A key challenge facing accounting professionals and business process outsourcers is the effect of time and distance. Information must change location and form - in a timely manner, of course - in order to be processed, recorded and reported on. Traditionally, practitioners either drove to the client office to perform the work, or had somebody pick up the source documents from the client for processing back at the office. Drive time, out of office time... these serve to increase the costs and decrease the profitability of bookkeeping or data processing services.
Attempts to apply technology to this problem resulted in solutions such as PCAnywhere; this and other popular remote control applications being the favored choice for many. These solutions allowed for a user at one location to access the application and data resources of a computer at another location. Nifty. But this solution still introduces a number of "issues" in the working model. For example, the client computer must be on, connected to the Internet, the control software running, and be in good working order. For many, these requirements alone represent a significant challenge. Even when the solution works, it's still a single-user solution. If an accountant wants access to the client's system and data, then the onsite bookkeeper just sits and waits. This is highly inefficient for the business owner (now he's paying an accountant and a bookkeeper who can't work).
An e-Accounting online solution represents the best, most efficient and flexible working model for both the business and the accounting professional. By running the applications and data from a secure, centralized environment, all users are able to access the programs and the data that they need in order to work. Businesses with multiple locations can all work in real-time on a single set of books, and business owners can review their data from the comfort of their own home rather than staying late at the office. When the accountant needs access... he simply logs in. It's a true, multi-user system that provides all the same functionality of a local network. Accountants and bookkeepers can both be working on the system at the same time, so there's no more need for taking turns accessing the data file.
e-Accounting virtual desktops allows you to run the business applications you (and your clients) already use, like QuickBooks Pro or Microsoft Office. Web-based applications, such as Salesforce.com orQuickBooks Online Edition, can also be run from the virtual desktop, where exported data may be reported on using Excel, or e-mailed to a client right from the virtual system. An e-Accounting approach gives you the best of both worlds. You get all the benefits of Internet-based computing (any time, anywhere access in a strictly-managed and protected environment) without having to change all your applications, retrain your personnel, or convert your data.
e-Accounting eliminates the barriers to adopting a new and better way of doing business.
