An Introduction to Automated Bookkeeping Services

Summary– With automated bookkeeping services, a company’s financial activities are streamlined, and its productivity and profitability are enhanced. Let us explore automated bookkeeping services in more detail.

What do you think a business does when it records and analyses the data in the books during the bookkeeping process? It examines the information recorded and kept. Earlier, bookkeeping was performed manually, but it was prone to errors and required too much time and resources. To prevent these problems, automated bookkeeping services have been introduced. The advantages of automated bookkeeping include saving businesses time and resources and reducing the risk of errors to provide accurate and reliable business financial records. Let us examine the topic in more detail.

What is meant by automated bookkeeping?

Many businesses now turn to automated bookkeeping services, whether looking to improve efficiency or just trying to keep track of their finances. These automated bookkeeping services utilise AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) to perform basic data entry and bookkeeping tasks, enabling businesses to manage their accounting data more easily. To better grasp automated bookkeeping, it can be broken up into three components:

1. Categorisation– Businesses can benefit from machine learning by properly categorising their transactions. Instead of just using simple rules, machines process hundreds (or thousands) of variables simultaneously to categorise data more accurately and efficiently. Accounting software that uses automated bookkeeping can achieve greater accuracy and efficiency.
2. Investigation– Bookkeeping software using machine learning technology can confirm transactions before categorising them, offering companies a feeling of security. It also provides feedback on unknown transactions and suggests uncategorised transactions.
3. Improvements in transactions– Businesses need to keep track of their transactions in order to monitor their performance and health. With automated bookkeeping services, businesses can keep track of all their transactions in one place and produce detailed reports. In addition to providing businesses with the information they need, automated bookkeeping also helps businesses conduct regular audits to ensure that their clients’ check-ins are accurate.

5 tasks that can be streamlined with automated bookkeeping

To get the most out of automated bookkeeping services, you must know what you can do with them. In order to understand the value of these services, you must know what tasks you can accomplish with them. You must be diligent in recording all the details of your business’s transactions and make sure nothing is missed. The following are the most frequent tasks that may be accomplished more efficiently using automated bookkeeping services:

1. Transfer of bank and credit card data– All debits and credits are recorded on the business’s bank accounts and corporate cards as soon as possible through automated accounting and bookkeeping services. This ensures that transaction details match the business’s finance platforms and that the cash balance and cash flow data are always up to date. The transaction details must match finance platforms if accounting software does not automatically integrate with the business’s financial institution or credit card provider.
2. Categorisation of transactions– With machine learning technologies, businesses may categorise transactions into bookkeeping and accounting programs in relevant categories. For example, a business that pays a fixed monthly amount for a CRM system automatically classifies these transactions into the software expense category. When categorising a large number of transactions manually, automated accounting and bookkeeping services may correctly identify and categorise them.
3. Management of accounts payable invoices– A business’s bookkeeper or financial department sometimes has to trawl through accounting software files to locate a corresponding entry in the accounting system. After emailing an invoice to a manager for approval, the invoice is filed for accounting purposes. An automated accounts payable system can automatically identify which emails are invoices and process the data. Using these details, the system will match the invoice to the correct expense and supporting documentation (e.g., purchase orders). The correct categorisation and person in the business’s approval process will be assigned to the invoice based on the information.
4. Easy filing of receipts– Paper receipts can be eliminated by scanning or uploading the photographs into a corporate card or reimbursement system. This system takes care of everything else, like extracting information from them, archiving pictures, and paying out compensation to the person who submitted the document. A company may also use apps to submit receipts once they have paid.
5. Managing payroll– It can be difficult to manage and calculate the payroll for a company using an individual payroll tool, as there are a lot of governmental regulations and penalties to follow if something goes wrong. Using payroll tools eliminates human errors from a company’s procedures by removing the possibility of technical errors. However, payroll tools like ADP or Sure Payroll may assist with payroll processing. Payroll automation keeps track of employee hours, calculates their pay (including bonuses, wages deducted for wage deductions, and commissions), and calculates payroll taxes.

Advantages of automated bookkeeping

Accounting and bookkeeping services provided on-site or off-site may help businesses keep their financial records accurate and reliable. The concept of automation has made the process simpler and quicker. Let us consider the advantages of automation to understand why an organisation should migrate from manual bookkeeping to an automated bookkeeping system:

1. Real-time data– Businesses will never have to wait for their bookkeeper to work on the accounts because automated bookkeeping updates business records as soon as the data is available. The data is available in real-time, so real-time business insights will always be available.
2. Saving time– Instead of spending too much time manually entering the business’s financial data in the books of accounts, the finance team can concentrate on the tasks that require their expertise and experience, such as analysing data, improving different processes, and creating better financial projections. Automated bookkeeping automatically handles the data entry process without wasting too much time or resources.
3. Lesser errors– With automated bookkeeping services, businesses encounter lesser human errors. Since systems or computers handle each and every process, the chances of manual intervention are reduced. As a result, organisations face lesser errors or events of duplicate or missed records.

Final thoughts

Businesses can save time and resources using automated bookkeeping services instead of the old-fashioned manual process. Accounting statements’ accuracy, reliability, and speed have increased as automated services have nearly replaced the manual process. Therefore, before choosing a service, it is critical to understand what automated bookkeeping services are, how they benefit a business, and the choices available.