One characteristic that most successful businesses have in common is that they utilise accounting software. The right accounting software helps streamline bookkeeping and accounting operations, reduce human error, boost cashflow management and save time in your business. However, you can only enjoy these benefits if you make the most of your accounting software.

If you're just getting started, here are some few tips to help you get the most value from business accounting software.

Customise Accounting Software

One mistake most business owners make is using accounting software as-is from the developer. Most of these software solutions are designed for use by a variety of businesses frin startups and large firms. Thus, if you don't customise these programs to suit your company's needs, you can end up with software or features that will add baggage to your business and lead to numerous errors and inefficiencies. Customisation improves the efficiency of the software and allows you to streamline accounting and bookkeeping operations in the business.

Here are a few tips on how to customise your accounting software:

• Prioritise the most heavily used functions in the software
• Personalise your chart of accounts to differentiate assets, liabilities, income and expenses
• Add relevant online services and add-ons such as e-commerce, billing and banking, invoicing and much more

Keep Software Up to Date

One vital maintenance task for your accounting software is keeping them up-to-date. Software solutions, especially those that come with cloud and other online capabilities, can be vulnerable to malware attacks. Even those used in local computers only can catch bugs that would threaten data security and lead to inefficiencies.

Most software developers release regular updates to fix bugs, reduce vulnerabilities and curb malware attacks. Accounting data is incredibly sensitive, especially when it is data relating to customers, and leaks could result in significant losses and even business lawsuits. Keep your software updated to protect your data.

Invest in Automation

Investing in accounting software doesn't necessarily mean that you can eliminate manual entries. For example, if you have QuickBooks, you have to fill in data regarding your incomes, expenses, assets and liabilities. Doing this manually could still lead to human error and inefficiencies. That's why you need to automate your operations.

Automation means that most if not all of the transactions are automatically captured in the software. You achieve this by integrating third-party tools into the software. By automating receipts and invoices, for example, every payment that comes through is pushed directly into the software and captured in your monthly statements under the right category. 

Follow these simple tips to make the most of your accounting software. Work with an accountant who can help you set up customised accounting software and integrate third-party tools to increase the efficiency of the programs. Contact a commercial accounting service today to learn more.