What is financial management software?
A piece of financial management software is a computer program that helps businesses monitor and report on various different metrics relating to the financial state of their business including data relating to income, expenses, assets, liabilities, and more.
What are the different types of financial management software?
There are two main types of finance management software: cloud-based solutions and on-premise solutions. Financial management solutions delivered via the cloud see the software hosted on a remote server and accessed through the internet. An on-premise solution will see the software installed on hardware (anything from a server to a single computer) at your business premises.
The principal differences between these two approaches are that cloud-based software is typically more affordable and easier to access and use than software implemented using an on-premise approach.
What can financial management software do?
Financial management software can help businesses manage their finances in a variety of ways including the extra insights that the software can deliver to a company’s decision-makers through the data it tracks, as well as time, and cost, savings by optimising or automating financial processes. However you use them though, the core functionalities that financial management software should be capable of are:
Accounting
Financial management software should of course be able to help businesses track their income, expenses, assets, and liabilities.
Invoicing
Software of this type should also be able to assist your accounts receivable team with the creation and issuing of invoices to customers. This can help businesses to improve their cash flow and reduce the risk of late payments.
Payroll
This kind of software can also help businesses automate their payroll process, which in itself can lead to considerable savings in terms of both time and money, while also helping to ensure that your business remains compliant with government regulations.
Budgeting and forecasting
In addition to dealing with your business’ current and real-time financial situation, financial management software can also help businesses prepare for the future by assisting with budget forecasting and creation. The software can then be used to keep track of whether or not the budget that was created was sufficient, correct, or an overestimation, and what it was spent on. This can help businesses to stay on track with their financial goals and avoid overspending.
Reporting
Good financial management software will be able to generate a variety of reports that can help businesses to track almost any metric or data point relating to their financial performance. These reports can then be used to identify trends, spot potential issues before they become a real problem, and inform company leadership – putting them in a place to make better financial decisions for the business.
How do I go about implementing a business finance solution incorporating financial management software?
If you are considering using financial management software at your company, there are a few things you need to do to ensure that you end up with the right solution to meet your business needs, and that your staff are able to get the most from it. The items on your to-do list should include:
Assessing your needs
Before you get started looking at possible solutions you should certainly put some time into thinking about what your specific challenges and needs are from a financial standpoint, and how financial management software can help you solve and meet them.
Researching available solutions
Once you know what you need, you’re better equipped to understand the various financial management solutions that are available and how useful each of them will be to your company – now is the time to carry out that research, so that you have a more concrete idea of what you’re looking for when you go to the next stage.
Obtaining quotes
Once you have identified a few potential solutions, you’ll be able to get quotes from different service providers. Don’t forget that in addition to implementation services good service providers like TouchstoneFMS will also be able to provide a range of services such as staff training, and expert advice in the planning stages too. As a result, you should ask about these extra services provided and if any of them are included in your quote.
Choosing a solution
Once this point is reached, your management team will be in a position to decide which financial management software solution is right for your business. They should take all of the information that’s been gathered during the process thus far into account, and if they do, management and staff can be confident that the right decision will be made.
Implementing that solution
Once a financial management software solution has been chosen by your company, the next step is to implement it. The implementation process will vary depending on the software you choose, and the service provider that you choose to implement it – but it will typically involve setting up your accounts, importing your data, and configuring the software to meet your needs.
Maintaining that solution
After you have implemented the software, there are still tasks that need to be addressed. You will need to train your employees on how to use the software, but in addition to this there will be ongoing issues such as system updates and other routine or emergency maintenance to consider.
In order to ensure that this goes as smoothly as possible, you should consider post-implementation support services from TouchstoneFMS, to guide you and your staff through the initial stages of implementation as well as training new staff, to catch them up to speed with the rest of your team. Post-implementation support can also maintain your software and ensure it’s inline with the provider’s latest updates.
What to consider when choosing a financial management services provider
There are a number of factors to consider when choosing a financial management services provider. Perhaps the most important is the software that they work with, and the features and functionalities that it brings – since to an extent this will dictate what the solution you implement will be able to do, how it does those things, and how easy it is to use.
In addition to this however you should also think about the extra services that they offer in addition to implementation – will they train your staff? Will they help you keep your system up to date with the latest update patches (or will you have to do that) and will they provide maintenance support? Last but not least, you should also take the overall price of the quote you’ve been given and what it includes into account.
Why TouchstoneFMS are the best choice to be your financial management service provider
When it comes to all aspects of work on financial management software implementation projects, few can match the knowledge, experience and dedication of the TouchstoneFMS team. We have been providing clients across the world with top-notch advice, installations and maintenance and other support services for decades now. To learn more about our company, our expertise and how we can help you, you’re more than welcome to contact us today.
In addition to this, don’t forget that we are also a proud member of the wider Touchstone Group. Fellow Group members include TouchstoneEnergy, Touchstone Business Intelligence and Xpedition – and our colleagues at these businesses boast the same levels of experience and dedication that we do. To see how they might be able to help you too, please click the corresponding link.
