In today's episode of the I Hate Numbers podcast, we're delving into five compelling reasons why we, as business owners, should consider ignoring cloud accounting. Stick with us until the end for valuable insights. First and foremost, let's clarify what cloud accounting entails.

Understanding Cloud Accounting

Cloud accounting, also known as digital accounting, involves utilizing digital tools and software to efficiently manage financial records, transactions, and generate reports. It's like upgrading from traditional pen and paper methods to a turbocharged, super-efficient system.

Reasons to Ignore Cloud Accounting

1. Lack of Interest in Efficiency: If you're not keen on optimizing efficiency in your business operations, preferring outdated methods such as manual invoicing and email communications, then cloud accounting might not be for you.

2. Disinterest in Financial Insight: For those unconcerned with gaining valuable insights into their business finances, including understanding revenue sources, profitability, and resource allocation, cloud accounting may seem unnecessary.

3. Resistance to Making Good Business Decisions: Ignoring the data-driven insights provided by cloud accounting may lead to relying on instinct or unreliable advice from peers, rather than making informed decisions.

4. Running Business as a Hobby: If you're content with treating your business as a hobby rather than a profit-driven endeavor, and you don't prioritize efficiency and financial management, then cloud accounting might not align with your approach.

5. Resistance to Streamlining Operations: In today's fast-paced business environment, where efficiency is key to success, cloud accounting offers streamlined operations. However, if you prefer reactive approaches and are resistant to change, then cloud accounting may not be suitable for you.

Additional Reasons to Ignore Cloud Accounting

6. Preference for Traditional Record-Keeping: For those who prefer traditional methods such as filing cabinets and relying on external advisors for financial information, the accessibility and benefits of cloud accounting may not be appealing.

7. Emphasis on Accessibility and Remote Work: Cloud accounting facilitates accessibility to financial data, especially for remote teams. However, if you prefer office-based work and traditional data access methods, then cloud accounting might not be a priority.

Conclusion

While cloud accounting offers numerous benefits for business efficiency and financial management, it may not be suitable for everyone. However, we encourage you to explore the possibilities further. Check out our free guide to cloud accounting.

Don't forget to tune in and subscribe to the I Hate Numbers podcast for more on business and finance. Happy accounting!

In today's I Hate Numbers podcast episode 214, I'm going to outline five reasons why you should, as a business owner, ignore cloud accounting. Stick with it to the end, there's a link in the show notes for a free guide on cloud accounting. Let's crack on with a podcast.

You are listening to the I Hate Numbers Podcast with Mahmood Reza. The I Hate Numbers podcast mission is to help your business survive and thrive by you better understanding and connecting with your numbers. Number love and care is what it's about. Tune in every week. Now, here's your host, Mahmood Reza.

Now firstly, before we look at the five reasons to ignore cloud accounting, let me outline what actually is cloud accounting. In some circles, it's called digital accounting. The two terms are one of the same. Well simply, cloud accounting is simply using digital tools and software to manage your financial records, your financial transactions, and generate reports.

Think of it as though you're upgrading from the old pen-and-paper method to a turbocharged, super-efficient system. For those of you thinking paper methods, Mahmood, do you mean spreadsheets? Yep, they're one of the same. Well, reason number one to ignore cloud accounting for your business. If you're not interested in being efficient in your business, if you’d rather spend unnecessary time raising invoices, sending invoices out to clients, chasing them for the old conventional, emailing and word systems,

if you're not worried about taking time to process transactions, to record them, then fine - ignore cloud accounting. Reason number two to ignore cloud accounting. If as a business owner, whether you are a private business, whether you're an arts organisation, an artist, a freelancer, a small business, it doesn't matter what shape and size you are,

if you're not that worried about gaining financial insight into your business, understanding where the money is going, understanding which customers and which products are making more money to you, and which ones might be losing money, if you're not worried about understanding where you should be allocating your resources, then ignore cloud accounting.

Reason number three, a very powerful reason for ignoring cloud accounting. If you're not that bothered about making good business decisions, if you’d rather rely on instinct, if you’d rather rely on advice from Kevin or Michelle down the pub, if you're not really that bothered about making effective good decisions based on hard facts, based on understanding, then ignore cloud accounting.

Reason number four. If you'd rather run your business as a hobby, you're not that worried about making money, making profits, if you'd rather expend a lot of time and energy running around, not really generating any great value for your business, to pay yourself a decent level of money, to retain funds in the business, to pay suppliers, pay customers on time,

if that isn't really an issue for you, then ignore cloud accounting, move on. Reason number five, streamlining your operations. Now, in business, in the world that we inhabit these days, we've got pressure coming from all sides, and it's really important here that we try and run our businesses as efficiently and as streamlined as possible.

If you're not that worried about that, and you'd rather be reactive in your business, you'd rather run it on a day-to-day basis, a see-what-happens manner, then please ignore something like cloud accounting. A couple of additional thoughts to think about, folks, as well. Now, I said earlier on about efficiency. Now, efficiency, if you're not that worried about saving time, if you're not that worried about cutting down on needless tasks, if you think that your time is not worth any value, then cloud accounting is not for you.

That old adage, time is money, is very, very true. If you imagine yourself as a business, imagine the time you're spending on things like raising invoices, recording transactions, extracting information to understand where your profits are lying, where your losses might be hidden.

Quantify that time saving that you can make with cloud accounting, even if you said it was a humble half an hour to an hour a week. Over the course of a year, you could be reaching three digits easily, maybe four, in terms of how much money you could save your business. Now I said there were five reasons for ignoring cloud accounting.

You knew that wasn't going to be the end of it. And I'm going to add a couple more to make it a nice even seven. If you'd prefer to run your business by having your records in filing cabinets, waiting for your external advisors to supply that information to you, divorcing yourself from what's going on in your business, you're not worried about having accessibility to your data, and that data being converted into information gold, then ignore cloud accounting.

Cloud accounting certainly powers up the accessibility, not just for you, but also for your team as well. Reason number seven. We are now inhabiting a world where people aren't always physically office-based, to have to come into the office or to go to your filing cabinet to access what's going on. Well, with cloud accounting, you could have a remote team, you have people working in different parts of the country and being able to access that information that you're recording. In my own business,

I Hate Numbers, all my staff, UK employees, some of them work from home, some come into the office, some of them do hybrid working, but they all have access to our very secure Xero system, not only for us, but for our clients as well. Now, folks, let me leave you with a couple of thoughts. I'm going to be coming back to this topic in future weeks.

You may be thinking, okay Mahmood, that's all very well and good, but what does it actually involve? Well, check out the notes, grab that free guide, that will give you the outline of what's involved. You may be thinking, what software should I actually use? I have no problem in expressing a personal opinion.

As a Xero platinum partner, as helping thousands of businesses over the years of varying size and complexity, to make that transition, my personal preference is Xero for many, many reasons. Again, I'm going to come back to that in a future episode, but also it's outlined within the free guide for you. Until next week folks,

happy cloud accounting. We hope you enjoyed this episode and appreciate you taking the time to listen to the show. We hope you got some value. If you did, then we'd love it if you shared the episode. We look forward to you joining us next week for another I Hate Numbers episode.