What is Accounting Software and why should you use accounting software?
Accounting is a concept that permeates our daily life – both personal and professional. Tracking income and expenses in our daily life itself seems like a major task for individuals. To solve that, most of us use personal accounting apps available on app stores.
If accounting for simple and straight forward personal transactions is an arduous task imagine how complex it is for enterprises to manage their books of accounts. And this is why we have Accounting Software – perfect for small, medium, and large businesses in UAE, to make accounting simplifed, stress-free and digitized for your business.
What is Accounting Software?
Accounting Software is a software program that helps accountants in a business organization to report its financial transactions. The scope of business accounting software varies from organization to organization. Apart from automating the bookkeeping functions, the modern business accounting software does a lot more like Accounts receivables & payables management, automatic bank reconciliation, budgeting, and instant reporting.
Many people use the term ‘Accounting software’ & ‘ERP software’ interchangeably. Are they the same? No, they are different.
Difference between Accounting Software & ERP Software
ERP software is an all-encompassing software that integrates and automates the functions of all departments in an organization like Procurement, Sales & Marketing, Warehouse, Manufacturing, Human Resources, Inventory, and other departments. ERP software comprises several modules and accounting is one of them. The accounting module automates the accounting functions. But the fact is accounting is an integral part of ERP Software. ERP software cannot exist without the ‘accounting module’ because all business transactions will have an impact on the financials of the business. On the other hand, an accounting module can stand alone, recording only the financial part of all transactions made – and it is then called an ’accounting software.
We now know that Accounting software & ERP software are different, but they are closely related to each other.
Why Businesses use Accounting Software?
As mentioned earlier, transactions at business enterprises are complex. When done manually, it takes months to process them. Additionally, manual labor is prone to error. Computer programs help us here – to get clerical things done within seconds with 100% accuracy.
To understand it better read about the key areas where accounting software is a game-changer.
Scope and functions of Accounting Software
Reporting
Accurate and simple reporting is another challenge in accounting. Accounting software can instantly process a tremendous amount of data to create useful reports and present them in a comprehensible manner to the users through dashboards. Unlike human brains, software programs can consider several variables at once while analyzing data throwing light upon different KPIs. To add more glory, these reports can be customized according to the users’ needs. They can be extracted at any time and sent to anybody in the world with a click of a button.
Budgeting
Budgeting is a door to the future. The more accurate it is, the better. The budgeting feature in business accounting software simplifies and adds accuracy and speed to the budgeting process without any doubt. The next good thing about budget management in an accounting software solution is the monitoring and controlling of expenses. This is done by setting up approvals, document level budget restrictions, and actual v/s real budget comparisons. When creating a single budget gives the accountants headaches, a business accounting software can create multiple budgets on a quarterly, yearly, and half-yearly basis.
Accounts Receivables and Payables Management
Debits and credits are just part of the business. But a proper balance between the two is crucial for business health. While company policies can create a framework for AR & AP management, its execution is best done with an accounting software solution. Because it alerts you about the payments due and aids in automatic payments saving you from late payment penalties and loss of goodwill. It periodically notifies the customers also about the amounts payable. On top of that, each country may specify its own accounting standards and other federal regulations. Accounting software solutions are implemented based on them
Fraud Prevention & Compliance
As everything is being electronically recorded and transparent, accounting software doesn’t give any room for fraudulent practices. All actions in an accounting software solution follow pre-determined workflows. The system will not allow any deviation from such flows. Furthermore, user-level restrictions will ensure accountability and that the information is always protected.
Having work-flows in place ensures internal compliance. Each country may specify its own accounting standards and other federal regulations. Accounting software solutions are implemented based on them. For example, UAE has implemented VAT. PACT, which is considered the best accounting software in UAE gives you VAT invoices and tax reports. The software gets constantly updated to adapt to the new changes too.
Accounting Software for Small Businesses – Is It Necessary?
There is a common misconception that only big enterprises need accounting systems. The reality is all businesses need accounting software solutions. Accounting software for small businesses eases their tax reporting and filing, enhances customer relations by delivering quick and accurate bills and invoices. Furthermore, accounting software for small businesses aids in business growth by increasing productivity and by keeping AR & AP in balance. Understanding the real needs of SMEs, several vendors provide ERP & accounting software for small businesses.
Choosing between On-premise and Cloud Accounting Software
Choosing between the different types of ERP is a tricky task. In on-premise solutions, you as a business organization purchase the software license, own the hardware and host the software within the office premises.
On the other hand, in cloud systems, you own absolutely nothing but only pay a subscription fee for the software service used (Saas). While both have their own advantages, the world is increasingly moving towards the cloud these days. Firstly, the cloud accounting software significantly lowers the upfront costs spent on purchasing software licenses and related infrastructure. This makes the cloud the best accounting software for small businesses. Secondly, it is accessible from anywhere in the world, at any time. The cloud also performs faster and rolls out new feature enhancements more often. The maintenance of cloud systems is another factor that draws businesses to cloud accounting software. Updates and maintenance of cloud programs are taken care of by the software vendor.Some organizations still prefer on-premise over cloud accounting software because on-premise systems allow more customization. Some businesses have legacy process flows that the cloud cannot accommodate. Cloud accounting software offers more standard solutions. Customization in the cloud is still possible with a private cloud platform. Data security is another concern people raise against cloud solutions. While data resides within the office premises of the business in on-premise and is considered safe, it should be noted that cloud vendors also provide high-level security for your data.
Parameters to choose the Best Accounting Software in UAE
As an international market, there are several options available in the UAE. The best accounting software in UAE or any country for that matter can be finalised after asking the following questions.
- Is the software able to handle multiple currencies?
- Can the software be easily integrated with other software programs?
- Can it manage multiple cost centers?
- Is the software customizable?
- Is the software scalable?
- Is the software easy to use or easy to learn?
- Does the software vendor have enough experience in the market?
Get Started with PACT Accounting Software – United Arab Emirates
PACT started serving the UAE market 25 years ago. We have in our clientele who started as small businesses who needed simple accounting software. We have partnered in their growth by giving them additional ERP modules as they grew. And today, we deliver full-scale ERP solutions to many of our legacy customers. PACT is regarded as of the most feature-rich, user-friendly, and best ERP and Accounting software in UAE. This is one of the reasons why we enjoy a 95% customer retention rate.
If you are looking for the best accounting software ,e invoicing software and billing software for your small, medium and large business in UAE, then Call us rightaway or Book a free demo now.
We believe that we can be your inspiring and trustworthy partner in transforming your business into excellence.
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