You woke up today ready to jump to the cloud with your accounting and bookkeeping...now what? What does that look like for you? How do you go about actually moving your bookkeeping to a cloud system? Which system do you use? Which version? How much does it cost?

The first decision is which accounting software to use. We support both QuickBooks Online and Xero, however since QuickBooks Online is the current market leader in Canada today we will focus specifically on its online offerings.

For most of our Realtors, QuickBooks Essentials is the way to go. The draw to this plan is that you can track payables (which cannot be done in QuickBooks EasyStart), use bank rules, add recurring entries, and also gain access to the mileage feature. No more MileIQ, Everlance, manual tracking sheet, etc.

The ‘manage bills’ features allows for your business to track bill status, record payments and create recurring payments. You can pay multiple vendors and bills at the same time and if still using cheques you can create these and print. (We recommend moving away from cheques, but we understand some still use them.)

For those Realtors that are looking to provide access to multiple users, you do not need to include your bookkeeper and accountant into this number. QuickBooks Online allows businesses on all plans 2 accountant/bookkeeper users. For your other users, you are able to control the user-access levels and share reports. Each user is provided their own login.

The bank feed. From our experience with our Realtors, we understand that paper work and accounting is not your favourite. We also know that with your schedules, trying to find time to provide your bank statements to us, is not the best use of your time. We have a solution!

In QuickBooks Online, you can link your bank account and credit cards (read only access, it cannot make transactions on your behalf) to your account. The best part is, when you do this, QuickBooks will also pull your monthly bank and major credit card statement and make them available for us (some smaller banks and credit unions are not compatible). We can move on with your bookkeeping, without taking away precious time from your day.

These are just some of the ways we can help you find balance between doing what you love, and still looking after your financial responsibilities. Contact us for further information on how we can help you with your transition to the cloud.