Finance & Accounting Technology Stack

In the previous chapters of our Finance and Accounting Playbook, we learned about the makeup of a finance and accounting team and the issues that commonly arise with a traditional approach to F&A. Then, we covered the benefits of a bottom-up approach, which includes assessing how your business generates data and how all that information interacts with the F&A team and their responsibilities. In this chapter, we will discuss how to use technology solutions to streamline your F&A functions and maximize productivity.

One of our clients’ most significant pain points is staying on top of the noteworthy changes happening in our industry and choosing the best technology solutions for their business, then deploying them successfully. During our assessment, we analyze a client’s technology infrastructure and implement systems that can better solve financial workflow issues upfront, so your operation can grow as your team does.

The technological systems your FinOps team uses allow them to communicate across departments, ultimately ensuring everyone makes strategic decisions with quality financial information in mind. At Compass East, we stay on the cutting edge of technology, monitoring the most useful systems and integrating them into our tech stack. We analyze the costs and benefits of deploying specific systems and implement integrations to provide scalability and efficiency in data collection. Our selected automation tools allow us to better deliver a streamlined finance and accounting operation.

The General Ledger

Your FinOps team needs a seamless technology ecosystem to gather data from multiple access points and analyze it quickly. In Compass East’s cloud-based suite of the latest F&A technology, general ledger technology is the hub connecting all the spokes of your accounting and finance software. Our technology stack uses QuickBooks Online (QBO) or Xero as the base general ledger to collaborate harmoniously with other technology systems, gather data and store all the financial information you need in one easy-to-access location.

QuickBooks Online

Financial information management is a complex effort. QBO powerfully integrates with all the other software platforms within your technology ecosystem to share data as efficiently as possible. As a fully cloud-based system, QuickBooks Online is accessible from any device with an internet connection.

Because of its interconnection with every other F&A tracking system, QuickBooks Online can perform the following tasks:

Tracking expenses and income
Managing and paying bills
Invoicing and accepting payments
Capturing receipts
Recording project profitability
Running advanced reports

Some inbound clients use QuickBooks Desktop, a local server based on a version of QuickBooks. For a long time, most felt QuickBooks Desktop was the superior product. However, QBO is now the preferred software. Intuit, QuickBooks’ parent company, has invested most of its research and development efforts on QuickBooks Online. As a result, the cloud-based version of QuickBooks will only continue improving and evolving over time, while Desktop will stay the same.

Xero

Xero is accounting software designed to help growing businesses track their cash flows and transactions. The cloud-based system provides real-time updates to any web-enabled device, so your team can manage data from anywhere. With its supportive accounting features, Xero can help your company:

Manage invoicing
Complete payroll using Gusto
Connect and reconcile banks
Regulate inventory
Pay bills
Keep information secure

Xero and QuickBooks Online are comparable options. While QBO is the definitive market leader, Xero offers more flexibility for custom API integrations for those who need that benefit for their business.

Accounts Payable and Receivable

Tracking accounts payable and receivable requires keeping detailed records of services rendered and payment received. Your accounts receivable team likely manages invoicing and accepts payments. The accounts payable team handles incoming invoices and logs them in the accounting system. Our user-friendly software improves efficiency and accuracy by sending out invoices and requesting payments so you can optimize your cash flow management.

Bill.com

Companies may struggle with managing AP and paying their bills manually via checks. Bill.com, a combination of accounts payable and accounts receivable software, creates a single repository to send bills. OCR technology scans the bills, codes them automatically and categorizes them appropriately. Bill.com can set up a hierarchy of people who can approve bills with a click of a button on the app.

Once approved, Bill.com sends payment via automated clearinghouse or can even send a paper check without the approver involved. Bank-level security features like encryption and firewalls protect secure data, so your accounts stay safe.

Expense Management

Accounts payable is also responsible for managing internal reimbursement. Leveraging cloud-based expense management technology allows employees to submit their expenses so managers can process, track and reimburse payment in significantly less time.

Expensify

The days of saving paper receipts and submitting them to an accountant to untangle are long gone. Expensify is ideal for companies that need to reimburse employees for business-related expenses they pay for themselves. Employees sync their credit cards to the mobile app when purchasing or depositing. Expensify will automatically encode a picture of the receipt to the appropriate budget category and save the purchase information. This software syncs directly with QuickBooks, saving an extra step.

Divvy

Your company may want to issue company credit cards for corporate use instead of reimbursing employees. Divvy is a software solution that allows companies to provide employees with virtual purchasing cards for specific purchases or subscription payments. Through Divvy’s automated tracking, you can identify unnecessary expenses and eliminate over-reimbursing.

Brex

You could bank the traditional way, or you could use an alternative like Brex. With this expense management solution, you can track and control spending, pay bills automatically and instantly access your revenue across multiple platforms. Brex doesn’t charge fees, and offers a corporate credit card with rewards for every purchase.

Receipt Bank

Receipt Bank is an automated receipt data entry platform that allows your company to easily access all corporate purchases made on employee credit cards. Receipt Bank syncs data from photos of receipts with QuickBooks Online and stores the bills in your accounting system. Images of the data received will populate in QuickBooks Online for processing.

Payment Processing

At Compass East, we use payment processing applications designed with users in mind. The merchant processing systems in our accounting technology stack offer efficient payment tracking so you can give customers a seamless experience.

Square

Ideal for physical storefronts, Square is a cloud-based point-of-sale system that accepts payments from multiple options. Besides payment processing, Square allows businesses to track inventory and record customer and employee actions. By creating customer profiles, your company can observe the type and frequency of purchases. Square also includes a time clock so employees can sign in and out of work from the cash register.

Stripe

Stripe tracks online payments made to internet businesses. Suited for high-volume sales and consumer software companies, Stripe uses powerful APIs to help companies create the best user experience possible. Whether your company uses e-commerce, manages subscriptions or functions as a source for crowdfunding, Stripe is meticulous about dealing with online payments.

E-Commerce

You need powerful e-commerce tools to help you track and update inventory quickly, maintain accurate records and gather your online revenue in one place, keeping customers satisfied and your business agile.

Shopify

With online and retail applications, Shopify is an e-commerce payment processing software that manages unlimited inventory. Through Shopify’s online storefront, users can add sales channels and fulfill orders instantly. Shopify also provides a point-of-sale system for accepting retail payments. Companies can use this software to track sales trends and more.

Payroll and Timekeeping

Regardless of your business’ size, managing payroll administration is vital to ensuring employees get compensated on time. Our finance technology stack’s payroll software can handle everything from time tracking and scheduling to expense reporting and human resource management, so you can improve efficiency.

Gusto

Gusto automates payroll administration by eliminating manual payment processing. Paperless transactions are immediately available in employees’ accounts, and employees can track their time and PTO. With Gusto, your payroll department can meet compliance laws, quickly prepare year-end transaction forms and dispense benefits like deposits into retirement plans and health care.

QuickBooks Time

QuickBooks Time simplifies employee time tracking and scheduling. This cloud-based payroll software integrates via APIs with Gusto, Expensify and QuickBooks Online. The mobile app, available with Android and iOS, allows employees to clock in from their smartphones and provides geofencing capabilities.

Customer Relationship Management

Whether your company is B2B or B2C, maintaining your relationship with customers increases sales and delivers a memorable experience. Our customer relationship management software gives companies more control over website traffic and marketing.

Salesforce

Salesforce is a leading CRM system that works natively with QuickBooks Online. It allows companies to use cloud technology for better connections among their customers and partners. Salesforce stores customer and prospective customer information, including contact information, leads and sales opportunities. That data can then help your company convert leads into sales and increase its visibility.

Hubspot

An all-in-one CRM solution, Hubspot provides an intuitive platform for increasing your website’s traffic and converting more visitors. It tracks your prospects and runs targeted marketing campaigns to attract them. Hubspot is simple to use, requiring no coding ability. It automates several processes so you can exceed your customers’ expectations.

Inventory Management

The accounting department is in charge of several financial reports, including inventory management. Accurately recording inventory levels during month-end is vital for ensuring accurate financials. Centralized inventory management software can simplify data collection.

Cin7

Through Cin7, your business can connect its warehouses, stock locations, sales channels, orders, reports and more. Cin7 is your home base for managing inventory, order, shipping and accounting workflows. This platform provides all the data your operations and finance managers need to work together smoothly.

DEAR Systems

DEAR Systems is a one-stop software for managing sales and inventory for retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers. The software syncs multiple sales channels intuitively and instantly updates inventory levels and order status. With DEAR inventory management, you can save time with automated processes and access data to determine your most valuable suppliers and goods.

Fishbowl

Perfect for medium and large businesses, Fishbowl helps companies track manufacturing and inventory. Fishbowl follows merchandise from production to shipment and delivery. Companies can use Fishbowl’s data to manage supply and demand issues and figure out how inventory processes could improve. This software integrates with QuickBooks Online for real-time information updates.

SkuVault

With e-commerce inventory management software SkuVault, you can easily sync all of your sales channels and manage inventory from one place. The cloud-based system integrates with other digital solutions to provide instant updates on your inventory at every step. SkuVault’s generated reports can help you forecast sales and make better reordering decisions to maximize cash flow.

PEO

Outsourcing critical HR job performances like payroll and benefits administration can take a significant burden off any business. A professional employer organization aims to streamline and automate some of the functions of an HR department. Our technology ecosystem uses PEO software that performs the same functions without bringing in an outside company, which could influence your company culture and bring increased security risk.

Rippling

The employee management platform Rippling supervises operations and data from payroll and benefits to IT control. Upgrading to Rippling PEO gives you custom reports and manages compliance with ease. You can also mitigate risks with helpful advice from Rippling’s full support team.

Nextep

A new partner in our technology stack, Nextep simplifies PEO functions by providing full-service HR functions like payroll, compliance and benefits. Nextep technology is seamless and user-friendly, allowing you to toggle through industry information with one click. Through the software, you can initiate and manage employee benefits and efficiently run payroll. Save time and get back to running your business.

Insperity

Our primary professional employer organization software is Insperity, an online HR platform that centralizes and simplifies several functions of the HR department. With Insperity, HR managers can review data and run reports quickly from one software platform. Employees can also use the system to access their paystubs and view PTO and other benefits.

Reporting and Forecasts

Ultimately, the goal of a scalable technology system like Compass East’s technology stack is to streamline data collection so your company can connect current patterns to future projections and begin tracking key performance indicators. We employ data-driven reporting and forecasting software in our finance technology stack to give companies insights to create an actionable growth plan.

Jirav

Jirav provides a visual depiction of a business’ metrics so management and stakeholders can gather valuable financial reports. Through Jirav, a customized list of stakeholders and executives can receive interactive reports whenever needed. Jirav’s powerful forecasting feature allows it to compare the plan with the actual, so you can identify opportunities for growth across every department within the business.

Futrli

After executives and managers identify KPIs, they can implement a dashboard like Futrli to examine forecasts and reports. Futrli can either work off templates or extract data from a customized dataset. It reports on financial and non-financial KPIs across an adjustable period, with an unlimited number of formulas. Futrli integrates natively with QuickBooks Online and Xero.

Fathom

Fathom reports on KPIs with cash flow analysis designed to track trends and assess overall performance. It integrates with QuickBooks Online and Xero to import data from every department into the general ledger. Managers can adjust the custom financial visuals in Fathom’s dashboard to visualize the impact of individual variables upon the KPI as a whole.

Revenue Management

Accurately managing online revenue is essential for improving partner and customer satisfaction. Revenue management also impacts how well you maintain exact records, which are essential for regulatory compliance.

SaaSOptics

SaasOptics delivers automated order processing so you can manage your subscriptions better and improve the order-to-cash process. Another benefit of SaaSOptics is its revenue recognition capabilities. As your business grows, accurate revenue reporting can become a challenge. Advanced reporting capabilities from SaaSOptics give you the confidence to comply with new regulations.

Investor Relations and Equity Management

Equity management is an investment into your company’s long-term health. Managing the equity at your company involves processes like updating investors on financials and updating your cap table.

Carta

To make managing equity more efficient, we implement the cloud-based equity management solution Carta. Public and private companies can use Carta to manage investments, valuations and cap tables. The platform monitors employee and non-employee equity so the administration can handle building and scaling equity plans.

International Payments

Making payments locally may be simple, but the process could become a little more complicated if your company handles worldwide transactions. Training your F&A team to manually deal with these payments can be time-consuming and complex. With international payments technology, you can automate payment processing from overseas banks.

Veem

For completing international payments, we recommend Veem. This global payments platform syncs with QuickBooks Online, giving small to medium businesses access to a broader customer base. Veem enables companies to send and receive payments internationally through its global bank transfer system. Its payment processing applications extend worldwide to grow your business’ outreach.

Contact Compass East for Finance and Accounting Software

If your company is looking for help managing financial data collection to achieve faster growth, Compass East is ready to partner with you. We provide a suite of technology to improve a business’ finance and accounting operations from the bottom up. Schedule your free consultation to learn more about what our finance technology stack can accomplish for your company.