Automate your accounting: why not?
A robot to do your accounting for you, or to replace your chartered accountant? Automated accounting is a trend that is gaining momentum within companies, encouraged by digital transformation.
The evolution of the accounting profession is a reality, but automated accounting in no way replaces the role of the accountant.
It simply eliminates the need for manual data entry and takes advantage of data analysis to provide companies with global visibility of their financial health.
As for the accountant, he or she is entrusted with an advisory role, and becomes the accounting reference for corporate decision-making.
As you can see, the end of the accountant is not in sight. Find out more about the challenges of automating accounting processes, and how online accounting software is helping companies to digitize their processes.
Accounting automation: definition
Accounting automation involves eliminating manual processes and replacing them with automatic ones, using dedicated, secure software.
Accounting automation covers
- accounting entry: invoice entry, accounting entry, bank statement entry, payroll entry,
- editing estimates and invoices,
- dematerialization of invoices, now a legal requirement,
- payroll management,
- balance sheet and income statement preparation,
- VAT management.
We also speak of " accounting digitization", " accounting robotization ", or RPA (Robotic Process Automation). The aim is to take advantage of technological advances in robotization and artificial intelligence (AI) and apply them to accounting.
Automating repetitive processes avoids manual data entry errors, freeing up time for higher value-added tasks.
Example: the robot reads a scanned invoice, identifies the relevant information such as amount, customer, date and VAT, to automate invoice processing.
Why automate your accounting and choose software?
The benefits of accounting automation for businesses
Why automate your accounting? What are the advantages of automated accounting software?
In a nutshell, online accounting software :
- automates accounting processes ;
- optimizes costs by avoiding repetitive, time-consuming tasks with little added value;
- reduces the number of errors (formulas, incorrect entries, duplicates, mix-ups, etc.);
- guarantees legal compliance thanks to regular, automatic updates of the tool: you can be sure that you're managing your accounts in full compliance with the law;
- facilitates exchanges with your chartered accountant, who has direct access to the tool to monitor your accounts in real time;
- provides mobile access to accounting data, thanks to a mobile application for certain software packages.
The benefits of accounting automation for chartered accountants
According to Exact pour Experts-Comptables, there are 5 advantages to a 100% cloud accounting production solution:
- mobility and freedom: access to up-to-date data, even when on the road with a client ;
- collaboration and consulting: more time for consulting and better customer relations, sharing a common interface;
- productivity gains with automated tasks and processes;
- business management: secure accounting data, personalized dashboards, file tracking, etc.
- interactivity : connection of business applications to the accounting production tool.
☝️ In short, online accounting software is just as beneficial for a business manager as it is for a chartered accountant.
How can you automate your accounting processes?
Software is increasingly equipped with accounting automation functions such as :
- document and data recognition with OCR (optical character recognition) technology ,
- archiving,
- compliance checking,
- validation processes, etc.
As accounting has a cross-functional impact on virtually every department in a company, the benefits of automating accounting processes are becoming increasingly widespread.
Here are just a few examples of accounting processes that can be automated.
Pre-accounting
This term encompasses all the work done upstream of accounting, i.e. everything a company's manager or accountant has to prepare before calling in his or her chartered accountant, if he or she has one.
Pre-accounting tasks include collecting, filing and archiving all accounting data:
- supplier invoices
- customer invoices
- expense reports
- bank statements,
- pay slips,
- social charges, etc.
🔎 Examples of software :
- Dext is turnkey pre-accounting software for small and medium-sized businesses, enabling you to process a very large volume of purchase invoices (unlimited number of suppliers).
Take a photo of the document or import it from your mailbox, and Dext takes care of deleting duplicates, extracting data and converting them into accounting entries.
- Spendesk is an enterprise purchasing management software offering a single interface to automatically centralize all your expenses and expense reports. Enjoy reliable, real-time visibility of all your data. It automates your accounting processes, from receipt retrieval and account entry to bank reconciliation and employee reminders.
- Sage Business Cloud Compta, 100% cloud accounting software for small businesses, automatically generates your entries by importing all your banking, purchasing and sales data. No more data entry errors! What's more, thanks to synchronization with your bank account and automatic generation of dashboards, you can monitor your cash flow in real time, giving you greater control.
Procurement processes
Purchasing from suppliers triggers a number of information and document flows that need to be tracked and archived.
For example, you can automate :
- purchase order generation,
- real-time inventory updates after receipt of goods,
- generate purchase invoices from purchase orders,
- create accounting entries from invoices,
- archiving invoices in accounting software,
- take into account tax payments.
🔎 Software example: Azopio automates the retrieval of invoices, receipts and bank transactions from different sources (mobile app, photo of an invoice, email, etc.). It then classifies them before depositing them in your appropriate cloud storage services. This accounting software automates reconciliation with your bank and automatically synchronizes your accounts with the platform.
Sales processes
Just like purchasing, sales processes generate a number of steps, documents and accounting entries.
For example, you can automate
- tracking a quotation through to customer approval,
- generate a purchase order from a quotation,
- generate a customer invoice from a purchase order,
- creation of accounting entries from invoices,
- archiving of invoices in accounting software,
- alerts for overdue invoices.
Payroll management
Payroll is an activity which, in addition to being recurrent and compulsory, does not create value. Automating it therefore offers numerous benefits.
For example, you can automate
- salary calculations (gross, net, deductions at source),
- creation of pay slips,
- recording payroll-related accounting entries,
- remote declaration of social security contributions via the DSN (déclaration sociale nominative),
- checking the consistency of entries, etc.
🔎 See our directory for examples of payroll software.
Financial management
Whether you keep conventional, cash or commitment accounts, connecting your accounting software to your bank account can be a great help.
For example, you can automate
- retrieve bank statements,
- accounting entries in the cash journal,
- real-time cash monitoring,
- bank reconciliation.
🔎 Software examples:
- IPaidThat automatically retrieves invoices from an email box or customer area, and imports the data directly into the software. It then performs bank reconciliationto match your documents with your bank transactions. You'll benefit from detailedcash-flow monitoring thanks to precise reports and graphs, in real time or over a given period.
- Superindep.fr is the perfect accounting software if you're a self-employed entrepreneur. Thanks to its tailor-made features, it anticipates administrative problems such as late payment or forgotten declarations, allowing you to concentrate fully on your business with complete peace of mind. No more long hours spent managing your accounts, the platform automates your sales and VAT declarations for even greater efficiency!
Tools to automate your accounting
The digital transformation of companies is not sparing accounting, and it is gradually leading to changes in the accounting profession. But how? While locally installed accounting software has long supported business managers and chartered accountants, what's new is elsewhere. Online software, or SaaS mode, enables :
- real-time data updates,
- access to accounts at any time and from anywhere, with simple Internet access or a mobile application, all thanks to the cloud,
- better overall monitoring thanks to tracking dashboards.
Numerous online software applications support companies and their accountants in managing their accounts. In addition to the examples illustrated in this article, these include :
- Indy Comptabilité is designed for the self-employed under the BNC regime: do away with bank entry and automate your accounting with an intuitive, modern tool.
- Mister Compta saves you time and gives you peace of mind in a secure online solution (for small businesses and the self-employed).
- Sinao eliminates the superfluous in a tool that concentrates on essential functions for startups, VSEs and SMEs.