Article by Sara Sabin, Founder of ProCircle
Cloud accounting is being talked about more and more. There are now many solutions on the market to choose from and the benefits are clearly obvious – to accounting firms, to SME’s, to sole traders or sole directors.
But what is the benefit for YOU the accountant? How can it help you achieve and do more in your career?
Below are 7 reasons why being a cloud accountant is good for your career.
1. Being your own boss – tired of the corporate world and its office politics? Well, cloud accounting allows you to set up your own accounting practice much more easily. That means potentially more income for you (as long as you can get the clients), and lots of valuable soft skills development essential for your career, such as client facing and business development.
2. Flexibility and freedom – the words ‘remote working’, ‘flexible working’ etc are increasingly. It is the dream for many to have the ability to work from anywhere, and to work around your life. Cloud accounting can be your ticket to working abroad, or working whilst travelling (so no more hard to explain gaps on your CV), or simply spending more time with family. You can work from anywhere in the world as a cloud accountant, and you are no longer restricted to the 9-5, as the technology is accessible 24/7.
3. Happier clients mean a more successful career – cloud accountancy mean that you can easily share information with your clients, and they will be continuously kept in the picture. You can also present information in a user friendly, understandable format and show financial snapshots, cashflow etc. By keeping them in the loop, you are likely to build a better relationship.
4. Multi-user collaboration – fruitful collaborations, without a doubt, advance your career success. Cloud accounting allows colleagues, business partners and associates to access and work on the same data online, anywhere, anytime, leaving you more options for collaboration and joint projects, even if you are all in different locations.
5. Increased productivity – by automating formerly manual processes, such as data entry, reconciliations etc, you can produce a quicker and more efficient result with less input. This not only means you get points for everything taking less time, but it allows you more space to spend getting involved in other projects, training and learning and advancing your career.
6. Develop your skills – Following on from Point 5, as you’re spending less time on boring tasks, you now have more time to do the more complicated and higher margin advisory work, which is what will really help to advance your career. It is this work that is really going to challenge you and be of most interest to the young, bright generation about to enter the world as a qualified accountant.
7. Join the future of accounting early – like it or not, the advances in technology mean that the accounting landscape is going to change dramatically within the next 10 years. Cloud accounting will play a huge part in that. So why wait? Don’t you want to be ahead of the curve? By joining the revolution early, you can ensure that you are well-positioned and relevant in years to come.