Accounting Software

It takes a number of components to run a successful business, but finances are ultimately crucial to whether the business survives, let alone booms. You could have an outstanding human resources team, an exceptional public relations representative, and generous clients, but if your finances aren’t in check, you aren’t going to be a profitable business. For this reason, it’s important to implement tools and strategies that help boost your profit, without taking the energy away from other roles. Accounting software companies exist to help you in this area.

Accounting software companies essentially document and process accounting transactions. Each provider offers different variations of services, but some of the main capabilities include timesheets, payrolls and billing.

Joining with an accounting software company is as much of a commitment as any investment. Canstar Blue has therefore surveyed New Zealanders whose business pays for an accounting software license that they have used for business purposes in the last 12 months. And, nearly 400 New Zealanders reported back to us, rating their accounting software company on various factors, including value for money, functionality and ease of use.

There are two major accounting software companies by market share in New Zealand – Xero and MYOB. But it was Xero that came out with the win in this year’s Canstar Blue star ratings, rated a 5-star provider for overall satisfaction! The provider was also rated 5-stars for every rated factor – value for money, functionality, ease of use, reporting, customer service and ease of integration.MYOB was rated 4-stars across the board, including for overall satisfaction.

Advantages of accounting software

To increase productivity within the workplace, it may pay to opt for accounting software. Quite literally. Accounting software streamlines a range of processes, saving you money and time, as well as helping you to put your resources where they matter. As the saying goes – many hands make light work.

When it comes to accounting software, Canstar Blue found the biggest drivers for overall satisfaction were value for money and functionality. So, it helps to know exactly what you could be signing up for. We’ve compiled a list of the key advantages of accounting software…

• Financial education – Accounting software can help teach you how to maximise your sales and ultimately generate more profit. As well as this, many accounting software packages sum up the key information about the business, in one page, so that you can notice trends and opportunities or challenges, and learn as you go.
• Saves time – The great thing about accounting software is the use of technology and we all know technology saves time, in most cases. This type of software removes the need to manually enter information, and some packages allow you to automatically code receipts as expenses.
• Budget management – You can see your cash flow, plan ahead, monitor payments and sometimes set up automatic payments.
• More security – Your data isn’t stored on just one device and is instead stored in a cloud that uses secure, encrypted connections. There is, therefore, less of a chance of hackers accessing your accounts.
• Interchangeability across multiple devices – While the data is stored in the cloud, you can also store the accounting software and data across multiple devices. In this manner, you can access information when and where needed.
• Less chance of losing documents – Computer crashes and bugs can be the bane of the existence, causing unnecessary stress. With accounting software, these issues won’t affect your accounts as the data is stored on the cloud. The software also deals with upgrades, backups and bug fixes, saving you the stress.
• Tax management – According to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, more than 85,000 New Zealand businesses file GST with online systems (as at 10 June 2019). In addition, the Accounting Income Method, that has recently been implemented, means businesses must pay provisional tax through accounting software.