Accounting

3 Benefits of Accounting Software for Staff Accountants

Jun 25, 2014

As a staff accountant, you must prepare accurate journal entries, account reconciliations and schedules, every time you close the books. A reliable accounting software package can make life easier for staff accountants — and improve the quality of your work. In particular, there are three major benefits of using accounting software, alongside your work in Excel.

Automated Accounting Schedules

Depreciation and amortization schedules can be a pain to update manually and there is the potential for errors in your calculations. If an Excel file becomes corrupted, you can lose important schedules that serve as the backup for your journal entries and account reconciliations. Accounting software reduces computational errors through automated calculations. Accounting software is also backed-up on a regular basis, to prevent the loss of data. The fewer errors in your accounting schedules, the lower the risk of material misstatements in your financials.

Efficient Account Reconciliations

If you’re preparing account reconciliations in Excel, you’re likely downloading supporting documents and general ledger activity into a single workbook. This process takes time and is not a value-added activity, meaning it doesn’t necessarily benefit your company or its customers. Accounting software can take some of the inefficiency out of the reconciliation process, by linking source data directly to your general ledger system. By completing recs this way the process becomes dynamic, and you can easily compare data sets and efficiently understand why your reconciliation may be off.

Quick Posting of Journal Entries

If you keep your journal entries in Excel and upload them to a complex financial system, you’re spending a lot of time on non-value-added activities. There is also the potential for errors in the posting processes, because the action of copying and pasting from Excel is always prone to mistakes. With accounting software, journal entries are kept within the general ledger system, making it easy to input debits and credits then post. Accounting software cuts down on the waste in the accounting cycle, whether you’re posting journal entries or generating financial statements.

Accounting software can make your life easier and reduce the number of errors in your work. There is no reason to spend countless hours struggling with Excel spreadsheets alone, when automated accounting modules can help you work more efficiently.