Choosing the right accounting software can impact your business in a positive way saving you a lot of time and money so you can focus on your Business.

1. Choosing The Right
Accounting
Software

2. I was chatting to a café owner the other day. Justine
and her husband, Rico run three busy cafes in a
regional area. Each café is slightly different in what it
offers but they have a strong recognisable brand in
their town.
So we got talking about how they do it.
Rico spends most of his time in the kitchens and
managing front of house. Justine juggles her time
working a few days a week in two of the cafes and
doing the books and payroll the other days of the week
from their home office using desktop accounting
software.

3. She expressed frustration at being away from the cafes
for that time or having to run home or wait until they
got home after a long day before they could check on
their cash flow, payroll information and any other
financial data they may need to access in order to make
a business decision.
We also chatted about the manual way in which they
count the tills and record the takings from each café,
entering it all into a spreadsheet onsite then re-
entering the data into the accounting software they’re
using in the home office.

4. They also had a near miss a few years ago when their
computer got a virus and they almost lost all of their
data. Yikes!
Her main complaint?
“I feel like I am always two steps behind.”
So then I talked through a number of accounting and
business process software and apps we guide our
clients in the hospitality industry towards. Here at
Cornerstone we see the immediate impact and benefits
being smart about using the right sort of software can
bring to a hospitality business.

5. Here are five of our favourites:
1. Xero is one of the most popular accounting software
programs on the market at the moment. The reason? It
offers cloud accounting. This means Justine and Rico
can access their financial data from anywhere – their
phones, a laptop at one of the cafes, iPads and of
course their home office. AND it removes the risk of
losing valuable information to a virus or security attack.

6. 2. Keypay is one of the better payroll software
applications on the market because it can be used
standalone or with Xero. Key features include built-in
award information for all sorts of industries, including
hospitality, retail and early childhood services.

7. 3. Kounta is an online Point of Sale software that allows
a business to take customer orders, manage inventory,
loyalty programs and more AND it integrates with
multiple cloud accounting software programs. This
means no more printing off the till records at the
register at the end of the day then manually recording
the takings into a separate spreadsheet. It’s all linked in
to your accounting software. Rico can check on what
inventory is getting low and send a supplier order from
the kitchen and Justine can check on each of the
takings in each of the cafes at any point of time from
wherever she may be!

8. 4. Many people think Paypal is for eBay or online
purchases but some savvy hospitality businesses are
using it in other ways. Paypal’s Pay at Table app allows
PayPal customers to check into a restaurant or venue
on their smartphone, enter their table number and
then pay their bill (and it has a tipping function!). It’s
designed to make it easier for diners to pay their bills.
And it seems to encourage people to eat or drink more.
I was at a meeting with a client at a café and he used
the app to order a second round of coffees. Now
THAT’S a win win situation. More coffee for the
customer and more revenue for the café owner.

9. 5. Beat the Q (and Hey You) is for your busy customers
who hate to wait. Customers can order and pay up
front en route to your café or restaurant then walk on
in past the queue to pick up their coffee and be on the
way. This is great for café owners as it can help attract
new customers, increase customer loyalty and order
values AND you generate more orders without the long
queues!

10. It was an eye-opener for Justine. She simply had no
idea these platforms and software programs were
available in the hospitality industry. She had been
working for so long IN her business always ‘two steps
behind’ (remember they were her words) that she and
Rico had not had the opportunity to come up for air
and work ON their business.

11. We finished the conversation with me chatting about
how I have seen our clients get hours back in their day
once they implemented one or more of these software
programs into their business. Not only that, it made an
impact on their cash flow as they became more
proactive about business development and customer
service because they finally had time to focus on
growing the business….they had managed to get out
from under a pile of paperwork and administrative pain
and get on the front foot with their business again.

12. From two steps behind to on the front foot. Isn’t that
where any business owner wants to get to? Please read
our post for more information on the best bookkeeping
software for small business. If you need help migrating
to a cloud based accounting software speak to one our
experts.