There are 988 apps published on the Apple App Store per day alone. That’s roughly 41 apps an hour! It goes without saying the amount of apps, and tech, and software solutions out there is overwhelming.
Below you’ll find the essential tools every modern bookkeeper should consider adding to their tech stack.
Whether you’re looking to speedup and streamline your process, manage your team, avoid commoditization and expand your services, or you’re just getting started in bookkeeping, you’ll find at least one tool on this list you wished you would have added to yours years ago.
1passowrd
Take a quick glance up and see how many tabs you have open. Now think of all the tabs you’ve had open in the past week or month. We’re willing to guess you’ve probably forgotten what a couple of them even are!
The point is bookkeepers spend a lot of time in a lot of different places: spreadsheets, accounting systems, bank accounts, credit cards, payroll, ect.
With the rise of two-factor authentication, and login timeouts getting to where you need can sometimes be just as big a headache as doing the actual work.
A password manager, like our personal fav 1password, stores all your logins in one place and will auto fill login information saving you from searching for emails, re-entering passwords, and the tedious ‘Forgot your password’ process.
Hubdoc
Tired of manual data entry and hunting for receipts and bills? Allow us to introduce Hubdoc. With Hubdoc, you can import all your financial documents like bills and receipts, and export them into data you can use.
Simply take a picture of the financial document, import it through Hubdoc into QuickBooks Online or Xero.
No more manual data entry.
Slack
Communication is key whether that be between you and team members, or you and clients. Slack brings a bunch of extra features to help out.
If your sick of unorganized chat threads and emails you can create specific channels in slack to separate topics and discussions helping you stay organized
It’s chat search feature is also great for when you can remember talking about something with a client a few weeks ago, but can’t remember the exact details.
Plus it’s compatible with a bunch of other software platforms like Google Docs, Asana and Loom (more on those below).
Asana
If your personal calendar is getting a bit messy and you’re looking for a way to track projects and tasks we recommend checking out Asana.
Asana is designed to keep you on track and easily collaborate with others
And the best part is that the free plan includes a lot of great features and lets you add up to 15 team members! Who doesn’t love free!
Loom
How often have you thought if I could just show them…’
Seeing is believing, and with Loom you can capture screen records and capture video helping you quickly communicate with clients.
No need to carefully craft an email, just open up Loom and show them!
Bonus Round:
We’re going to break the rules of our own list with these last two. They might not fit into the strictly ‘essential’ for bookkeepers but they can certainly elevate your service.
Relay Financial
How nice does all your bank accounts syncing directly with QuickBooks Online and Xero sound? Well Relay does exactly that.
Plus they offer tracking for things like profit and taxes, all while having no account fees, overdraft fees, or minimum balances.
Helm Cash Flow
If you feel your services are commoditized, your clients are asking for more and more, or they are struggling with cash flow, Helm is a great tool to push the value of your services over the edge.
With automated cash flow forecasts, accounts payable and receivable management, super-easy to understand outputs, and more Helm makes getting and communicating cash flow forecasts to clients a breeze.
Plus it takes you a big step closer to controllership, a highly less commoditized and more valuable service market.
Looking Ahead
Like we said, they’re a lot of tools out there, hopefully you found a couple on this list to add to your tech stack this year!
Until next time!
