You know that slogan that says, “It’s my money, and I want it now”? We’d like to offer our own version: it’s your money, and you should be able to see it now.
As a small business, you need to know exactly where your money is going, where it’s coming from, and how much of it you have on hand so that you can make well-informed decisions for your success and growth.
Unfortunately, traditional accounting tools leave you guessing about your financial status for weeks or months at a time. What good is seeing your balances three months later?
With real-time financial data via cutting-edge accounting technology, you get the insight you need to maintain strong financial health, address problems as they happen, and know exactly how you can use your money to grow your business.
How can you use data to achieve all that? Let us count the ways.
How to use real-time financial data to support your small business
You need to know exactly where every dollar is moving and when. Using real-time accounting processes gives you that awareness so you can operate in an entirely different (better) way.
1. Engage with your business
When traditional accounting tools leave you waiting to see your financial data for weeks or months at a time, it’s easy to “check out” of the financial side of your business while you’re focusing on other responsibilities. That is, until something goes wrong, and you have to scramble to reconcile your books.
When you have a way to see your real-time business data, you can take a proactive approach and more actively engage with your business, never missing an important financial milestone or potential threat.
2. Recognize financial trends
Whether it’s a spike in revenue or a dip in expenses, identifying financial trends as they occur is key to forecasting, optimizing cash flow, and planning for your business’s future.
Accessing real-time financial data allows you to not only spot those trends as soon as possible, but you can also get insight into the specific reasons they occur.
3. Tell your financial vision
You didn’t start a business just for the fun of it. You had an idea and a vision for how far you could take that idea. If you’re going to rally your team, stakeholders, and customers around your vision, it helps to show them exactly how you’re going to financially support it.
By pulling real-time, automated financial reporting, you can display your plan for the business in an easy-to-understand way and answer any questions about growth plans.
4. Rectify accounting mistakes
Even the most experienced, knowledgeable accountants can make a mistake every now and then, especially if they’re managing your books by hand. Unfortunately, a small mistake can have big consequences for your business.
You can use real-time bookkeeping software that automates your accounting activities to double-check your ledgers and resolve any accidental mistakes so your books are squeaky clean.
5. Prevent cash flow challenges
If you don’t have a clear, up-to-date view of your cash flow, you’re at serious risk of running out of cash without even realizing it.
Seeing where your money is coming and going in real-time ensures you can make adjustments and optimize cash flow as needed so you never find yourself running out of funds.
6. Empower accurate forecasting
Your financial forecasts are only as accurate as the data you use to inform them. Using outdated business data means you can’t make strong predictions — or worse, you may make predictions that can never come to fruition because they’re based on bad data.
Instead, you can use real-time accounting tools to instantly spot financial trends, identify areas in good and poor financial health, and build more accurate forecasts that support your business growth.
7. Improve supplier relationships
Do you want to wait until two weeks after the quarter’s close to discover a supplier is late to pay you? What about finding out six months later that you’re paying a supplier twice because two teams have separate license agreements with them? We didn’t think so.
When you can view your suppliers’ financial activity in real time, you can use that data to inform discussions with vendors, renegotiate contracts for better pricing and terms, and improve relationships overall.
8. Reduce compliance risk
If you’re held to certain compliance standards with how you manage your money or tax liabilities, you need accurate, immediate insight into your financial data to ensure you remain compliant. That insight becomes even more critical in the event of an audit.
Since real-time accounting software connects your various financial tools and houses your data in one place, you have everything you need to prove compliance. The software can also monitor your finances and alert you to any issues.
9. Support fundraising opportunities
Anyone who is considering giving your organization money will want proof that you’re in good financial standing before they cut a check.
You can use real-time financial reporting to pull the necessary financial statements lenders or donors need to feel comfortable investing in your business.
10. Take advantage of strategic opportunities
You can only make business growth decisions when you know, for sure, you’re in a solid place to take a leap.
By measuring and managing your finance KPIs, you can see what you’re accomplishing now and where you’re headed in the future. With that knowledge, you can take advantage of strategic opportunities to grow your business and realize your vision.
Skip the month-end wait for your finances
Traditional accounting can’t keep up with modern business needs. If you’re going to make the right choices to support and grow your business, you need immediate insight into your finances.
Hiline and Digits have partnered to give you just that. You can rely on our combination of best-in-class technology, financial expertise, and strategic guidance to see and understand your finances in real-time whenever you want.
See how you can make faster, more confident business decisions with our AI-powered insights. We’re breaking it all down with the Digits team on our Jan. 22nd webinar. Snag your spot!
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