Accounting Software

Article Dean Dorton

Whether your company intends to buy or build properties, time is of the essence. Taking advantage of the red hot real estate market that exists across the country means satisfying demand before a rival company can or before the situation takes a downturn. That leaves a short window to reap what promises to be massive rewards.

Unfortunately, acting fast isn’t easy. Onboarding new people can be a slow, laborious, and error-prone process. And with the construction industry facing a labor shortage of 650,000 workers, there needs to be a lot of onboarding completed as quickly as possible. The same goes for bringing new properties online. Finding tenants, completing paperwork, and checking every box takes no small amount of time and input. And if the process isn’t efficient for all involved, it could lead to vacant properties or depressed rents.

Improving onboarding while simultaneously dealing with booming demand sounds like a tall order. And it certainly is for construction and real estate companies without the right tools at their disposal. For those with Sage Intacct, however, the opportunities are endless.

Integration + Automation = Optimal Onboarding

Every company onboards people and properties differently, but the process suffers from the same problems everywhere: disconnected information sources, paper-based processes, manual inputs, and time-consuming redundancies. These problems might have been acceptable or seemed inevitable in the past. But that’s not the case anymore.

An optimal onboarding process moves quickly and systematically through each step, doing everything required without delays, errors, or confusion at any point. Meeting that high standard requires a single source of truth that integrates all the associated data. Once that comprehensive information resource exists, automation can complete complex and time-consuming processes since it has all the information it needs in one place.

That doesn’t mean onboarding runs on autopilot. Instead, it means that hiring and property managers can focus on high-level responsibilities while technology streamlines and accelerates everything else. The result is an optimal onboarding process where both new hires and new properties have a positive impact in less time.

Sage Intacct: More Than Just an Onboarding Tool

Sage Intacct is a leading financial management platform that integrates huge amounts of data (financial and otherwise) in one location, then unleashes automation to do incredible things with that data.

All the different ways that Sage Intacct elevates onboarding would take a much longer article to describe. But imagine if those involved with onboarding always had the right data at their disposal, anywhere at any time, and never had to move, modify, or manage that data to advance the onboarding process forward. It’s like starting at the finish line instead of racing to get there. That way, onboarding never feels like an obstacle and never stands in the way of present or future opportunities.

Sage Intacct optimizes onboarding along with countless other important processes related to accounting, finance, operations, and more. No wonder it’s a leading solution for the construction and real estate industries.

Dean Dorton can help you implement Sage Intacct and use it to the fullest – for onboarding and everything else. Contact us to set up a demo or consultation.

Philip Massey,
Software Services Director
pmassey@ddaftech.com • 919.796.5408

Article Dean Dorton

Accounting for Real Estate and Property Management – Are you in the Cloud?

Why should your real estate or property management business use a cloud-based accounting solution? Good question, but here’s a better one – why shouldn’t you?

Technology is transforming the way we buy, sell, and manage property. And due to things like the ongoing pandemic and the evolving real-estate economy, players in this industry are reconsidering what it takes to be successful. By all accountants, the agents and managers that will thrive are those that learn to use technology to their advantage. That comes as no secret, which is why many are reevaluating the technology they have compared to the technology they need – and making updates or additions as necessary.

Which circles back to our original question. As real estate and property management companies take a critical look at their current accounting software (or lack thereof), many will decide it’s time for something different. They could choose to implement an on-premises solution…but why would they with all the cloud has to offer? Far from being equal options, the cloud has many advantages over on-premises equivalents, especially for the purposes of accounting and the particulars of real estate:

  • Visibility – No longer does data get stuck inside a specific folder, computer, or office. When all data lives inside the same cloud-based accounting platform, you gain visibility into anything and everything, all from one location. Nothing escapes notice.
  • Accessibility – With anywhere, anytime accessibility to cloud data and applications, real estate professionals have access to everything they need even when working remotely or from the field. Location never has to compromise access to information or informed decision making either. And in a work-from-home world, the cloud ensures accounting doesn’t skip a beat.
  • Speed – In hot real estate markets where there’s no time to wait, the cloud accelerates (and improves) decision making by serving up data and insights on-demand. And since data in the cloud updates in real-time without needing someone to handle it manually, the facts at hand are always current and complete.
  • Security – Real estate businesses are full of sensitive data and increasingly under attack from cyber threats of all sorts. The cloud improves cybersecurity by putting data and apps inside cloud environments that the provider (not the user) takes responsibility for securing.
  • Scalability – The cloud lets users scale their capabilities up or down to perfectly match their needs. It can scale quickly, effortlessly, and at a predictable cost (unlike on-premises) so that accounting never suffers from insufficient tech capabilities.
  • Automation – Since tech developers are focusing on cloud-based solutions, these solutions contain some of the best automation available. Accountants can take advantage of this automation to save time, prevent errors, and accomplish more by setting routine accounting obligations to run independently.

The case for the cloud is strong. It becomes even stronger with the right tech partners onboard – someone that can help a business new to cloud accounting take full advantage of what it offers. Pick a partner with deep experience in the real estate industry on top of extensive cloud expertise. Pick Dean Dorton.

Philip Massey,
Software Services Director
pmassey@ddaftech.com • 919.796.5408

Article Dean Dorton

If you’re like most accountants, your workday still centers around spreadsheets, data entry, and manually moving information from one place to another. In many ways, the accounting of today works the same as it did 20 years ago. And while it has certainly improved in some ways, there has been little to no progress in others. Which raises an important question – why hasn’t accounting software made every number cruncher more productive by now?

Here’s an example: An accountant has an Excel doc where she tracks prepaid expenses. She has to enter new expenses by hand, and she needs to keep careful track of the numbers to reconcile them with the information in the accounting software. It’s a big job that’s both complicated and risky. It’s also exactly the kind of thing – relying on disconnected spreadsheets – that accountants in 2022 shouldn’t be doing anymore. So why is this example (or something similar) still so common?

Accounting software is always the culprit in our experience. When accounting feels unproductive, inefficient, or off-the-mark, it’s tempting to blame people or processes. But even with the best of both in place, accounting cannot fire on all cylinders without the right tech tool supporting it. Technology is the biggest difference between teams that exceed expectations and ones that struggle to get everything finished correctly.

That being said, there are two ways that accounting software can disappoint in terms of productivity:

  • Antiquated Systems – Many companies still use the accounting software they started with, or the one they’ve become accustomed to over many years. It may have worked well at one time. However, as the company has grown and evolved, it’s financial management needs have matured beyond what the existing software can offer. Antiquated software will only (and increasingly) make accounting harder since the features it has can’t keep up with all that accountants and decision makers need to accomplish.
  • Under-Utilized Systems – When companies upgrade their accounting software to improve on what they already do, they sometimes fail to utilize all that their stronger, smarter software is actually capable of. They do the same (only better) when they could be doing more. Under-utilization happens when there are tools that accountants are not using, or when the accounting team and processes have not been properly updated around the new software. In either instance, the solution is already in place to many accounting and productivity problems – people simply need to embrace it.

Some accounting teams are making the most of everything their powerful accounting software can do. Vastly more, however, suffer from one of the issues above. Today’s financial management tools can do incredible things, from automating huge amounts of work to uncovering important financial insights. But only for the teams that build synergy between themselves and the right accounting software.

How does that happen? With the help of consultants who have done it dozens of times before. Dean Dorton helps clients select and implement better accounting software, then take full advantage of everything their new toolkit can do. Expect more – contact us.

Philip Massey,
Software Services Director
pmassey@ddaftech.com • 919.796.5408

Article Dean Dorton

It’s a fact of life in the business world that sometimes you need to pay for something in advance, sometimes long in advance. Take software licensing, for example. In order to access critical digital tools, it may be a requirement to pay for months or years of service upfront. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. However, it comes with some unique accounting requirements.

A company that prepays for a good or service must recognize that expense as an asset on the books. Then, accountants amortize the expense within the period it was incurred. In the software licensing example, if a company paid $12,000 for one year of service, it would need to amortize $1,000 in expenses each month and transfer those to the profit and loss statement. Done correctly, the total paid upfront would steadily get smaller until it reached zero by the end of the year.

There’s nothing unusual about this process. Companies pay in advance and amortize expenses for many things: technology, insurance, equipment, interest, etc. And when they have just a few expenses to amortize, it’s fairly easy to keep the process running smoothly. When they have dozens or even hundreds of expenses, though, managing them all becomes prohibitive to put it mildly.

If accountants don’t have a dedicated tool to help them track prepaid expenses, they have to use spreadsheets, cross references, manual data entries, and diligent attention to detail. That takes lots of time and energy that accountants would rather apply elsewhere. Just as bad, it makes errors and oversights a lot more likely, which can have repercussions ranging from confusion to catastrophe.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that a dedicated tool already exists to make tracking prepaid expenses simple and seamless. Better yet, it’s free.

The Prepaid Module in Sage Intacct

Sage Intacct is a powerful and popular financial management tool built for mature or growing enterprises that need sophisticated accounting capabilities. And with the option to add-on a free prepaid expense module, Sage Intacct improves amortization like never before. That module comes with these key features:

  • Upon putting an invoice for a prepaid expense into Sage Intacct, the add-on will automatically capture information relevant to amortization like the beginning and end dates of the contract.
  • Accountants can set rules for how expenses should be amortized – consistently over time or all at once on a future date – then let the process run itself exactly as accountants would have done it.
  • Journal entries for asset creation and expense amortization are created automatically by the Sage Intacct add on.

In practice, the prepaid expense module doesn’t just make this particular accounting challenge easier – it makes it almost effortless since automation handles the most time and labor-intensive aspects while double checking every detail. And remember, it’s free. But first you need Sage Intacct. Contact Dean Dorton to explore what an implementation involves.

Philip Massey,
Software Services Director
pmassey@ddaftech.com • 919.796.5408

Article Dean Dorton

There are two ways to think about the digital data pouring into today’s organizations.

First, as an opportunity. The quantity and quality of data now available, along with powerful analytics capabilities, allows us to answer questions that have always been a mystery and forecast the future with remarkable accuracy. With data, organizations can know and do things that seemed utterly impossible just a few decades ago.

Second, as an obligation. As more and more organizations start using data to their advantage, the ones that don’t will become less competitive as a result. They will miss out on opportunities to grow more productive, efficient, innovative, and effective overall, which will make it harder and eventually impossible to remain relevant, even in industries not typically associated with “tech.”

Both these ways of thinking about data make one thing clear: priority number one for all organizations needs to be turning the information they have into the informed decisions they need. The burning question is how?

Say Goodbye to Spreadsheets for Housing Data

The core concept of spreadsheets (a grid of information) is centuries old, and the digital equivalent (Excel or otherwise) has been around for over 50 years. Spreadsheets have been one of the most important business tools of all time, and they remain as ubiquitous as ever…for now.

The era of spreadsheets is coming to a close as companies develop new expectations for data. Why? Because working with spreadsheets requires copious amounts of manual data entry. In most cases, numbers must be entered, organized, and analyzed all by hand. Various spreadsheet tools can automate parts of these processes, but not everything, and not at high speed or large scale. Consequently, people have to spend hours or days working inside of spreadsheets just to turn modest amounts of data into limited insights. And if the data is wrong due to typos or the sheets break as they grow larger, the insights may not be trustworthy or even accessible.

In that way, spreadsheets are an obstacle to data-driven decision making. Instead of relying on the wrong tool any longer, organizations need to switch to something better. The future depends on it.

Sage Intacct – More than Just Accounting Software

Sage Intacct is a comprehensive financial management platform with many powerful and industry-specific features. More than just an accounting tool, however, it’s the engine of organizations that run on data.

Across the platform, Sage Intacct uses automation to collect, store, organize, analyze, and distribute data to stakeholders inside and outside the accounting department. The weaknesses of spreadsheets are the strengths of Sage Intacct. So not only can decision makers find the insights they need faster, more reliably, and with less input; they can also probe deeper into information to know the unknowable.

If priority number one is turning data into informed decisions, the first step is to take a closer look at Sage Intacct. Contact Dean Dorton about a demonstration or consultation.

Philip Massey,
Software Services Director
pmassey@ddaftech.com • 919.796.5408

Article Dean Dorton

The Cost of Your Family Office Team

How do wealthy families make the best use of their money? With help.

Many rely on family offices to manage and grow their wealth, among other financial services. Family office teams consist of various financial professionals who understand how to avoid risk, evaluate investments, minimize taxes, and manage assets for multiple parties with a collective interest. Family offices have become far more common in the last 20 years, owing largely to the immense wealth created by the emergence of the internet. Newly-minted millionaires with more money than time need to entrust someone with their funds, and family offices are an appealing alternative to institutional money managers.

Given the nature of their work, one might expect a family office team to have no trouble managing their own accounting obligations. One might also expect wealthy individuals to disregard the cost of their family office. But neither assumption holds up. Accounting, finance, and cost controls can all be challenges for a family office, and that should concern the family itself.

How Costs Get Out of Control

Prevailing wisdom says that family office costs should equal around 1% of the family’s active assets. Those costs typically fall into four categories:

  • Internal Costs – Salaries, benefits, overhead, technology
  • Family Expenses – Property, art/collectibles, taxes, consumption
  • Professional Services – Insurance, lawyers, consultants, security
  • Advisor Fees – Management, research, reporting, custody

As this table makes clear, family office costs can be complicated and considerable. They could easily exceed 1%, making a family office an essential but expensive resource. Alternately, costs could fall below the 1% threshold, suggesting the family office may be sacrificing effectiveness for efficiency. In either case, family offices costs can become difficult to track and manage for small teams with big responsibilities. A family office needs a big enough budget to cover their costs. But just as importantly, they need a way to manage that budget without it becoming a distraction or a disruption.

Fine-Tuning the Family Office

Adding an accountant to the family office team doesn’t make sense in most cases. What does make sense is utilizing accounting and finance outsourcing (AFO) to supplement the expertise already on the team. With an outsourcing partner in the mix, family office teams can focus on managing wealth while offsite accountants handle routine obligations like bill payment, general ledger management, and financial reporting. Teams can also rely on AFO to handle specialized finance if and when necessary.

If family offices need to keep costs in check without constraining their capabilities, AFO is the logical solution. It costs a fraction of hiring in-house accountants while delivering vastly more than one (or several) professionals could offer on their own. Arguably most importantly, the oversight and input of an outsourced team can prevent costs from compromising the family fortunes. With AFO, the family office becomes the asset it was intended to be.

How does outsourcing fit into your own family office operations? Explore the answer with the team at Dean Dorton.

Justin Hubbard, CPA, CGMA | Accounting and Financial Outsourcing Director
jhubbard@deandorton.com
859.425.7604