmarish experience ever. What with having to research errors periodically before the statement date, you are bound to get tensed up. The best thing to do is to closely monitor the errors at the earliest (rather, as soon as they occur), and this is possible only if reconciliation is done on a daily basis. If daily seems quite impossible with your busy schedule, at least do it weekly.

Keep an eye on Accounts Receivable

Any bookkeeping and accounting Services company worth its salt will realize the importance of monitoring accounts receivable like a hawk. If you want to run a healthy business make sure you keenly follow up unpaid invoices. Of course, if you are running a ‘cash and carry’ business you’ll never encounter any such issues. However, in today’s highly competitive world, extending credit is a shrewd business practice, but collecting your dues on time is equally important. Assign one day in a week to go through your reports and mark the payments that are overdue, and call those customers promptly and prevail upon them to mail the check at the earliest. Remember even letting a bill remain unpaid even a day after the due date is not advisable.

Gauge the Trend

Ask any professional bookkeeping and accounting Services expert and he or she will tell you how important it is to forecast the future, especially the cash flow part of your business for the coming week should be forecast in the form of a spreadsheet, so that you get to know where exactly you stand. If you don’t have a forecasting system in place ask your certified public account or tax expert who will be able to devise a working plan for you, either for a week in advance or even several weeks.

Give some thought to it and try to implement at least two of the above mentioned tips and you’ll see the difference in the cash flow in your business. To know more about how to manage cash flow better look up Infognana solutions, the professionals who know their business.

Benefits of Outsourcing Finance and Accounting Tasks to India

Outsourcing has become popular with small and large businesses alike because of the cost savings and the ease with which work can be got done. The companies that specialize in bookkeeping and accounting services have trained personnel and practice due diligence as far as compliance is concerned. India is a favorite destination not just for IT related work, but for finance and accounting related work as well.
India – the perfect destination:

People may wonder why multinational corporations and even small businesses think of India whenever outsourcing is mentioned. India has an excellent talent pool and they also have experts in data center hosting and can design excellent software applications for securing vital financial data, thereby adding value to business. Moreover the Indian workforce is diligent in the work and takes turnaround time seriously. They often carry out the tasks with 99% accuracy, and all this at affordable costs too. Outsourcing to India is certainly loaded with innumerable benefits.
The Cost Factor:
Most of the companies already outsourcing to India know that when it comes to costs there is no other country to beat India. For people who are yet to test the Indian shores, they’ll be surprised to learn that cost savings can be in an incredible range of 40% to 50%, thanks to the vast IT savvy and highly qualified task force that can undertake the most difficult of tasks and execute them with amazing accuracy. The costs, when compared to that of the U.S. and UK are a lot more affordable.

Efficiency levels:
The efficiency levels of the Indian workers are legendary. It is not mere rumors that almost 36% of NASA scientists are Indians. Moreover, when it comes to financial services there are none to beat the Indians in the quality of work, accuracy and turnaround time as well. With such high levels of efficiency, it is no wonder that India is the preferred destination for outsourcing.

Safety and Security:
Finance and accounting data can be very sensitive, hence safety and security of your data is of utmost concern. Most of the developed countries have devised fool-proof security systems and have them in place. However, there have been instances of data breach and sensitive information has been compromised. India is a nation of tech savvy IT professionals and the high-end technology ensures that your data is well protected, thanks to the servers that are well secured, as are the web-based apps.

Domain Expertise:
The primary reason why India has evolved as a primary destination for outsourcing bookkeeping and accounting services among a plethora of other services is the domain expertise. India has teams of highly-skilled staff working around the clock (most companies have staff working in various international time zones). The financial analysts and highly trained management graduates (MBA’s) have through knowledge of their domains and have ready answers and solutions to the many queries that customers have. Outsourcing to India makes perfect sense, try Infognana the specialists in various domains.