Adoption of cloud based accounting software set to boom

By Murray Pullin
Zoosme Accountants

The cloud based accounting and bookkeeping solution has been in use for almost a decade, but the uptake of such solutions has been slow with particular reference to established SME’s with strong relationships to the traditional accountant.

A survey conducted in 2014 showed that 72% of younger business owners would not engage with an accountant if they did not offer a cloud based solution to help them manage the day-to-day finances in their business. This compared to a percentage of 52% for all small business owners.

With big data being a buzz world in the world of commerce, the need for more information is become greater in line with the reliance of data to help make key business decisions.

Big data means different things to different people and different types of business, but the hunger for the safety blanket of data to support the decision making process is something not to be ignored. Accountants that work with small businesses are key in this role to support the small business owner in finding nuggets of gold in the data reserves of their business. This data may identify a trend in sales activity, or a produce a warning sign that there maybe trouble ahead. Either way, it allows the business owner to become proactive in the way they work in their company.

Intuitive cloud based accounting solutions like KashFlow give small business owners a comprehensive view of their business in real-time. The reliance on accountants to produce the management accounts is reduced with more control being passed to the business owner for the production of these reports. As a result, small business owners should see a dramatic fall in the costs for their accountancy services and see the role of their accountant as a trusted business advisor and not a form filler for financial compliance.

More accountants are being forced to change the way they work due to the increasing demands from forward thinking business owners. And as a result, the cloud based accounting revolution is to continue to march on leaving the traditional systems behind.

Murray Pullin is the Managing Director of Zoosme Accountants. Zoosme Accountants was set up as a digital accountant to serve small businesses across the UK