Where does your business stand on the idea of automation in the accounting department?

I recently surveyed my clients and friends to get their take on several aspects of automation, and want to share the results with you.

By all means, this survey is not scientific in any way. I designed it to simply get a quick pulse on potential areas of automation.

AUTOMATING THE ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT: ACCOUNTS PAYABLE/BILL PAYING

Question #1: “What is your level of interest in getting rid of “check runs/signing” and automating your bill paying and accounts payable with solutions such as Bill.com?

Here are the results:

RECAP:

• 63% indicated little to no interest
• 31% indicated moderate to serious interest
• 6% indicated they are already using a solution like this

TAKEAWAYS:

• I was amazed to see only 6% of those responding were using an automated solution!
• 63% indicated little to no interest?! Accounts payable is an area that needs automation and modernization in so many businesses! Especially in light of the current work from home environment. Do you really want to continue handling all that paper and manually signing all of those checks?
• The following theme was quite apparent in a number of replies – “As the accounts payable person, I would love to use an automated solution. However, my manager/boss wants nothing to do with the cloud or automating, so this is off the table”. Only one word to describe that situation – sad.

In case your business is interested in automating your bill paying and accounts payable, here’s a quick demo of how Bill.com works. Or, get a free trial of Bill.com to check it out.

AUTOMATING THE ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT: TIME TRACKING

Question #2: What is your level of interest in automating your time tracking and time integrations with QuickBooks with a product like TSheets?

Here are the results:

RECAP:

• 19% indicated they are already using TSheets or an automated time solution
• 14% said they had moderate to serious interest
• 29% said they had little to no interest
• 38% have no need to track time

TAKEAWAYS:

• I was surprised that nearly 40% of the businesses had no need to track time. I was expecting that figure to be a lot lower.
• A number of those responding were concerned that an automated solution would add too much extra cost to their business. Let’s turn this around a bit – for those who do have to track time, how much is it costing you under your current system? It’s important to know that first. My hunch is those costs are far more than you may think.

In case you’d like to take a closer look at the TSheets solution for QuickBooks (works with all versions)

 

AUTOMATING THE ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT: E-COMMERCE

QUESTION #3: What is your level of interest in automating your e-commerce operations with QuickBooks with products like Webgility, TradeGecko or others?

Here are the results:

RECAP:

• A whopping 72% of those responding said they do not sell online
• 2% are already automating this process
• 14% had moderate to serious interest
• 14% had little to no interest

TAKEAWAYS:

• I probably should have asked a follow-up question to those who said they do NOT sell online – that being – do you PLAN on selling online in the weeks ahead?
  • If your business is not considering selling online, it may be time to dust off that playbook for a closer look! Even if there is no need to integrate an online store with QuickBooks, the world of online selling is where the action is going to be for many businesses.
• It’s important to understand that none of the versions of QuickBooks have any direct integration with online stores or shopping carts. A third party plug-in of some type is needed to integrate the two. Many who responded to the survey were assuming that WooCommerce or Shopify information can just flow directly into QuickBooks.

Up next – the survey results for:

• Automating sales taxes
• Moving out of QuickBooks desktop and into QuickBooks Online

Have thoughts to share on these topics? Would love to hear them!