*This article has also been published on my LinkedIn.
Something I wish that had been taught while I was at University was the different types of accounting software I should be familiarising myself with as a millennial, and how they all work together to improve a business’ data and decision-making ability. Millennials are pretty tech-savvy – I mean, we grew up using computers, and we all had some version of a smart phone whilst we were in high school. In this day and age, being able to seamlessly pick up new technology, and use it in order to guide business owners in making important business decisions, is key to being able to be successful in your chosen career, alongside a myriad of soft skills.
The technology I wish that I’d had access to and been taught to use during my time at university include:
What do these three apps have in common? They are cloud-based systems, specifically for accounting and business analytics. Combined together, these three apps provide businesses with the understanding of exactly how their business is running in order to make important decisions relating to the business’ operations.
Receipt Bank, in my opinion, one of the best invoice and receipt management tools which integrate with Xero. It gives business owners the opportunity to pin receipts against each individual transaction, and save time with data entry on invoices from suppliers. This also comes in handy as you don’t have to keep the physical receipts as they are stored electronically!
Spotlight Reporting is one of the front-runners in analytics reporting for businesses. It enables businesses to make more intelligent and informed economic decisions based on the data pulled from Xero and other apps the business uses in its day to day operations.
Xero is easily the fore-runner in cloud-based accounting technology in Australia for small to medium businesses at this stage. Statistics from The Good, the Bad & the Ugly – Insights in Modern Technology report showed that 60% of businesses not using Xero Practice Manager were looking at it as their new practice management tool. It is imperative that young accountants understand how to use this software as it is becoming increasingly popular in comparison to software such as Reckon.
I highly recommend that current accounting students, whether you are an undergraduate or a postgraduate, sign up for free trials for these products and learn how they work and can be useful for business decision-making.
If you would like clarification on the above, please let me know in the comments or send me a LinkedIn message.
References:
Business Fitness Pty Ltd (2017). The Good, the Bad & the Ugly – Insights Modern Technology. The Good, the Bad & the Ugly. [online] Queensland: Business Fitness Pty Ltd. Available at: http://www.businessfitness.net/GBU/GBU-Technology-Report-2017.pdf [Accessed 3 Jul. 2017].
Sammie Johannes 