AccountingAdviser.net

As the internet has evolved, online bookkeeping has become a practical solution for many businesses. The idea of running bookkeeping transaction over the internet initially seemed all a bit science fiction – but instead it has become reality for many businesses.

Online bookkeeping is sometimes also called remote bookkeeping. The software allows you to access all your transactions and data, which is stored on web servers remotely.  This is like looking up your bank account via internet banking. You can see balances and transactions as they are stored remotely.

As with anything there are both advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of an online bookkeeping service

• Generally they are quick to customize and implement. Based on this, the cost of doing so, is usually cheaper than other options.

Your data is automatically backed up. There is no longer the problem of having to make sure there are continually current backups existing. And if anything ever went wrong and you found you needed to use one of those backups it was always corrupt or slightly more out of date than you thought. With online bookkeeping, your provider should provide at least daily backups of data so that the maximum loss would only ever be one day’s data.

• Presentation of data for users. Getting the information in is one step in the process. The next is being able to use the data in a useful manner. Online bookkeeping services usually have friendly interfaces so that people can log in and see results presented in an understandable way. This information can also be real time. If sales data is continually fed in, then your sales team can see at any point how the day, the week, the month, or the year, is going.
• Remote access: Wherever there are a computer and an internet connection or a smartphone. If you travel a lot this makes the globe your potential office.
• Most online bookkeeping service allow you to easily interface with your bank and download bank statements and to upload payments. All of these transactions can be reflected directly into the appropriate places in the accounting system.  Some online bookkeeping programs can also pull data from PayPal.
• If your information is passed on to an accountant for further work they are able to access this information online and interface it through to their systems.
• Some online bookkeeping services allow you to customize the settings to reflect the country you are working in. Local tax rates can be automatically integrated to produce country appropriate results.
• As you are not purchasing software, you no longer need to keep updating as new software releases come out.

Disadvantages of Online Bookkeeping

• If your internet connection is down, you are unable to access the real time data.
• An online bookkeeping service may not have as many bells and whistles as an off the shelf software package.

Its advantages are many, and balanced with the perceived disadvantages, it is a workable system that may make your bookkeeping tasks easier. Online bookkeeping is a real option for many companies.