Meet Stewart. He’s our fictitious entrepreneurial friend who owns a web design agency. He’s successful, he’s hardworking, and his business is growing. Unfortunately, Stewart is also his own accountant, which means he struggles to find a balance between bookkeeping and running a business. Like many business owners, Stewart’s makes novice accounting mistakes due to his lack of accounting expertise.
The Problem: On Saturday morning, Stewart receives a text alert from his bank notifying him of a bank balance overdraft. He realizes this means his employees paychecks will be returned and that he’ll have to spend his weekend trying to make sure they get paid.
The Solution: As business owners, you should have access to all your financials at all time. Real-time access to financials is invaluable. While you may be accustomed to your desktop version of Quickbooks, it’s important to realize its limitations. When you move your accounting to the cloud, you have an up-to-the-minute view of how your business is performing. Real-time access to financials helps you evaluate your business instantly and project where it will go in the future.
Real-time access also means everything is accounted for at all times. It’s a surefire system to make sure invoices get paid, receipts are scanned, and reports are filed. Cloud-based accounting systems with real-time access help you stay organized and informed—two essential words that make a successful business owner.
Stewart’s lack of access left him in a precarious position that caused him more stress than was necessary. If he had access to his financials and realized payroll was going to bounce, he could have easily moved or allocated funds to cover his employees’ paychecks. Don’t be Stewart—get access to your financials and be aware of how much money you have in your accounts.