The advancement of technology has transformed the way of keeping and managing financial records manifold. Accounting software program manages and records the daily economic transactions of an organization, which includes constant asset administration, cost management, sales management, bills receivable, bills allocation, subledger accounting, reporting, and analytics.
In this blog we will know about the different types of accounting software, the major utilities of these software and the main features that an Invoice generating software should have and apps associated with it will be covered.
Types of Accounting Software
1. ERP (Enterprising Resource Software)
Enterprise resource planning is a platform organizations use to control and combine the important elements in their businesses. Many ERP software programs are essential to organizations due to the fact they assist them to put into effect useful resource-making plans by integrating all of the strategies needed to run their organizations.
An ERP software program also can combine making plans, shopping inventory, sales, marketing, finance, human resources, and more
a) Role of ERP
ERP applications can help an establishment become more self-aware by linking data about distribution, human production, finance, and resources together.
b) Working of ERP
ERP systems are cloud-based software with remote, web-based access. The platform is generally conserved by the enterprise that formed it, with user companies letting services be provided by the platform.
Once all departments are tied into the system, all data is collected on the server and becomes instantly available to those with permission to use it. Reports can be generated with metrics, graphs, or other visuals and aids a client might need to determine how the business and its departments are performing.
2. Payroll Management System
Payroll is the method of paying salaries for employees of a firm. It starts with making a list of paid employees and ends with recording their expenses.
Some of the famous software for payroll are:
1. Quickbooks payroll
2. WebHR
3. Paylocity
4. Ascentis
5. Paycom
6. Gusto
3. Invoice Generation Software
An invoice-generating software designs invoices and credit transcripts under the standard format. It authorizes accountants and business owners to evaluate taxable amounts, keep track of all transactions, and interact with vendors/customers.
Invoicing software is a tool that automatically creates bills for services and products provided. This tool is designed to create a list of services and products along with their corresponding costs and send this as an invoice to the customer.
These invoices are often created using pre-designed templates that come with invoicing software. These invoice templates tend to look professional and make the entire billing process easier, faster, and more profitable for your business. With these features, more and more businesses are switching to using electronic invoicing software each year.
Statistically, compared to traditional paper invoices, using invoicing software optimizes processing time and associated costs. These cost and time savings with invoicing software come not only from reduced postage and printing costs but also from faster payment receipt deadlines and standardization of all processes associated with invoicing.
Types of Invoice Generating Software
Invoicing software is benefiting businesses around the world. It helps you manage a company’s finances efficiently by tracking expenses and payments, creating automated accounting reports, and creating and sending invoices and estimates.
There are three types of invoicing software
1. Disconnected (Off-line) Invoicing Software
The disconnected or off-line billing software is stored on the device instead of the cloud. Therefore, off-line billing software may or may not be able to be connected to the internet. Some of the most popular off-line invoice softwares frequently used are Microsoft Word and Excel, which allow you to create invoices, download them, and email them to the clients.
2. Connected (Online) Invoicing software
Online invoicing software allows one to create invoices on the go from any internet-connected device. One can access the billing software data from anywhere in the world as it is stored in the cloud. Online billing software is typically multi-device billing software.
3. Custom (open source) billing software
A custom billing or open source software is that one can customize and program to match your business requirements. These software provide programmers with suitable options in source code that they can use to modify, explore, and then circulate this software as desired. To make this easier, most online billing programs provide the necessary API explanation in the form of developer information and code on the website.
Features of Invoicing Software
1. New Bill
Invoicing software allows one to generate professionally suitable invoices which can be further customized to match the company’s branding. In addition, billing software should be able to extract and consolidate inputs from projects, timesheets, and client records.
2. Creating Customer Records
Any invoicing software we choose must allow us to summarize customers’ personal and purchase information, enabling us to merge relevant files into a single, comprehensive database with necessary search filters to facilitate customers’ archives.
Such records prove especially valuable while arriving at marketing plans and operations for clients based on their buyers and the impact of your marketing. This further helps increase your company’s ROI and gross income.
3. Credit Card Processing
Invoicing software should save time and energy by making invoicing easy by quickly processing payments through customers’ credit cards. It must even allow the creation of a continuous billing system and secure customer management. Some invoicing software also allows automatic credit card billing so that customers don’t miss a payment. All these play an important role in creating an effective system for invoice management.
4. Predesigned Templates
While the accuracy of invoices is non negotiable, appearance is equally important. The invoicing software the company chooses should include elegant and predesigned templates. Such templates not only save time but also permit you to personalize accounting and portray your brand through invoices and bills.
5. Multi-Currency Setup
The importance of this feature in invoicing software is that it allows one to seamlessly integrate billing and invoicing systems with the rest of your software architecture. This is similar to their involvement with your core financial activities.
The multi-currency setting is especially useful for issuing receipts, accepting payments, and managing taxes. The company should work globally for this feature. With a multi-currency setup, one can process your transactions faster and ensure your billing is timely and accurate.
6. Receive or Send Information
This billing software allows one to quickly send a quote to your customers. This is possible through a centralized database within the invoicing software where all their information is stored and easily accessible.
7. Invoicing, Payment, and Tax Reporting
Good invoicing software eliminates the need to use external systems for tax reporting. It allows you to do it in the same system without wasting hours doing data summaries. Such invoice software can help to reduce costs, avoid financial reporting errors, ensure to meet all your tax obligations, and even save you time and effort.
Such invoicing software integrated with all your financial operations from the start would help you make informed decisions by analyzing financial KPIs and key business metrics.
Conclusion
This was the basic information regarding the Accounting Software, types of softwares and some basic key features of the invoice generating software. Further more information will be provided regarding individual accounting software, its features and applications associated with each one of them.