It's astonishing, but true: Digitization is not yet current across all accounting departments of this world – not in Germany, and not in the startup ecosystem of Berlin. As I have shared before, I am often experiencing this when I first arrive at any new company, as an interim accountant. Too often, things that easily could be automated are still performed manually. Accountants should focus on strategic tasks and forward-planning financial management.
That's why I've put together a list of the 5 best accounting tools that can take a lot of the legwork out of your bookkeeping. These are my personal recommendations as a professional user, who has seen many different accounting organizations from the inside.
Every accountant knows that processing incoming invoices is quite time-consuming. Especially when you have to collect invoices from different sources: some come as an email, others you have to download online from your customer account, still others end up in the mailbox. "Getmyinvoices" collects all invoices for you automatically from all portals without the need to log in individually. This saves a lot of time.
I keep meeting old-school accountants who print out invoices on paper and then enter the figures into the accounting system by hand. Sorry, but this way of working is as contemporary as the use of carrier pigeons for fast messaging. "Caya" does the digitizing of invoices and other documents for you. It uses the forwarding option of your scan center to do it - I consider this to be an effective service. In addition, Caya helps you digitally archive important paperwork - so that never again will a significant document be lost.
This tool collects all digital invoices on one platform and runs them through an approval process within the company to add a lot of information to the invoice - such as document date, cost account, vendor account, cost centers, etc. By doing this, almost all the information required by an accounting record is already collected in advance. All important invoice data is captured with the help of artificial intelligence and "Candis" automatically handles the pre-accounting of the invoice.
One of the most annoying jobs for accountants is going through months-old credit card statements and tracking payment transactions. That's why "Spendesk" is a blessing for all accountants who work in companies where credit card payments are frequent. If an employee uses their company credit card, the app prompts them to attach the invoice immediately after use. This makes all payments transparent and traceable. Spendesk also combines card, expense and invoice management with approval processes and digital accounting.
“Moss” is a tool with a very similar range of services to Spendesk and integrates credit card, expense and invoice management with in-house accounting. The main difference: Spendesk is a prepayment provider, so customers must charge a certain amount up front. Getmoss is a postpay provider, the customer pays the actual amount used afterwards. Both are good. Just use what better fits your needs.
I hope my recommendations will help you. As always, I welcome questions, feedback, and your experiences!
Magnus Bilke, Founder and CEO of Done!Financials.
