Bookkeeping software has become an integral part of successful businesses today. Especially when it comes to places where tax regulations and rules get frequently updated, like the UK, bookkeeping software becomes more critical for many reasons. Not only does it help businesses automate a lot of routine tasks, but it also provides advanced features that help you beyond just daily grunt work. Whether or not accounting is your strength, if you are a business owner, there are multiple reasons for you to look for a good UK bookkeeping software for your business.
That is when doubt arises – with so much bookkeeping software to choose from, how to find the best UK bookkeeping software for your cause? Let’s look at some factors and points of consideration that will help you find the best tool for your business! But even before we get to talking about the factors, there are a few other things, too, that you need to understand. Read till the end to get the perfect pointers on how to get started with choosing the best bookkeeping software for your business!
Introspect your business needs
Does your business need inventory tracking? Or can you do without that? Is receipt tracking more important, or do you want to have more control over tax calculations? List out your business’s basic financial and bookkeeping needs for the present and the foreseeable future. This will come in handy when you look at the features you need. You don’t have to be extremely firm at this step; you can keep buffers and have your options open!
Keep a separate, honest budget for this
Before you start researching different tools and understanding the features they offer, ensure that you have kept a separate budget for this endeavour of selecting a bookkeeping software. Be honest with this budget, and calculate it based on all your present and future expectations. Try not to spend too much money, but don’t be too strict with the budget either – keep some wiggle room!
Understand the different features
Now is the time to look at the different features offered by bookkeeping software. Dive in-depth by trying demos of other products, talk to their support team, and understand what the various features do. Based on that, you will be able to decide on the specific features you need for your business!
With that settled, let’s now look at the factors that you should keep in mind when you are finally researching a bookkeeping software for your small business!
Criteria for Choosing a UK Bookkeeping Software
Bookkeeping software comes bundled with tools of all sorts – to help you in different scenarios. However, there are some basics that the best UK bookkeeping tool must have for it to be beneficial for your business. Here are five such factors to keep in mind while choosing a bookkeeping software:
- Price: The price of a UK bookkeeping software varies from nothing to several hundred pounds a month. The free tools offer just the basic features, with more advanced features being behind paywalls. Once you have an idea of the features you want, you can understand whether or not a free UK bookkeeping software meets your needs.
- Features: If you are seriously considering bookkeeping software, which you should, then you must have some important features in mind that you are looking at. While searching for UK bookkeeping software, keep in mind to look for those features and features that might come in handy in the near future. At a minimum, the tool should sync to your bank accounts, help you track all the transactions, invoices, and expenses, and help with tax processes.
- Intuitive user experience: Since you are using the tool to simplify your work, it doesn’t make sense if the tool is confusing to use. That’s why the bookkeeping tool best for your business will be intuitive and easy to learn and use. Make sure to go through the demos of different tools to get an idea of their user experience in order to make a more informed decision.
- Sharing access: The bookkeeping tool should allow you to share access to any number of people you want. That way, you can keep the important people of your team looped into all the financial and bookkeeping affairs, and they will have all the information on their app with the shared access. This is one feature that might not be relevant to you currently if you are a small business. However, as you scale and grow, this will become a necessary feature – so keep that in mind!
Bookkeeping software has helped businesses and business owners immensely. From automating routine tasks to handling more advanced analytics and administrative work – bookkeeping software helps you save a lot of time. This time can be well-spent on performing other strategic tasks that are more important for the growth of your business. In 2022, bookkeeping software is no longer a question; it’s a necessity. Check this out if you are looking for UK bookkeeping software!
