As an entrepreneur, it’s fair to say you won’t have a lot of time to focus on the accounting side of things, or you might not even have the necessary skills. Regardless of your understanding, the books have to be done.

Hiring an accountant is the first step, but there are also many online software solutions and applications (apps) that can be used to economically and effectively deal with many elements of your business’s financial health.

The trick is to get the balance right: when should you use an accountant, and when is it ok to just tap the app?

Finding the balance

Having a solid accounting system in place is the first step. Knowing what to outsource to a professional as your business grows is the next.

While hiring an accountant may seem like a big step for your business, consulting with an experienced bookkeeper might be just what you need to give yourself a competitive advantage and free up your time to focus on your entrepreneurial strengths.

The key is knowing what tasks to keep internal, and what tasks warrant professional assistance in order to maximise your return on investment in accounting services.

Call in the accountant

For most businesses, there will always be times when it makes good sense to consult a professional accountant, especially when there are questions or issues that may be very specific to your individual business needs. While financial apps are very sophisticated and can deal with many accounting needs, they are not always able to be tailored to meet every unique situation of your business.

Setting up your internal accounting system is certainly something that could benefit from the experience and expertise of an accountant. By getting the basics right at the outset of starting your enterprise, you will be in much better shape to prosper in good times and ride out the storm when times are tough.

Accountants, used appropriately, need not be frighteningly expensive. Shop around for the right one and word of mouth from a trusted fellow businessman is probably not a bad idea.

Once you have engaged the right person for your needs, make sure you use them for the important accounting deeds where a little human expertise can be useful, such as preparing your end of financial year statement, submitting tax returns, and advice on better managing your cash flow and systems.

You don’t need a full-time accountant

The good news for start-ups is that you don’t have to hire a full-time accountant. A good software solution that can take care of the fundamentals and more will free you up to be creative, to network and to promote your product and business.

In fact using an accountant and software together will compliment one another.

 

 

One software option is Financio Premium, an accounting automation software solution designed to meet the particular accounting needs of startups, micro and small businesses. It sets out to be a user-friendly, cloud-based product which requires no accounting knowledge to operate. Financio has also been developed with the younger generation of business operator in mind, incorporating social media style elements along with a range of standard capabilities that make the accounting function in your business more efficient and responsive to your needs.

Financio: Key functions

 

 

 

Check out Financio Premium in Singtel myBusiness now.