The most common tool used by small business owners when it comes to accounting, is a spreadsheet. Whether it’s Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, a lot of entrepreneurs, especially new entrepreneurs, rely on spreadsheets for their bookkeeping. Unfortunately, the inaccurate use of spreadsheets leads to major losses for businesses. According to The Telgraph, the synchronised swimming event at the London 2012 olympic games was overbooked by 10,000 tickets. This was due to a simple error by a member of staff who entered ‘20,000’ instead of ‘10,000’ remaining tickets into the spreadsheet.
It’s quite easy to fall into this trap as a Caribbean solopreneur since you’re one Google Search away from a fresh Excel template that’s meant to make accounting easy for you. Although it is the most accessible tool for small business owners, as the business grows entrepreneurs quickly realise that the investment of time (& money) to maintain spreadsheets is not ideal.
As a Professional Accountant, I strongly recommend that you invest in an automated accounting solution that works for your business and stay away from the ‘one-size fits all’ templates you find online. If you’re still on the fence, here are five reasons why you should not use Excel in your accounting system:
The day you decide to invest in modern accounting solutions, they will drastically reduce your input and decrease human error in your business. Also there are limitless possibilities with these accounting solutions such as tracking bills and expenses, forecasting future earnings or even accepting online payments from customers, among other things which Excel doesn't allow.
Subscribe to my mailing list, for more helpful accounting content!
References:
Kelso, P. (2012, January 4). London 2012 olympics: Lucky few to get 100m final tickets after synchronised swimming was overbooked by 10,000. The Telegraph. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/8992490/London-2012-Olympics-lucky-few-to-get-100m-final-tickets-after-synchronised-swimming-was-overbooked-by-10000.html