Bookkeeping in the cloud Bookkeeping in the cloud Bookkeeping in the cloud

If you ask entrepreneurs why they pursued their dreams of owning a business, chances are "managing bookkeeping" isn't one of the answers. Today's busy entrepreneurs have enough on their plates running and growing their businesses, so it can be a challenge to also stay on top of all things accounting. At the same time, entrepreneurs recognize the importance of keeping pace with the realities of the new digital environment. In fact, 91 per cent of respondents to a recent KPMG survey said the pandemic has shown a real need for Canadian businesses to strengthen their online presence and digital capabilities.

Earlier this year, I spoke with a hospitality business owner in Ontario about issues relating to one of his holding companies. Like many businesses, the owner was working with a traditional bookkeeper because he didn't have the time or in-house expertise to manage his accounting and financial reporting requirements. However, the service he was working with was old-school and paper-based, leading to challenges with quality and timeliness. As he planned to modernize his business and open new locations, he wasn't sure if traditional bookkeeping methods would be able to keep up.

He wanted to make a change but didn't know if hiring a bookkeeper on staff was the way to go. Throughout our discussions, it became clear that his growing business needed a longer-term, modernized solution. That led us to discussing a cloud-based solution—specifically, KPMG Finance Plus. While cloud-based accounting software has a lot of benefits, this business owner was particularly keen on the ability to have quicker reporting and create more efficiencies across multiple locations as the company grows.

KPMG Finance Plus came about because we recognized that many small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) need a way to ease their bookkeeping burden. Since businesses that accelerate their move to digital are better positioned in this new environment, we knew the solution had to be on the cutting edge. We spent the past year testing and piloting the service and refined it until we were confident that we could deliver a smarter and more customized bookkeeping service for SMBs.

One critical component is that the solution had to continue to allow clients access to the real-life KPMG experience they'd come to rely on and trust. So, in addition to our cloud-based service, businesses are assigned a dedicated KPMG accountant to manage their daily transactions and provide them with personalized support and insights.

Having access to KPMG professionals was particularly appealing to one of our long-standing clients—a franchisee with foodservice locations in Western Canada. Their full-time internal bookkeeper had retired, and the owner was looking to automate the company's financial transaction processing. By outsourcing bookkeeping to KPMG Finance Plus, the business now has an innovative, long-term solution in place. The owner and his team also don't have to worry about succession planning and the risk of information being lost during the transition to another bookkeeper.

After signing on with the service, we went through a smooth onboarding and training process with the client, who's been particularly enthusiastic about seeing many functions that had been managed manually become automated. This allows them to have faster and more accurate access to company information across all locations. We've heard similar feedback from tech start-ups, medical offices, landscapers, retailers and other SMBs that have started using Finance Plus.

Want to learn more? Visit our website, or contact me for more information.