When it comes to accounting software, what is the most effective solution for B2B companies? Learn more in this guide to B2B portal software for accountants.
A recent study by the hosting company Rackspace found that 88% of companies using cloud computing saw a resulting cost saving. And 56% indicated it helped them increase profits.
Accounting software is one of the applications that is quickly moving to the cloud. Let’s look at a few of the popular B2B software alternatives for accounting and how to choose the right one for your business.
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What is B2B Software?
The term B2B means business to business. In other words, one business that is providing products or services to another business as opposed to consumers (B2C).
The applications used by those businesses to manage their sales, customer relationships, scheduling, and various other parts of their day-to-day operations are collectively known as “B2B software.”
Advantages of B2B Accounting Software
Accounting software offers several advantages over tracking your accounts manually or with software like Microsoft Excel that isn’t specifically designed for accounting work.
The accuracy of your books will improve, particularly compared to manual accounting, and the visibility of the data is much better. Anyone with access to the application will be able to see the current state of the business.
Cloud-based accounting packages offer better collaboration as well. This lets different departments or staff access and maintain your accounting data without having to bring the separate pieces together after the fact.
If you do business in a market with compliance regulations, your accounting software can help you maintain compliance more effectively as well.
Features to Look for in B2B Accounting Packages
The first factor to consider is what type of business is the software intended for? Some packages are targeted at medium and large businesses while others at small businesses or independent freelancers.
Will more than one person be using the application? If so, you’ll need a package that offers multiuser capabilities.
Does your industry have special accounting requirements? If so, you’ll need to choose a package that supports your industry. Trying to work around requirements with an application that doesn’t support them natively is complicated and may lead to compliance issues.
Consider what other features you’ll need as well. Some of the common ones include:
- Billing and invoicing
- Payment processing
- Budgeting and forecasting
- Payroll
- Time tracking
- Warehouse Inventory management
Some accounting software offers different subscription levels that add features as you move into higher-level plans. Payroll is one feature that is typically only included in the higher plans, for example.
The Most Popular Accounting Solutions
Four of the highest-rated cloud-based accounting software are Xero, Freshbooks, Quickbooks Online, and Zoho Books.
Freshbooks vs Quickbooks Online is the most common comparison since they are the two best-known. Both packages work well but Freshbooks is targeted more towards freelancers and smaller businesses while Quickbooks has a more “traditional” approach to accounting that is best suited for small- and medium-sized businesses.
Automate Your Accounting
One of the biggest advantages of these types of B2B software packages is how much of the work you can automate. You can connect them with your bank and other services to sync a lot of data automatically.
Some of them will also let your customers log in to pay your invoices through their system. They’ll even tell you if a client opened your invoice after you sent it. No more “I never got the bill” excuses for late payments!
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