Your Business Is Not Too Small to Automate

No business is too small to automate accounting processes, and it doesn’t have to be done all at once. A phased approach to automation can help small businesses save time without disrupting daily business.

Your Business Is Not Too Small to Automate 

Have you ever signed a check, emailed a payment reminder, or spent hours pulling financial reports and thought to yourself, “I bet Fortune 500 companies don’t spend their time doing this stuff?”

You’re right—they don’t. Large businesses have automated accounting processes, while many small businesses spend untold hours every week and month on mindless, time-consuming tasks like managing payroll, pulling financial reports, and handling accounts payable and receivable. Instead of spending time reviewing the reports and planning for your future.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Small businesses can automate their accounting processes and, in doing so, save time and reduce costly errors. If you don’t want to automate all your processes all at once, that’s understandable—and you don’t have to. Instead, follow a phased approach.

Start with accounts payable

A great place to begin is by automating your accounts payable (AP), which will help ensure that you pay all your bills on time, without needing to track dates on a calendar. Automating your AP relieves the stress of missing deadlines, which can negatively impact your business credit score as well as your reputation.

An easy, popular way to automate AP is with Bill.com, which you can easily sync with your accounting software. Bill.com gathers all your invoices into one digital system, whether they’re emailed, dragged and dropped on your PC, or added through the mobile app.

With Bill.com, you can set up your approval workflows, and the system will automatically route notifications to the right people while ensuring that your internal controls are followed. Potential problems are flagged automatically, audit-ready trails are at your fingertips, and you can pay bills with a few clicks from any device.

Build on early success

Once you’ve automated your AP and are comfortable with the results, you’re ready to head to phase two of the automation process—which might be accounts receivable, payroll, financial reporting, or another task.

To determine which process to automate next, consider your existing accounting processes, and identify those that take the most time, must be done frequently, and don’t involve a lot of creativity or mental energy. Those manual processes are the ones that are likely to provide the greatest “bang for the buck,” shaving hours off your monthly workload.

Get expert support

BST’s Virtual Accounting Solutions can help you automate your accounting processes and identify other ways to operate more efficiently. We offer a broad portfolio of accounting and auditing, tax, consulting, and wealth management services to small businesses, as well as valuation, forensic accounting, and litigation support. Our Virtual Accounting Solutions include everything from managing daily accounting operations to producing reports and collaborating on strategic planning and budgeting.