The Ultimate Guide on Accounting With WordPress

In today’s world, automating as many processes as possible is the best way forward. Fortunately, it’s also quite simple to achieve.

You can now integrate your business administrative tasks and many other processes into one system—all hosted on your website. This means that you can let the system do its thing while you keep an eye on everything from wherever you are.

One area you should definitely be focusing on for automating and integrating is your business accounts and finances.

Having a proper solution in place will allow you to keep accurate records of all transactions, invoices, clients, suppliers, personnel, and all other money matters. This gives you incredible control over your business finances and allows you to see exactly where you are and where you could be going in the future.

For so long, these kinds of solutions were only really available to large corporations or enterprises who could afford the hefty price tag.

Today, these solutions are now widely available to all budgets and requirements. This is because there are more people making different solutions and the understanding of how this tech works is growing.

You no longer need both a dedicated IT department and a dedicated accounts department to run an integrated accounting solution. You can do it all with WordPress.

Benefits Of Hosting Your Accounting Within WordPress

An interesting trend that’s cropped up in the last few years is that of the WordPress accounting plugins.

Developers of accounting software have started creating plugins that work within the WordPress CMS (content management system). This means that you get the same easy-to-use functionality of WordPress in your integrated accounting system.

The entire concept around WordPress and all the plugins available on the platform is that you don’t need prior training to use them.

Anyone should be able to set up a website by simply picking a theme and playing around with the options.
The same goes for the plugins allowed on the platform.

You should be able to install it and integrate the solution into your website without training in accounting or any specific software.

Again, there are levels of plugins that you can choose between.

Some have basic options for you and others are fully fledged accounting solutions that the plugin connects to. It’s up to you to go through the various options available and see what your business needs.

Below, we’ll look at some elements that you should be considering in your accounting plugin.

First, let’s look at the benefits of bringing your accounting solution into WordPress:

• The platform gives you a powerful base for your website and your accounting solution.
• Integrating your accounting solution into your website will streamline your processes for invoicing, monitoring payments, and keeping track of inventory.
• You don’t need prior knowledge or training to use WordPress or the plugins.
• It’s an affordable option for smaller businesses that don’t need a large accounting system.
• You get greater control over your finances because all the data is right there on your website dashboard.
• You can check on the figures whenever you want—all you need to do is log into your website’s dashboard.

What To Look For In A Plugin

There are numerous accounting plugins now available to use on WordPress. This can make it quite tricky to choose the right one for your business. However, there are some simple criteria that you can run through when trying to make your decision.

1. Check The Dashboard

This is probably where you’re going to spend a lot of your time when using your accounting plugin. It’s where you should be able to connect with all the different elements of your business finances, and where you should be able to see a snapshot of the important figures.

It’s important that this feels like a comfortable space for you to work in, and that it gives you the data that you need to see.

Any decent plugin will show you screenshots of the dashboard and give you access to trial the software for free.

Use this free time wisely and really see what options there are available to you in the plugin and on the dashboard.

2. Look At Localization And Customization Options

Your business is unique, or at the very least has unique aspects. Your accounting solution should be able to adjust accordingly.

It’s highly important to run through the list of specs that the plugin offers and the list of elements that you can customize to meet your specific needs. For example, you may sell to clients all around the world and need your software to show multiple currencies.

Another key element of customization is within the documents that the plugin allows you to create. If you are working off quoting and invoicing templates, then you should be able to adapt them so that they truly reflect your branding and your business. These templates should also allow you to put in the line items in a way that makes sense for your business.

3. Run Through What Comes Standard And What Is Extra

As with any software, there will almost always be the features that come standard with the program and the features that you need to pay extra for. This is fine, as long as you are aware of the standard and extra features, and you weren’t expecting something to be included that isn’t.

Take your time when running through the specs and make sure that you are getting what you need, or that you can afford to pay for the extras that you need to include.

4. Will The Plugin Be Able To Scale With Your Business?

It isn’t always critical for the software you choose early on to be able to scale entirely from startup to large enterprise. However, having room to grow with your programs and solutions is definitely preferable to needing to buy and learn an entirely new system each time you expand.

This is where taking your time looking through the features and the add-ons will really help you too.

It’s important that you have an idea of where you would like to see the business going in the future. If you know how big you want to scale up to and how long it will probably take you to get there, you can set up an accounting solution that will give you that room to grow right from the beginning.

Plugins You Should Consider

Now that you have an idea of why an accounting system that integrates with your WordPress website is good, as well as what to look for in a plugin, let’s look at some of the top plugins available:

● iBilling

This plugin is pretty impressive because it includes CRM (customer relationship management) along with the accounting side of things.

You can link all of your communications with your customers, from the initial incoming query right through to their entire purchasing history with your company.

Sending a client an invoice, following up on payments and recording transactions is all done in the same space. The customizable dashboard is also great for seeing the figures that are important to you.

iBiling has a $59 price tag, excluding tax but including all features.

● WP Ever Accounting

The WP Ever Accounting plugin has been specifically designed for small business owners. Especially those who are doing everything themselves and don’t necessarily have any experience in accounting.

The user interface is all about walking you through the right steps to ensure that your accounting and bookkeeping is done accurately and efficiently.

You can use this plugin for free and get all the main features. It integrates with plugins such as Slack and WooCommerce, which you need to pay for, but does give you greater flexibility in the long run.

● CBX Accounting & Bookkeeping

This is a great plugin for a small business that wants to keep accurate, professional records of their income and expenses. It helps you to keep track of all the basic bookkeeping essentials without the need to hire a bookkeeper to do the job.

On the dashboard, you can see summary graphs that give you a great overview of your current status. These summaries can be adapted and customized to show the information that you feel is most important.

CBX Accounting & Bookkeeping is free to use and has a wide variety of standard features, making it all a small business needs to get started. As you grow, you can pay for some premium add-ons that really boost the functionality of the system.

● WP ERP

Finally, this is a plugin that can help you create a fully fledged accounting system within WordPress. It was designed for enterprise resource planning and can manage all aspects of your business processes.

You can choose to buy the entire platform, or you can go for certain modules that suit your current needs.

The accounting module comes with a variety of free features that are ideal for small businesses or those just starting out.

You can then pay for extra features as your business grows and you find you need more.

It’s also possible to add on more modules as your business expands so that you can manage everything from one place.

Integrating accounting plugins into your WordPress website is an easy, efficient way to manage every aspect of your business’ finances. With any of these plugins, you can change the way you do your accounting for the better.