Accounting software has gone very quickly from being an exception to becoming a norm among businesses in the UK. About a decade ago, accounting software in UK were only for a “big business with big budgets” but today, it has become very affordable and has gained popularity among businesses of all sizes and at all stages of their business cycle, from startups to companies ready to go public and companies that are established market leaders in their sector of operation.
If you are looking to jump aboard the growing bandwagon of businesses that have accessed improved efficiency and profitability thanks to accounting software, you have a little bit of spadework ahead of you. However, with this guide, you’ll be able to adopt accounting software into your business with minimum effort and maximum efficiency.
Step 1 – Identify the number of users
Accounting software’s access and usability must be extended to the right set of people within an organization. It might be tempting to restrict its use to the top management only (and indeed a company’s decision-makers should all have access), but do ensure that team members with the bulk of data entry and accounting-related duties are granted access to the software.
Accounting software has a feature called receipt scanning that extracts data from photos of documents, PDFs, and online sources. This is one of its most celebrated features and therefore – if you are going to maximize use and truly increase productivity – you need to ensure all your accountants, bookkeepers and junior staff who shoulder the responsibility of data entry can benefit from this feature.
Free UK accounting software also provides live, anytime-anywhere access to financial data and business insights. The company boss, departmental heads, and other decision-makers should also have access.
You get better deals on higher numbers of login IDs too. For example, at GBP 20 per month, you get 5 login ids and at GBP 40 per month, you get as many as 20 login ids. If you are on a tight budget you could let junior staff share an ID for their receipt scanning needs.
Step 2 – Demo and trial
You might be looking for free accounting software in the UK because you are not sure of how it works and whether it will work for your business. However, the full suite of services along with a high level of security comes at a price. Instead, opt for a free demo or a free trial. This allows you to play around with the software and decide if it is for you before you sign up. Cloud accounting solutions providers like Dext allow you to book a free demo and a free trial within minutes on their website.
Additionally, you can opt for a pay-as-you-go plan that allows you to exit if you are not happy with the level of service you are receiving.
Data security is an investment and as such it makes sense to go with a paid service rather than restricting yourself to free accounting software in the UK.
Step 3 – Training
Even if you have a very young team, but especially if you have a wide range of age groups in your employ, it is absolutely essential to hold a quick training session that displays the convenience that the software can bring to the table and teaches employees to use it.
You might wonder why people who change smartphones annually and learn to use new social apps regularly need training for a new piece of office tech. However that’s exactly the point – there are incentives to learning to use a personal device or a recreational app. With a work-related change, training is the most sure-shot route to ensuring a smooth transition.
You could also appoint tech-savvy youngsters as experts to help out senior employees who might take some time to get used to the new software.
Step 4 – Rollout
You can actually begin your rollout while people are being trained to use the software. Some tips:
- Check that your data is in the right format and that the integrity of data is retained when you transition from spreadsheets to free UK accounting software. You don’t want to lose some data while copying it
- If you do not need the old data anymore, save it to a secure backup and simply start with new opening balances
- Plan this whole transition for a time when people aren’t already running off their feet. You will certainly see more cooperation and less dissent that way. People are more resistant to change when they are stressed.
- Run both systems simultaneously until you’re sure the new software is working as it is supposed to and especially if you’re using a free trial.
In just four simple steps, you can modernize your business operations, impress your clients with a client dashboard, gain live business insights that help you make better decisions, streamline your invoicing process, keep your people happier by reducing their data entry burden and eliminate errors in data thanks to automation.
