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How To Choose The Right Bookkeeping Software

How To Choose The Right Bookkeeping Software

Most small business owners aren’t considered experts at financial management. Since your business’ financials never stop, having to manage this yourself with ineffective tools can be frustrating and time-consuming. It’s what makes small business bookkeeping such a dread.

Finding the right bookkeeping software for your company is essential to maintaining an organized environment that limits mistakes and confusion. Below, we’re going to discuss some of the most important factors when determining the best bookkeeping software -- that way you can make a more-informed decision.

Finding the Best Bookkeeping Software

First and foremost, you need to understand what your business needs. Some businesses need something simple, while others need something complex. Some companies might be looking for something that can support both if they plan on scaling the business in the future.

Either way, you need to have a deep understanding of this before you start looking at software or consultants. It’ll help you narrow down your options initially so you can focus on the things that separate the best bookkeeping software from everything else.

In order to determine that, there are five major factors you need to consider -- customization, simplicity, accessibility, customer support, and integration. To limit any confusion with these factors, we’ll break them all down one-by-one for you.

1.   Customization & Personalization

When it comes to small business bookkeeping, every business is unique and they all have their own way of operating. In order for a bookkeeping software to be of any assistance to your needs, it needs to be flexible enough to customize and personalize to your liking.

Whether you have hourly employees or contractors working for you, need assistance managing income and expenses, or need general help when it comes to taxes, your bookkeeping software should have a solution for you.

2.   Ease of Use is Crucial

No small business owner wants to invest company funds into a bookkeeping software that provides more confusion and frustration than it does assistance. In fact, it would defeat the purpose of investing in bookkeeping software to begin with.

Your new software shouldn’t have a steep learning curve for any business owner or accounting team. It should streamline the process and save you loads of time in the process. If you’re receiving anything less than that from your bookkeeping solution, it’s time for new software

3.   Accessibility At All Times

Much like you want the software to be simple, you also want it to be accessible. This means having the ability to view your books and financial insight whenever or wherever you need to -- especially since most small business owners are constantly on-the-go.

It doesn’t matter what device you’ve grown to love over the years, your new bookkeeping software should be supported on it. Phones, tablets, laptops, PCs, you name it!

4.   Excellent Customer Support

Any product, service, or software needs excellent customer support. Nothing is perfect and you’re sure to run into an issue, question, or comment at some point. Since bookkeeping is a stressful process in general, having courteous and helpful customer service agents by your side is a must.

That also means having easy access to these agents, whether it be live chat, phone call, email, by mail, in-person, or through social media. The more options, the better!

5.   Integration At It’s Finest

Over the years, every small business owner has become attached to certain software, apps, tools, and resources when running their business. Having a bookkeeping software that easily integrates with your existing operations is essential to finding one that works for you.

When you have all your technology working together, it makes everything that much easier for you and your team. Since putting yourselves in a position to succeed is crucial to achieving success, you’ll be in a good spot moving forward.

Now that you know what to look for, put that knowledge to good use and find a bookkeeping software that works well with your business. Contact Consultants In-A-Box today to learn more about our solutions and how we can help you take control of your business’ financials.

Six Reasons For Outsourcing Payroll

Six Reasons For Outsourcing Payroll

The vital role outsourcing plays in business growth cannot be downplayed. A lot of major players in the marketing industry have long taken advantage of these ‘outside expert services’ to streamline and boost the productivity of their business.

The strategic services of outsourcing companies have been utilized in times past, and if success stories are any indication, it is quite beneficial to hand out some core responsibilities to these outsourcing firms—and that includes payroll.

We, at Consultants-In-A-Box, will be exploring some of the reasons why you need to outsource payroll to an expert firm. But first things first.

What are Payroll Outsourcing Services?

Payroll outsourcing services, like Consultants-In-A-Box, are employed by companies to handle their payroll process in an efficient and specialized manner. As a payroll provider, these outsourcing companies bring their expertise and efficiency in procuring payroll to the parent company.

Why Do You Need A Payroll Outsourcing Service?

There are several beneficial reasons to hire the services of an expert payroll service. We’ll be looking at 6 of them.

Less Time Calculating The Payroll Of Every Worker.

An employee in charge of payroll will always have a long, rough day before or after payment day. He or she would have to constantly and accurately calculate the net salary of every worker in the organization.

They’d have to calculate and remove the taxes, include benefits such as child supports, pension, healthcare, transportation allowance, and other additions or deductions. And that’s just one person!

When you factor in the amount of time that he or she would complete the task, ensuring all your staff is accounted for, it’s going to take a huge slice of the week.

Contracting this specific task to an expert payroll outsourcing firm is beneficial for you in the long run.

Limit Common Payroll Mistakes.

When it comes to payroll and calculating workers’ paycheck, mistakes do occur, and this negatively impacts the business or the employees directly. When a worker’s work hours aren’t correctly inputted to calculate his gross salary, he or she would notice a decrease in their pay.

Also, when tax deductions are properly removed, a huge chunk of the worker’s salary is removed. This may breed resentment towards the company, and if they take legal actions against your company, they’d be right to do so.

To avoid mistakes like this, you need a reliable payroll outsourcing service to take the weight off your shoulder.

Professionals With Relevant Experience In Payroll.

When it comes to payroll, no one does it better than a professional company set up for just that purpose. They understand the many complexities of payroll processing and still deliver the very best. Some of their duties include:

  • Submitting year-end and quarterly payroll taxes.
  • Adjusting the correct tax deductions by updating W-9 forms.
  • Handling healthcare, social security, and FICA deductions.
  • Background knowledge of national regulations as regards with payroll deductions.
  • Ensuring state and federal tax laws are strictly adhered to.

Security Of Payroll Data.

Hiring the services of professional payroll providers guarantees you of payroll data safety. Most companies still struggle with issues ranging from embezzlements, identity theft, and intentional tampering of records.

Hiring a payroll outsourcing company means your confidential records are safe and secured away from prying eyes inside your company.

Compliance With Government Laws.

When you’re managing several workers at once, having to track their allowance and deducting federal, state, as well as healthcare taxes can be really tasking, and mistakes may occur.

To remain on the side of the law, it is important to hire the services of a payroll provider to remit accurate taxes and returns to the government.

Generating Reports For Company Use.

After a payment period, the records containing the pay earned by employees, including tax, miscellaneous deductions are documented and kept for future use. When you’re making use of an in-house staff for this, mistakes may occur and negatively impact your business.

The services of seasoned payroll providers should be hired to accurately analyze and document these reports.

When with all this information at your fingertips, the need for an outsourcing payroll company arises. Consultants-In-A-Box, since our inception, has prided ourselves in delivering the best payroll service that your business needs at the moment. Contact us today to take advantage of our awesome packages.