Insights

Technology Platforms for Efficient Accounting: Part 2

November 18, 2024

At McKonly & Asbury, the Entrepreneurial Accounting Solutions (EAS) team utilizes several technology tools to complete accounting work efficiently, which creates more time and opportunities for added analysis. Since EAS uses multiple tools and is also continuously searching for new tools every day, there are too many to fit into one blog. Read on to learn about three technology platforms that the EAS team makes use of to help serve their clients, in addition to the tools highlighted in “Technology Platforms for Efficient Accounting: Part 1.”

Bill.com

Bill.com (BILL) is an online platform that offers various solutions to businesses. Some of these solutions include bill pay, accounts receivable receipts, employee expense reimbursements, and credit card options. BILL connects a business to its vendors and customers, allowing for secure and streamlined payments.

Formerly known as Divvy, BILL Spend and Expense is an expense management platform within BILL. It assists businesses with automated expense reports. Employee reimbursements are simplified with mobile receipt upload, push notifications for approvals, and quick options for payment to employees. This helps reduce the need to include employee reimbursements in the payroll process. Virtual credit cards are also an option in BILL Spend and Expense. Credit card transactions also auto populate in BILL for quick coding and automatically sync to the accounting software.

On the A/P side, BILL processes vendor payments, prints and mails checks, processes ACH payments, completes voids, reissues payments, and delivers remittance information to vendors. BILL allows a business to connect with its vendors, so that a vendor can update their ACH information or payment preference directly in BILL. BILL allows vendors to send invoices directly to an inbox specific to a business. Its OCR system assists with invoice entry by reading invoices and recognizing important information, such as invoice number, vendor number, invoice date, and amount; it also suggests account coding based on prior invoices.

BILL syncs with accounting platforms such as QBO. Invoices that are entered into BILL and payments that are processed are recorded automatically into the connected accounting platform. Likewise, invoices that have been entered into the accounting platform also sync into BILL for future processing. Utilizing BILL creates a more efficient process and allows time to be used elsewhere for business management.

Botkeeper

Botkeeper is software that was created in 2015 to handle repetitive data entry. The goal of the creators was to build a system that could automate data entry to free up accountants for more in-depth tasks. Botkeeper calls itself the world’s best bookkeeper; their software uses AI to review bank transactions and automatically suggests coding based on prior transactions. Their human team reviews the Bot’s decisions to ensure accuracy.

Other features of Botkeeper include reports, dashboards, and charts for analysis. Their Smart Connect system connects banks to Botkeeper to enable AI review. Basic monthly journal entries are also able to be recorded by the Botkeeper team as part of their services; their system syncs directly with QBO. The platform is secure and easy to use. Time spent on basic tasks is saved, which allows more time for review and analysis. Botkeeper is ideal for businesses with simple accounting, many repetitive transactions, and basic-level journal entries.

DataSnipper

DataSnipper is a built-in tool in Excel. While more often utilized by M&A’s Audit segment, EAS has also found this to be a helpful tool. DataSnipper automates data validation processes that would otherwise need to be completed manually. Some of the features of DataSnipper include snipping, automatic text recognition, a document organizer, form extraction, and document matching. This tool reads client documents and can be used to help isolate needed information. This saves time and ensures accuracy by preventing human errors.

EAS uses the snipping tool to extract data from scanned documents (think bank statements). The Table Snip feature allows the user to select data on the document and helps to keep the information into appropriate columns and rows when brought into Excel. The Form Extraction tool includes templates which can be used for common forms such as W9s. The tool reads the form and extracts relevant data, such as EIN, address, and legal name. These tools have proven to be very helpful with client’s statements, fixed asset reports, and vendor’s W9 forms.

There are many other tech and AI tools that are available and are continuing to be developed. The EAS team strives to stay abreast of new technology that can be used to provide additional process efficiencies for clients. With new technology also comes potential fear of increased security risk. The IT segment of M&A has strict policies and reviews tech tools before they are implemented. For further information on our EAS team, their services, and their use of technology, please contact Rebecca Lauffer, a supervisor within on our EAS team.