Time is money – this is especially the case for freelancers or small businesses: craftsmen such as master painters or hairdressers, journalists, architects, etc. have neither the time nor the inclination to spend unnecessary time on their bookkeeping. By switching to digital accounting, you can reduce the effort to a minimum and also simplify the cooperation with your tax advisor. We will show you how to do this.
Those who organize their accounting digitally can benefit from all the advantages associated with a paperless office.
Digital accounting – advantages:
- The collaboration between client and tax advisor is transparent.
- Location-independent access to invoices & co.
- Security of receipts against burglary, fire, and theft
- More space thanks to less paperwork
Additionally, digital accounting is a basic prerequisite for automation – and thus a decisive criterion for faster and low error processes with less work at the same time. Just how great the potential becomes clear when looking at the time required for invoice processing. According to our invoice management study, most companies spend eleven to 19 hours a month on this. At an hourly rate of just €20, this translates into costs ranging from €220 to nearly €400 per month! With the help of automation, up to 80 percent of costs can be saved compared to purely paper-based processing, according to Billentis’ e-invoicing journey 2019-2025. To exploit this potential, several hurdles must be overcome.
Digital accounting – disadvantages
- Implementation costs
- Reservations of employees/lack of acceptance
- Difficulties in dealing with digital solutions
- Uncertainties regarding compliance with the GoBD
However, these supposed disadvantages can easily be put aside. The license costs for accounting software are only a few 100 € and its implementation is intuitive. You can eliminate possible reservations of your employees and gain their acceptance by explaining the advantages of an accounting program to them. More exciting is the question of compliance with the GoBD.
GoBD – what’s that?
GoBD is the abbreviation for the principles for the proper keeping and storage of books, records, and documents in electronic form as well as for data access. They must be taken into account in digital bookkeeping. Above all, it is a matter of being able to prove at any time that each transaction for your paperless bookkeeping has been
- verifiable,
- complete,
- correct,
- timely,
- orderly and
- unchangeable.
We have summarized how you can achieve this in the context of a digital transformation of your accounting in a checklist.
How does digital accounting work?
The switch to digital accounting must follow a strategy. Software can only take on numerous tasks if the various tools are seamlessly networked – for example, the app for scanning analog invoices and the solution with which payment is made. Or: the solution used to collate receipts and the tax advisor’s software.
The following checklist covers the most important steps and offers you some guidance:
Digitale Buchhaltung – Checkliste:
- Collate invoices digitally
- Digitize receipts and analog invoices
- Organize documents using an invoice management solution
- Use online accounting software
- Automatically read out information
- Automatic forwarding to tax advisors or to other solutions
- Create procedural documentation
- Archive documents
Say “bye-bye” to your commute folder!
The digital transformation of accounting has numerous advantages. You benefit from less manual effort and faster processes, and also save costs. Invoices are available regardless of location, which simplifies their approval. Your tax advisor will be happy about more transparency, which should then also be reflected in lower fees. And the “disadvantages”? – You can handle them with ease! Let’s go digital!
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