Choosing The Right Accounting Software

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Choosing The Right Accounting Software
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• I was chatting to a café owner the other day.
  Justine and her husband, Rico run three busy
  cafes in a regional area. Each café is slightly
  different in what it offers but they have a
  strong recognisable brand in their town.
• So we got talking about how they do it.
• Rico spends most of his time in the kitchens and
  managing front of house. Justine juggles her time
  working a few days a week in two of the cafes and
  doing the books and payroll the other days of the
  week from their home office using desktop
  accounting software.

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• She expressed frustration at being away from the
  cafes for that time or having to run home or wait
  until they got home after a long day before they
  could check on their cash flow, payroll
  information and any other financial data they may
  need to access in order to make a business
  decision.
• We also chatted about the manual way in which
  they count the tills and record the takings from
  each café, entering it all into a spreadsheet
  onsite then re-entering the data into the
  accounting software theyre using in the home
  office.

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• They also had a near miss a few years ago when
  their computer got a virus and they almost lost
  all of their data. Yikes!
• Her main complaint?
• I feel like I am always two steps behind.
• So then I talked through a number of accounting
  and business process software and apps we guide
  our clients in the hospitality industry towards.
  Here at Cornerstone we see the immediate impact
  and benefits being smart about using the right
  sort of software can bring to a hospitality
  business.

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• Here are five of our favourites
• 1. Xero is one of the most popular accounting
  software programs on the market at the moment.
  The reason? It offers cloud accounting. This
  means Justine and Rico can access their financial
  data from anywhere their phones, a laptop at
  one of the cafes, iPads and of course their home
  office. AND it removes the risk of losing
  valuable information to a virus or security
  attack.

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• 2. Keypay is one of the better payroll software
  applications on the market because it can be used
  standalone or with Xero. Key features include
  built-in award information for all sorts of
  industries, including hospitality, retail and
  early childhood services.

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• 3. Kounta is an online Point of Sale software
  that allows a business to take customer orders,
  manage inventory, loyalty programs and more AND
  it integrates with multiple cloud accounting
  software programs. This means no more printing
  off the till records at the register at the end
  of the day then manually recording the takings
  into a separate spreadsheet. Its all linked in
  to your accounting software. Rico can check on
  what inventory is getting low and send a supplier
  order from the kitchen and Justine can check on
  each of the takings in each of the cafes at any
  point of time from wherever she may be!

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• 4. Many people think Paypal is for eBay or online
  purchases but some savvy hospitality businesses
  are using it in other ways. Paypals Pay at Table
  app allows PayPal customers to check into a
  restaurant or venue on their smartphone, enter
  their table number and then pay their bill (and
  it has a tipping function!). Its designed to
  make it easier for diners to pay their bills. And
  it seems to encourage people to eat or drink
  more. I was at a meeting with a client at a café
  and he used the app to order a second round of
  coffees. Now THATS a win win situation. More
  coffee for the customer and more revenue for the
  café owner.

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• 5. Beat the Q (and Hey You) is for your busy
  customers who hate to wait. Customers can order
  and pay up front en route to your café or
  restaurant then walk on in past the queue to pick
  up their coffee and be on the way. This is great
  for café owners as it can help attract new
  customers, increase customer loyalty and order
  values AND you generate more orders without the
  long queues!

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• It was an eye-opener for Justine. She simply had
  no idea these platforms and software programs
  were available in the hospitality industry. She
  had been working for so long IN her business
  always two steps behind (remember they were her
  words) that she and Rico had not had the
  opportunity to come up for air and work ON their
  business.

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• We finished the conversation with me chatting
  about how I have seen our clients get hours back
  in their day once they implemented one or more of
  these software programs into their business. Not
  only that, it made an impact on their cash flow
  as they became more proactive about business
  development and customer service because they
  finally had time to focus on growing the
  business.they had managed to get out from under
  a pile of paperwork and administrative pain and
  get on the front foot with their business again.

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• From two steps behind to on the front foot. Isnt
  that where any business owner wants to get to?
  Please read our post for more information on
  the best bookkeeping software for small business.
  If you need help migrating to a cloud based
  accounting software speak to one our experts.