Accounting Automation – Investing in Better Bookkeeping Processes
For those businesses wary of change, the very mention of ‘automation’ can illicit a grumbling, and maybe some eyebrows raised in skepticism. What’s becoming abundantly apparent in today’s ultra-modern, hyperconnected business world, though, is that those businesses are missing out on the agility, scalability, and profitability that automation can instill in an organization. This is because it’s being proven more and more in internal processes that can be automated, that these businesses benefit significantly from the timesaving, money-saving progress that comes with having a smart artificially intelligent software do all the grunt work for us humans.
Accounting automation will not make accountants obsolete
In a profession as old as accounting, outdated processes have become enmeshed within the job title – and doesn’t that just conjure images of dusty ledgers, yellowing balance sheets, and creaky old books housing ancient, archived logs, records, and statements. Indeed, it seems this is what the modern business not embracing accounting automation still has to endure.
But automation shouldn’t be looked at as the obsoletion of the accounting profession – just the revolutionary progression of it. Let’s talk here around a few of the benefits of automation in accounting and finance.
First, though, let’s give accounting automation a quick definition.
What is accounting automation?
Accounting automation is AI taking the manual tasks of an accountant – that aforementioned ‘grunt work’ – and making it all entirely automatic. This means that some very time-consuming parts of an accountant’s job can be programmed, like data entry, filing, and reporting. This then essentially frees up a finance department for the aspects of the job that need more creativity, strategy, analysis, and human interaction and collaboration.
The benefits of accounting process automation
Businesses that have embraced automation – and not just in accounting and bookkeeping – are enjoying benefits that have, quite frankly, made this software and this process increasingly indispensable.
Here’s why:
Saves time
Yes, time is saved by doing away with manual data entry – freeing up your important accountants and accounts payable professionals to engage in work more meaningful to profitability. But most importantly, is the time saved in year-end bookkeeping – if the stakeholders involved have worked the system correctly, cross-referencing and comparing money owed with money spent, should all be done automatically. Essentially, then, there should be nothing to manually balance, and reconcile.
Gives you cloud storage
This means that everything is stored automatically, consolidated, compiled, and cataloged within that wonder nebula ‘up there’ called the cloud. Gone are the days when a business’s very engine room – its accounts department – would have to be accessed physically, at an assigned desk. Cloud computing means accounting automation is brought to relevant stakeholders anywhere and at any time. And again, it’s a much quicker process to log on, check an invoice and pay an account, remotely.
Provides better data and faster data retrieval
That cloud capability also brings better big data and faster data retrieval.
Better data
Automation reduces manual input. This means that human error, and the costliness that comes with it, is mostly done away with. Smart AI processes ledger entries, aligns invoices, and manages the reconciliation of documents automatically. All the human input that’s needed is a quick review by a good accountant.
Data retrieval
Again, gone are the reams of ledgers, towers of files, and hazardous piles of loose documents. And with all of that, goes the need to visit a file room, to comb through alphabetized boxes in search of relevant invoices. With accounting automation, it’s simply you, a search box, and any word related to the invoice you seek, that will call the relevant data to your fingertips, and all at the stroke of a key or the click of a mouse.
Integrates seamlessly
Lastly, accounting automation integrates seamlessly with your business’s existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. This lets you collaborate your invoices, gives you and the stakeholders that need to see these documents a centralized hub, and lets your accounting professionals process invoices quicker so that they can get to more meaningful tasks faster.
And that’s where DOKKA comes in. Ours is the add-on that will give your business accounting automation superpowers. It’s everything you need to collect, process, and archive invoices and bills efficiently. Simply, it’s accounting automation that will take your business’s fiscal department into the future.
