Running a business and staying ahead of your competition is difficult enough. Add in the complexity of keeping your records straight for tax purposes and your bookkeeping to ensure efficiency, and
you have a lot on your plate. Bookkeeping services and cloud-based providers have come up with a variety of solutions to help make your life easier. One of the brightest gems in the marketplace is QuickBooks Online . While QuickBooks Online is streamlined in its bookkeeping capabilities, many other apps have joined the melee to make your accounting process easier.
Below, I will review a few of my favorites and hopefully that will help you create an app strategy to integrate and streamline your business and give you more time to focus on what you do best.
Document Storage
When it comes to quarterly reports or tax planning, you need to know where you documents are. They need to be organized, secure, and up to date. While Dropbox is a quality doc management app, SmartVault works in much the same way and integrates with your QuickBooks Online documents. This eliminates the need to double copy your bookkeeping documents.
Payment Gateways
One of the quickest ways to get paid today is to use online payment Gateways. While you can invoice from QuickBooks Online, often consumers have their preferences for how to pay. Thankfully, Sync With Paypal has stepped up to fill the gap. This app connects the lines of communication between QuickBooks Online and Paypal. If you customers like to use Stripe, or another Gateway, Zapbooks is quickly becoming an app powerhouse to link QuickBooks Online to other providers.
Invoices with signatures
Gone are the days of needing to print off an invoice, sign it, the scan and e-mail is back. Docusign, the ever-popular mobile app has been stepping into almost every industry, and the bookkeeping technology industry is not different. DocuSign integrates very well with QuickBooks Online and allows you to operate more securely and efficiently. Plus, you can save on ink!
Budgeting and Budget Forecasting
The heart of any business plan is the budget. Want to make sure you are still on track? QuickBooks Online easily integrates with Liveplan, a budgeting app that helps you look back at your past budget expenses, and forecast into the future.
Preparing for Taxes
When it comes to bookkeeping services, one of the main reasons for diligence is when the tax man comes around. You want the detailed organization that you maintained in your bookkeeping to be reflected in your taxes and tax preparation. Why make life harder? Tax Planner Pro integrates with QuickBooks Online and can even perform some tax planning scenarios. That way your data stays intact and you do not need to double work and allow room for errors. Now of course you want to work with a professional tax planner for any serious tax questions, but having an integrated system at least keeps errors at bay.
Yes, the app world allows for a strategic, integrated system so that you can manage your business efficiently while on the go. However, even the most integrated strategy still needs a professional eye to monitor everything. Make sure you are working with a professional bookkeeping service that can work with your system. Remember, you are in charge of your business. Build the system around you.