As an accountant, you have the inside knowledge of when a client’s previous accounting methods are beginning to lose their luster. Even if that company is currently using an accounts receivable software that was built into their ERP system, they may have outgrown it and the software is now lagging behind. Letting your client know that their desperately in need of a new and better accounts receivable software can help a company tremendously.

A client will trust the financial advice their accountant gives them. As an accountant, you have the upper hand in any and all decisions that will affect the business monetarily. When helping a business decide whether they should upgrade on their accounts receivable software, give them these deciding factors:

  • The system is lagging, leading to lock outs or getting kicked off
  • The system often needs to be restarted to work properly
  • Data in the system is not providing the business with what they need
  • The business is doing a lot of functions manually
  • The business is running out of data on the program

Once it has been established that the business is in need of an upgrade on their accounts receivable software, as an accountant you can aid them in their search for a replacement. Obviously, you will not know what every accounts receivable software out there has to offer, but you know what functions the business needs to continue their daily process and continue growing.

When moving on from a basic accounts software, or even moving off spreadsheets and highlighters, to an automated accounts receivable software, the software should at least include these functions:

CASH FORECASTING

The software should be able record an expected payment date and amount when a customer of your client will pay, allowing for cash forecasting and accurate cash flow management.

RESOLVE INVOICE DISPUTES

The upgraded software should be able to flag accounts when they are past due, sending a notification to the user. With a prioritized list, the company will be able to settle and collect on invoices faster.

INCREASE EFFICIENCY

Just as it was stated above that if a company is handling a lot of processes on their current software manually it is time for an upgrade, the new software should be able to handle many processes automatically. If the software is not going to save the company time on their accounting processes, it’s not the best fit.

IMPROVE COMMUNICATIONS

The new accounting software should make it easier to communicate with customers. Through the software, the business should be able to send emails, log phone calls, attach invoices and create mail merge documents.

These are just a few of the basic requirements of an automated accounts receivable software that a business should look for in an upgraded system. When helping a client choose a new software it should only speed up their business processes. They should be able to easily access on their data with a few clicks, and should be ditching any spreadsheets and highlighters.