Tutorial
How to go clutter-free:
Insight into technology, process and people change D
Paul Struckman, Founder and Director, Balanced Chartered Accounting Paul has one motivation – to improve the lives of people in business. With years of experience in his field, including KPMG and a publicly listed company, Paul saw the opportunity to build a client driven accounting practice, with no bureaucracy or baggage; just great use of technology, expert advice from his team and close knit client relationships. He prides himself in having a working knowledge with a raft of Xero Add-Ons which, if used appropriately, can improve business profitability and save the most precious resource of all, time.
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igital transformation is largely associated with technology change. Indeed, more often than not, the key stumbling stone on the path to efficiency is legacy technology that dictates the way people work rather than flexibly support new ways the business strives to evolve.
Clutter-full and Reactive Accounting
Especially in accounting, lots of practices are locked into paper systems where collecting relevant data is a job of its own. It takes forever to find and collate pieces of information in order to prepare a reliable basis for time-critical finance decisions.
Paper systems are extremely tedious, with the institutional knowledge residing in people’s minds and the key finance data scattered across multiple paper copies in an unusable format. Maintaining the paper trail becomes a full-time job just for the sake of it.
At the same time, even with a successful technology upgrade and all stakeholders willing to move forward, the digital drive is hindered by an even bigger challenge: mind-set change.
Processing paper is costly in terms of time and effort. What’s more, it inevitably leads to the breakdown of critical processes, causing a delay or even complete oversight of business and finance authorisation
One of the recurring challenges in SMB accounting are paper trails. Paper is used for processing payments as well as performing authorisation and obtaining business approvals.
Paper-led accounting becomes fully reactional, with key authorisation decisions made only after the money may have left the bank. Such schemas are extremely risky and financially inefficient. Technology Change: Cloud + Decision Control Starting point is the introduction of a modern cloud-based accounting platform such as Xero. Xero provides for data digitisation and centralisation, and enables quick and easy access to financial data. It is a perfect solution for establishing a secure environment for remotely operating teams in need of efficient collaboration and the ability to work on the go. Complementing the accounting
Paper-led accounting becomes fully reactive, with key authorisation decisions made only after the money may have left the bank. Such schemas are extremely risky and financially inefficient.
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