Smart Accounting Services is advising companies on how Reckon One and Reckon Hosted can do their accounts while they get on with running their business.

The challenge

In an ideal world, a SME’s monthly accounts would simply do themselves and leave the owner and their employees free to focus on their core business.

Even in the age of automation and AI, that’s not likely to happen any time soon. However, if your Cloud accounting software systems are set up properly it can do the majority of your checks and balances throughout the month – and year – to allow you more time to run and grow the company.

Kay Smart, of Smart Accounting Services in the Bay of Plenty, advises SME’s on setting up their Cloud accounting software systems and optimising what it can do for them.

Smart says one of the challenges for SME’s is getting things right from the start – and keeping finances and records up to date is critical if a company is to grow and develop.

“You want to future proof your business and make it the best it can be. It’s all about redefining and taking control of your accounts, and investment in the Cloud is something that will pay off now and in the long run,”.

The solution

Smart assists many companies in the Bay of Plenty region with their accounts using Cloud accounting software company Reckon NZ’s products Reckon One and Reckon Hosted.

Reckon One and Reckon Hosted act as storage platforms for all financial data as well as being a pivotal point for a company’s entire ecosystem.

Smart says the beauty of Cloud accounting is that it takes away a lot of the work for business owners and employees, while still being easily accessible when you need to make quick changes.

“The Cloud is a platform to make data and software accessible online anytime, anywhere and from any device. Online Cloud accounting means small and medium business owners stay connected to their financial data and their accountant – it’s right at their fingertips,” she says.

Reckon’s products allow SMEs to easily manage everything from basic business practices such as invoicing, GST processing, and accounts owing, through to integrating specific industry applications needed for your business.

Features and processes aside, Smart says cost is also a serious motivation for her clients to move to the Cloud.

“The majority of my clients are small business and the introduction of either Reckon One or Reckon Hosted is proving a real winner as far as cost is concerned.”

The result

Smart has been working with emerging Whakatane-based business, Diverse Graphics, which started out three years ago and wanted to get things right from day one.

The owners had never owned a business before, however they realised the benefits of using an accounting system that could automate simple tasks, such as invoices, and do a lot of the work for them.

Diverse Graphics, which was highly commended at the 2016 Eastern Bay Chamber of Commerce Business Awards, use Reckon Hosted to enable both the owners and Smart to log into their file, track the company’s performance, and fix any issues that may arise.

Moving this process to a Cloud-based platform cuts the time spent searching for files and sending physical files. So a process which could have taken a few days is now reduced to a matter of minutes.

“It allows us to have easy access to the most up to date information when it comes to tax planning and major financial expenditure decisions,” says Smart.

“The owners simply enter the bills for accounts owing and for invoicing and at the end of the month I do the bank reconciliations and the GST return. It means we’re keeping a close eye on how the business is progressing but also leaves the owners free to do what they are good at – running their business.”