Will you be my . . . cloud accounting solution?

It’s almost like clockwork. In fact, you could set your watch by it. February 14th goes by many different names, depending on who you ask: Singles Awareness Day, just another day, another Hallmark holiday and yes, Valentine’s Day. Reports from all over the country are citing people engaging in the oddest of practices: buying flowers, boxes of chocolate, and yes, working up the courage for the most profound of proposals. Maybe you’ve seen and heard that proposal firsthand. Maybe you’ve done it yourself. Just about everyone has heard the words, "Will you be my… Cloud Accounting Solution?" right?

OK, so it may be uttered a bit differently, depending on who you ask. Everyone’s a little different; and everyone has their own idea of what they want in a real accounting solution. So, chances are, you’ve already come up with a wish list of your own; and maybe it went something like this:

Dear Cupid,

I don’t’ think I’m asking for much. I just want an accounting solution that I can really count on. You know, a system that is solid, one that will really be there for me, through thick and thin, business growing pains and all. My team and I are working hard, and we have a growing business to prove it. But we need a system with some must-have features, like:

Powerful Drill-Down and Extraction Capability

Sometimes we need information and answers, like yesterday. Like when our most valuable boutique retailer calls asking about availability of our best-selling pair of skinny jeans in three different sizes. He buys them in bulk since he has a wish list from buyers. The last thing you want to tell him is no; and the second to last thing you want to tell him is I don’t know if I have them in stock. Can I please locate and track quantities of specific products or components in real-time?

Sharing Master Files

So, we have six property locations, each in a separate company, and each on its own database. We have a vendor that supplies display racks for those awesome skinny jeans, the last thing I want to hear is “What, I have set up that vendor in each database for all those locations?” Yes, it’s painful, and yes, it’s very unproductive. My hipster team is responding “Really? That’s six times logging and out of databases and that’s just for one vendor! That sucks!” Can I please setup the vendor once so that every company is up to date?

Reporting on Consolidated Information

Sometimes our flagship location in Berkeley shares an invoice with our San Francisco location. I need to be able to track and breakdown vendor expenses by location. Can you please do that for me in just one database?

Capturing and Analyzing Critical Data, like overhead expenses by location

As you’ve probably gathered, I really don’t like waiting for answers; and I probably wouldn’t have to wait nearly as much if all of our data was consolidated into a single, secure database. If my data were properly consolidated, I could retrieve those answers faster than I could ask for them. Hook me up – please!

Multi-Company Operational Reports

While Contrary to the name, an Aging Report shouldn’t take forever to produce. And I shouldn’t have to wait until St. Patrick’s Day to get them either. A good lead-time for a multi-company Aging Report: how’s less than 2 minutes?