A lot of businesses think of accounting as something they have to do, rather than something they want to do. But all that could all change once you get proper processes in place. The good people at Xero have agreed to tell us how accounting can be... cool! Hear us out.
1. See business performance
Good accounting helps you see how your business is doing. Besides what’s in the bank now, it can tell you what should be there next week and beyond. It can also measure profitability from one week to the next. Those sorts of insights will help you steer the ship with more confidence.
2. Plot a path to glory
Imagine if you could measure the profit margin on each individual product or service you offer. That would help you decide what to do more of, and what to do less of.
When your accounting is humming, you can measure the financial impact of just about everything in your business. And then predict what would happen if you tweaked this or that. It’s powerful stuff.
3. Get access to finance
You'll almost certainly need to borrow cash at some point for your business. Lenders require you to front all sorts of financial records, which can sometimes slow things down. But clean and current accounts mean you’re always loan-ready and able to jump on a new opportunity. You can even apply for loans online by sharing the relevant information with the lender from your accounting software.
4. Hands-free accounting
All this stuff is great... but who does all the upfront work? Someone’s still got to punch the numbers into your accounts, right? Actually, no.
An online accounting system can fetch all the financial data for you. It can pull records from your bank or point-of-sale (POS) system. You can even forward invoices from your email or photograph receipts on your phone... and the system will read them. Then it nudges you periodically to double check the numbers. And suddenly, accounting happens pretty much while you sleep.
With a Monzo Business account, you can connect directly to Xero and have your transactions sync every 24 hours - no need for manual uploads. You can do your reconciling quickly using Monzo Business on the Web, and attach photos of receipts to your transactions for easier bookkeeping.
We told you this stuff could be cool! You can learn more at Xero or – if you’re not ready for all this yet – check out our earlier blogposts on accounting essentials.
Startup accounting: what to do in your first weeks of business
Accounting basics that every small business needs to get right
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