As with most industries, accounting practices are changing due to the availability of business oriented software applications (apps), and especially as more segments of business move to cloud computing.

Cloud computing allows business principals and employees who have their business intelligence training to access their apps and data from almost anywhere the internet is present, and the best apps are hardware agnostic; that is, they work on nearly every piece of hardware, whether a company chooses to employ iPads, Android tablets, or any of the wide variety of smart phones using different operating systems.Productivity

Probably the number one application for any business is to have a comprehensive suite of office tools, and Microsoft’s Office product has become ubiquitous in this realm. As it has transitioned to the cloud and emerged as the all new, but so familiar product Office 365, the suite offers the standard Office products your employees are used to – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, plus a host of new features made possible by the move to the cloud. One of the primary advantages of switching to the small monthly fee per employee Office 365 is you will no longer have to wait years between upgrades; Office 365 is being upgraded as needed, 24/7.

Accounting Software

Intuit has updated their most popular application Quickbooks, to being a mobile app as well. New features like Intuit Online Payroll and Intuit Go Payment blend seamlessly with the trusted accounting program.  Intuit’s Go Payment is one of a number of apps that allow employees to receive payments in the field, via a small device plugged into a smart phone. They can swipe client’s payment cards, or enter numbers manually for instant payment – it’s like having a POS in every employee’s pocket, no matter where they travel. If you’re traveling to numerous clients’ offices, and they use Quickbooks for accounting, as many small to medium size enterprises do, Quickbooks mobile will greatly simplify your work.

News and Information

While your mobile browser allows you to pull up virtually any piece of information anywhere, specialty publishers in the accounting field are creating apps to streamline your assimilation of changes in the industry and even the tax code. For example, the Accounting Today newspaper has a dedicated app, and the Accounting Principles app can help you look for a new job.

Remote Log In Apps

Leaving all your secure data on a server at the office, but being able to access it everywhere is made easier by remote log in apps, like GoToMyPC, Jump Desktop and other similar packages. These apps allow you to log in to your office computer from another device, and securely access and manipulate data from off site.

Conclusion

You’ve certainly heard the saying “there’s an app for that”, and this adage holds true in accounting just as in nearly every other segment of business or your personal life.