The Buzz

Zoho Books - A Comprehensive Accounting Platform for Growing Businesses (Sponsored by Zoho)

Embarking on a business venture is a universal dream, but the reality is that getting started can be a daunting task. Once you take the plunge, there is no turning back. Business owners often find themselves juggling various roles, becoming a jack of all trades. Amidst the hustle, one aspect stands out – accounting and bookkeeping. While many business owners start by handling their own accounts, however as businesses expand, the complexities of financial management lead them to consider professionals like you to handle accounting. Some even choose to outsource to specialized practice firms considering the evolving demands of compliance. 

Manual accounting or Modern accounting? Choose wisely. 

As an accounting and bookkeeping professional, you need to ensure that the financial data is in top shape. You may have started with ledger books or spreadsheets or even moved on to use legacy applications, but as the business grows, there are numerous limitations that come along with them. Collaboration is close to impossible in manual accounting processes or with legacy systems in place. These traditional methods of accounting involve significant manual effort which is error prone. Also, the critical point to note here is that your data may not be secure either. As an accountant, you play a crucial role in overseeing and securing financial data. You may even notice that some of the tech savvy capabilities of modern cloud accounting may be missing out of your legacy systems such as automation, real-time financial insights, compliance alerts, scalability et al.

Some of the major challenges faced by businesses and accountants in not using an efficient and modern accounting software are - 

• Time-consuming and tiring accounting processes
• Frequent accounting errors
• Difficulty in keeping track of receivables and payables
• Lack of real-time insights
• Data leakage and insecurity
• Cash flow inconsistencies
• Taxing tax processes
• Lack of next-gen benefits such as collaboration, automation, scalability et al. 

A simple solution for a complex process : Zoho Books

Zoho Books is here to tackle all the above mentioned challenges and do much more for accountants and bookkeepers like you. Zoho Books is a one-stop accounting platform for accountants and businesses to manage and organize their accounting tasks and transactions. It serves as the single source of truth when it comes to financial data. In addition to the standard features of an accounting software like tracking receivables/payables, banking integrations, Zoho Books is packaged with a plethora of additional capabilities that makes accounting easy, effective and error free. In this article we will explore the key features that differentiates Zoho Books from other solutions in the market and how it streamlines accounting for accountants and bookkeepers. 

Customize as per your unique requirements

At Zoho Books, we realize that businesses have varied requirements basis their size, industry they belong to, and the solution they provide. And the one size fits all approach rarely fits all. Yes, you heard it right! Whether you handle accounting for your firm, or a new business or a fully grown business, the need is unique and there will be requirements that are very specific to the business. This is where Zoho Books comes to the rescue. Apart from offering a comprehensive set of modules for your end-to-end accounting, any business user can leverage the custom modules functionality to build on and customize their accounting process. Whether you want to create a new module specific to your line of business or add fields that may not available by default, you can accomplish that using Zoho Books.

Collaborate better with key stakeholders

Whether you're managing the accounting for your company or overseeing a firm that handles multiple clients, you may have encountered scenarios where you spent days waiting for clarifications from team members or clients. With contextual chat feature in Zoho Books, the days you spent waiting for a response will be reduced to a matter of minutes. You can text instantaneously and call any Zoho Books user of your account and initiate a discussion with them. As an accountant, you can review all transactions and get changes done immediately if needed after consulting your peers and clients. 

Make tax processes less taxing

Tax processes may seem complicated and errors in execution may incur penalties. Zoho Books auto populates and applies correct tax rates to your transactions based on your tax settings and shipping/billing address. You can generate your federal and provincial tax returns and ensure your business is prepared for the tax season. At any point of time, you will be able to get a complete picture of your tax liability. 

Empower your customers and vendors

For growing businesses, building and maintaining a separate web portal for their customers and vendors involves high cost and effort. With Zoho Books, one can give their customers and vendors a superior experience by giving them a dedicated portal to manage all their transactions with them. Customer portal allows businesses to collaborate with their customers, interact and discuss with them in real-time thereby expediting processes beyond the usual pace. It also provides the customers with a summarized view of all their invoices & transactions in one place and enables them to make payments easily. Likewise, the vendor portal elevates supplier relationships by allowing them to self manage all their transactions with the business. 

Save time by automating redundant tasks

One user favourite capability that stands out for Zoho Books from other solutions is the automation capability that comes along with it. You can define a set of rules and let Zoho Books take care of it without any manual intervention. Be it setting up automated payment reminders or transactions that you want to repeat every month, these can all be done within a few clicks. With automated banking feature, the bank feeds are automatically fetched, categorized based on rules defined by the business user and matched with transactions recorded in the respective Zoho Books account. 

Endnote

Efficient accounting is the backbone of any thriving business. When approached with precision, it becomes a catalyst not only for time savings but also for preserving valuable financial resources. In today's era of uncertainty, financial acumen is more crucial than ever. Optimal investments in the right solutions, at the right juncture, emerge as the cornerstone for safeguarding both time and money.

Renowned for its exceptional scalability that evolves in tandem with business expansion and its unwavering commitment to meeting regional compliance requirements, Zoho Books emerges as the go-to accounting solution for growing businesses in Canada. Starting with a free plan, Zoho Books offers affordable pricing plans to suit businesses of varied sizes and requirements. Also, note that all plans include a free trial.

Get in touch with us by visiting our website or email us at marketing@zohobooks.com to book a 1:1 demo of our solution. 

About Zoho Finance

Zoho Finance provides an integrated suite of applications from invoicing to order management, expense tracking to accounting, and more to manage every aspect of any business. Zoho Practice, the latest inclusion to our finance suite, is a complete practice management software specifically designed for accounting and bookkeeping firms. With its collaborative client management, secure document handling, seamless task management, insightful client analytics, proactive compliance alerts, and more, Zoho Practice is set to transform the operational efficiency of accounting and bookkeeping firms.