“Automatically” Doesn’t Necessarily Mean “Correctly”

<p><img src="/images/default-source/Blog-images/path_blog.jpg?sfvrsn=a049cb80_0" data-displaymode="Original" alt="path_blog" title="path_blog" style="float: left; margin-right: 20px;" />For an owner of a small business, an entry-level accounting product like Quickbooks can minimize the hours needed for bookkeeping. The business owner can set up direct feeds from bank accounts and credit cards. The accounting program can &ldquo;auto-magically&rdquo; apply transactions to GL accounts, and can save hours and dollars.</p> <p>What happens when the small business grows, adds a full-time accountant, and aims to improve its financial reporting?</p> <p>Sometimes the automation that is designed to make things easy can actually become an obstacle for the accountant. As the software tries to do all the accounting for the transactions as they are read, based on a simple set of rules, the automation can actually apply the amounts incorrectly. It&rsquo;s easy not to notice the processing error at the time it occurs. The software program&rsquo;s rules cannot anticipate the situations that invariably arise &ndash; situations that accountants are trained to identify and manage. There comes a time when the accountant needs software that enables them to do what they are trained to do. They need the automation to support their processes rather than automation that forces them to manage a process in spreadsheets &ndash; outside of the accounting system.</p> <p><img src="/images/default-source/Blog-images/customize_blog.jpg?sfvrsn=b249cb80_0" data-displaymode="Original" alt="customize_blog" title="customize_blog" style="float: right; margin-right: 20px;" />We have designed Adagio Accounting software for accountants. Adagio BankRec allows the accountant to set rules on how transactions should be matched with the accounting entries. For those statement items where no matching accounting entry is found, Adagio BankRec allows the user to create a &ldquo;Statement Rule&rdquo; that can allocate a transaction to a specific GL account, Customer or Vendor based on information in the transaction description. The user gets to review all the information in BankRec before any transactions are posted into the accounting system. There are a lot more checks (no pun intended) and balances.</p> <p>Andrew Bates</p>