Collaborating with an external financial partner can make it easier for SMEs to fully operate at scale without committing significant resources, in addition to optimising their time to market and letting them focus on the main objectives of a business.

Business owners who want to run an effective company must keep meticulous records of all financial transactions. Relying on desktop- or spreadsheet-based accounting operations is no longer effective. We show you the key benefits of cloud accounting and how Xero can help your business.

Most businesses struggle with long cycle times and high-cost invoice processing, and in the case of SMEs, process efficiency can be critical to keeping up with growth. However, misconceptions about accounting automation processes often hold business leaders back.

In this article, we will examine the most common reasons why finance teams underperform - 1. Missing accounting automation, 2. Transactional accounting 3. Lack of integration - and what can be done to improve their performance. An external financial partner might be a good option for companies that are always searching for help with functions that their in-house finance department cannot perform.

It goes without saying that a company’s financial future may be jeopardised if its accounting system is not effectively managed.

Making a company more efficient should be a goal for every business owner. Business efficiency refers to the fundamental reduction of wasted resources used to produce output, whether the latter be physical products or services. As a result, efficiency determines how effectively a business converts inputs such as capital, labour, and materials into outputs like revenue, goods, and services.

It's difficult to deny the importance of properly managing your company's money. A study by CBInsights revealed that 38% of new enterprises fail because of a lack of capital and the inability to acquire further funding.

The finance hire is usually one of the first that many entrepreneurs will make. In order to grow the business, accurate, timely and well-managed accounts are a great contributor. In the beginning, though, most entrepreneurs are likely to try to take this responsibility on their own shoulders to save money.

A software company usually incurs a heavy investment both for human resources as well as IT systems during its initial phase. As much as we would like to reduce the burden of hiring and buying, there is always a basic cost that a company has to bear. And, so it is important to get the accounting process right.

No doubt that as a small business owner you will want to know the headline figures but you may also have to do the bulk of the bookkeeping to keep costs down. “How hard can bookkeeping be? I’ll just do it myself.” This isn't an unusual thought for some small business owners but the reality can be quite different.