When you first start your business, accounting systems such as QuickBooks, Xero et al. fit the bill perfectly. However, as your business grows, so do your requirements and needs. This often leads to companies struggling with the limitations of the system that was once a perfect fit.
If you feel like QuickBooks is beginning to hold your business back, it may be time to consider looking at alternatives.
While you may have considered hiring more people, recruiting a consultant, or finding another accounting add-on; upgrading from QuickBooks to something more flexible may offer you a faster, more manageable (& affordable) solution to managing this new growth.
Examples of issues small business have with their accountancy packages
- At 100 transactions a day the system started to struggle to keep up
- You cannot consolidate across entities, ledgers, or currencies leading to vast amounts of work to produce reports
- Your inventory management system struggles to track supply and demand
- The program starts to lag as more users log on
- You are not incredibly confident in your solution’s security measures
- You can’t manage multiple currencies
- You can’t track project costs
- Predicting inventory across multiple warehouses or locations is difficult
- Ensuring that the business complies with relevant legislation/regulations
- Sorting, managing, and analysing siloed data
It’s not just your business
Many small and medium-sized businesses notice these limits as the demands and responsibilities they face change. Suddenly tasks that used to take minutes take hours, and reporting becomes complex.
If you can identify those issues, you can then find a tool to help you manage the complexity of your new accounting demands.
Facing change can be a challenge
QuickBooks can feel like a critical piece of the process that got you to where you are today. So, it’s entirely reasonable to want to continue to use it.
Ultimately, this often brings you to one of two choices: you can either add-on to QuickBooks, or replace it with something new. That decision solely depends on what you need from your accounting software, and there are benefits to both options.
What about using add-ons?
The add-on market offers many affordable resources that you can bolt on to your current system to create a customised solution. However, these add-ons can struggle to work alongside your infrastructure, and often serve only as temporary fixes to long-term concerns.
What can the right solution do for your business?
For many businesses, a key obstacle to growth is often deciding what to do next.
Whatever decision you take its key that you have a solid foundation from which you can build. For some companies that means hiring more people, some add on to QuickBook, while for others may choose to adopt entirely new software to support their growth. These choices can often come down to two options:
Option 1 – Continue doing what you’ve always done just at a larger, more complex, scale.
Adding employees and single-solution technologies can be a great way to meet an immediate need. Its familiar to current users so there is only a need drain new employees and existing ones on new software.
Still, it’s a reactionary decision— a solution that you’ll return to again and again each time a new challenge is presented. Alternatively, by adopting a new solution, you take a proactive stance that consolidates your tools, scales with your organisation, and empowers your employees to be more efficient and productive.
Option 2 – Reassess your business operations to accommodate that growth better.
By taking a proactive approach to your long-term vision, you lay that foundation for your organisation’s future. An accounting solution that aligns with this approach provides your team with the tools and resources they need to improve productivity and efficiency. This translates to a comprehensive business management solution for ordering, selling, invoicing, and reporting solutions, along with a unified approach to your daily tasks that simplify those day-to-day operations.
Its takes time and the drive to want to improve the foundation of your business. Key to this success is a trusted partner to help and support you on this journey.
Take Your Next Step
There’s a certain comfort in QuickBooks, but what would your company look like if you were still driving that car that you worried wouldn’t get home without breaking down?
You’re at the next step in the development of your business, and that can be both daunting and exhilarating. Growth should be exciting, not bogged down by audits, inventory issues, and disjointed cash flows. Still, when you have the right accounting software to support where you’re going, you can keep growing and thriving well into the future.
Further Reading:
11 signs your basic accountancy system is failing you and your business
How to identify the ideal accounting solution for your business?
