A lot of businesses and organisations fall at the first hurdle by continuing to rely solely on spreadsheets to complete their budgets and forecasts. Finance, accounting and ERP systems are designed specifically to make processes easier and less time-consuming through automation. In particular, systems that are built for the Cloud, are a must-have when it comes to automating all areas of finance and accounting. When implemented, they allow users to generate accurate predictions and budgets quickly and with minimal errors.
Another benefit that ‘Designed for Cloud’ accounting software brings to budgeting and forecasting is flexibility. Fixed forecasts and budgets can become obsolete as things change throughout your fiscal year. Continuing to base decisions on ‘best guesses’ made months prior using out-of-date information is counterproductive and can lead to faulty and costly decisions. Here, ‘Designed for Cloud’ accounting software allows you to build flexibility into your budgeting and forecasting. This includes real-time live data allowing for more accuracy and better decision-making within the finance department and throughout your organisation.
When budgets are tight and organisations are looking to cut costs wherever possible, it becomes vital that finance and accounting departments have an in-depth view of costs and expenses. This requires everything to be accounted for when budgeting and forecasting for the upcoming fiscal year, whether it’s cash management or expenses. When using ‘Designed for Cloud’ accounting software, managing and maintaining a sophisticated analysis of customers, suppliers, projects, inventory, people, assets, cash, and much more, becomes simple with extensive automation and AI features that reduce human error that occurs with manual input and tasks, whilst saving departments valuable time that can be reassigned to more vital tasks.
As well as allowing you to extensively track all aspects of your finances, ‘Designed for Cloud’ software increases your department’s efficiency, as we’ve seen with the reduction of human error and the need for manually imputing documents. However, with ERP solutions like Aqilla, Cloud-based accounting and business software can also provide a full budgeting, forecasting and project-costing suite, allowing users to create, edit and manage costs through tailored workflows. Where complex, customised analysis of project costs and revenue are needed, including Associate Rates (by people and time types), ‘Designed for Cloud’ accounting software, offers real-time data that not only integrates with Excel but can easily be exported into customisable visualisations for effortless and effective reporting. This level of optimisation to workflow and reporting processes allows for more accurate and impactful budgets and forecasts, enabling the collaboration of relevant members of your team, as well as the ability to share up-to-date, insightful and tailored reports across the organisation.
Ultimately, ‘Designed for Cloud’ systems offer automated solutions and actionable data so that finance departments can successfully influence their organisations’ operational growth strategy. By ensuring that budgeting and forecasting are flexible, optimised, efficient and informed, accounting software that’s built to harness the power of the Cloud will be a vital tool in the coming years for all organisations and their finance teams looking to competitively enhance their processes whilst saving both time, money and reducing complexity.
To find out more about the benefits of ‘Designed for Cloud’ ERP and Accounting Software, and how it could support your organisation’s finance department, reach out to one of our friendly advisers today via telephone: +44 (0)20 8798 0616 or complete our form below.
