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Digital accounting: How a DMS simplifies your accounting processes

Nov 17, 2023
8
min

Did you know that a document management system (DMS) like fileee can not only help you streamline your accounting, but also optimize collaboration within your team and with your tax firm? In this blog post, you'll find out how you can use fileee to make your accounting processes more effective, save time and resources and increase the efficiency of your financial administration. We also explain the benefits of digital accounting and what you need to consider when switching to digital.

How does digital accounting work? 

The switch to digital accounting involves the transition from physical to digital documents and processes. A DMS like fileee plays a central role in this. It captures, stores and organizes your accounting documents digitally. This includes your invoices, receipts, contracts and other important documents. The changeover usually requires a clear strategy and training for your employees to ensure that all colleagues can use the new processes effectively. An intuitive DMS like fileee helps you to make the transition as simple and quick as possible. In order to move away from paper-based processes, you should create a corporate culture in which all documents are created and forwarded digitally as far as possible. 

Why is efficient invoice management so important?

Invoice management is a crucial part of accounting that can be significantly optimized by a DMS. All incoming invoices are recorded digitally and stored in a central database. You no longer have to file and archive physical documents. Instead, you can easily track, search and retrieve invoices. This is particularly helpful if you need to access certain transactions quickly or require information for supplier inquiries. Invoice management becomes a seamless and efficient process. If you want to ensure that your company receives its incoming invoices digitally in the future, it is essential to communicate with your suppliers and inform them of your plans to digitize your invoice receipt.

‍Learn howthe e-commerce store Alles-Luxus.de manages over 10,000 documents such as incoming invoices, outgoing invoices or delivery bills securely and easily with fileee in our best practice webinar.

Digitization of accounting: How do I digitize my receipts? 

An important first step in switching to digital accounting is to digitize, manage and process your paper receipts using a DMS such as fileee. Digitization can be done in various ways. You can scan or photograph documents or import electronically received documents directly into your DMS. In fileee, our artificial intelligence helps you to manage your various documents and automatically reads out data such as document type, invoice items or sender using OCR recognition. fileee does away with traditional folder structures, as you can find your documents quickly and easily using the full-text search. However, you can also assign tags to your documents and use them or the metadata to filter and quickly find your documents. In this way, digitization not only allows you to save space, but also makes it much easier to search for and access documents.

In our media library or our success stories , our customers tell you how they set up fileee for their company and which functions and structures are particularly helpful to them. We are also happy to help you in a free 20-minute initial consultation in which we present the software to you and answer all your questions.

Why should I use a DMS & introduce digitized accounting?

Digital bookkeeping offers numerous advantages , as it makes it easy to gain a comprehensive overview of your financial situation. Bookkeeping becomes more accurate as the risk of human error, which can quickly occur when processing documents manually, is minimized. In addition, the reduction of paper and physical documents contributes to environmental friendliness. Team collaboration also becomes more efficient as all the information you need is available online. The security of your data is improved through encryption and access controls.

Here is an overview of the many advantages of digital accounting:

  • Increased efficiency: Digitized accounting leads to a significant increase in your company's efficiency. Tedious, manual data entry is replaced by economical and location-independent work with digital documents.
  • Faster access to information: Digitizing your accounting gives you quick access to all your financial data and documents. This makes decision-making easier and allows you and your employees to access up-to-date information when you need it.
  • Better data accuracy: By avoiding manual input errors, digital accounting improves the accuracy of your financial data.
  • Cost savings: The reduction of paper documents and manual processes can lead to considerable cost savings. Lower printing and paper costs, less storage space required for files and lower personnel costs are just a few examples.
  • Security and data protection: A DMS such as fileee and digital accounting software often offer higher security standards and better protection for your sensitive financial data. The data is better protected against theft, damage or loss. In fileee, your data is stored in double hybrid encryption on German servers and is subject to German data protection. This makes fileee both GDPR- and GoBD-compliant and audit-proof.
  • Compliance: Compliance with tax and regulatory requirements is simplified with a DMS such as fileee. With the document history, you fulfill the legal requirements of audit-proof archiving, because it automatically logs who worked with the document and when, thus providing better traceability. Audit-proof filing is therefore no longer a problem.
  • Scalability: Your digital document management system can be easily adapted to the growth of your company without the need for extensive additional resources.
  • Environmental friendliness: Reducing paper consumption and the energy required to manage paper documents helps to reduce the environmental impact.
  • Better collaboration: Digitized accounting enables easier collaboration between different departments and team members. All colleagues involved can work on documents simultaneously and share information easily.
  • Time savings: As many tasks are automated, accountants have more time for strategic tasks such as budgeting, planning and financial analysis.

Digital accounting and legal aspects: How do I keep track?

In digital accounting, it is crucial to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations at all times. This is where fileee comes into play. Our DMS not only allows you to manage your financial documents efficiently, but also helps you keep track of tax requirements, retention periods and compliance guidelines. By archiving and being able to track the history of documentation using the document history, you can ensure that your digitized accounting always complies with legal requirements. This can be invaluable, especially in the event of a tax audit, as you can provide all the necessary documents quickly and accurately.

GoBD

The GoBD stands for "Principles for the proper keeping and storage of books, records and documents in electronic form and for data access". It is a German administrative regulation that governs the requirements for the documentation and storage of tax-relevant documents and data in companies. It is important that your company carefully observes the GoBD in order to avoid tax problems and ensure proper bookkeeping and storage of tax-relevant documents.

Procedural documentation

The procedural documentation describes in detail how a company organizes its processes for recording, processing, storing and evaluating tax-relevant data and documents. It is essential to ensure the traceability and auditability of your company's tax processes. It also serves to prevent possible irregularities or errors in accounting and enables the tax authorities to check your company's compliance with GoBD regulations in the event of a tax audit. You are obliged to keep the procedural documentation in your company up to date at all times and to submit it to the tax authorities on request. If you violate the requirements of the procedural documentation, the tax authorities can impose tax penalties on you. 

Digital working: fast and flexible with the fileee DMS

Those who switch to digital working in their company can enjoy many advantages. A digital document management system like fileee enables smooth teamwork for all employees, as multiple users can access the required documents and data at the same time and from any location. Employees can edit files together, leave comments and share notes. Documents can be edited seamlessly and clearly, which increases productivity and facilitates communication.

Digital accounting made easy: fileee offers interfaces to accounting software

If you want to introduce digital accounting in your company, you should make sure when introducing a DMS that it can be easily integrated into common digital accounting software. fileee can be quickly and easily linked to various accounting software such as DATEV using interfaces. With one of our business tariffs, you can easily export all the documents you manage in fileee to your digital accounting software with just two clicks. We currently have accounting interfaces to DATEV, Agenda, lexoffice and SevDesk. But don't worry: we are constantly working on offering you links to other services to make your workflow even faster and more productive. Your advantage with a DMS like fileee: You have all your documents in one clear, intuitive and secure place from which you can export relevant financial documents to accounting software. Many accounting software programs meet legal requirements, but are often very limited in terms of user-friendliness and advanced functions. With fileee, you combine the best of both worlds and have the added benefit of not having to search for your documents in different programs.

So that you and your colleagues in accounting can work efficiently and in a structured manner, fileee allows you to define document types in the settings using assignment rules. These are then automatically transferred to your digital accounting software when fileee exports them. In this way, your documents are forwarded to the accounting software in an orderly and structured manner, so that further processing of the documents is faster and easier.

With fileee's PROFESSIONAL and ENTERPRISE plans, you can also export multiple documents from the document view at the same time instead of exporting each document individually. This multi-export allows you, for example, to transfer all tax-relevant documents to the accounting software on a weekly or monthly basis. Additional filter functions also make exporting to the accounting software easier. Or you can simply configure the automatic export of documents using the automations.

Depending on the tariff, fileee also offers you the option of linking different interfaces. This means you can connect your fileee account to multiple, independent accounting accounts and export documents to them, while all important company documents are still stored in one secure location: the fileee DMS.

Of course, you can share your documents in fileee not only with your colleagues, but also with your tax advisor! You can do this easily via fileee Spaces. You can invite any number of people to each Space you create. These people have various access rights and can then view, share and download documents in the Space. Managing documents together with your tax office makes your bookkeeping much easier. And best of all, all your communication can also take place via fileee, so you can save yourself the hassle of writing emails back and forth. Just like your documents, it is stored securely on a German server, so you don't have to worry about data protection! If you have invited your tax advisor to join your fileee team, he or she can also access metadata and see relevant tags and filter documents accordingly. This will make your collaboration even more effective. You can find our fileee tips for optimal collaboration with your tax firm in our blog.

The right software selection for your digitalized accounting

Choosing the right digital accounting software is crucial to ensure efficient bookkeeping in your business. Here are some valuable tips to help you find the right software for your needs.

  • Needs analysis: Consider the specific accounting requirements. What functions do you need? What type of business do you run?
  • Integration: Check whether the software is compatible with fileee and other tools or systems you already use, such as CRM software or bank accounts.
  • Security: The security of your financial data is crucial. Make sure that the software offers appropriate security measures.
  • Costs: Compare the costs of different providers and make sure that the software fits into your budget.
  • Support and training: Check what kind of customer support and training options are offered in case you need help.
  • Reporting: Check whether the software facilitates the reporting and analysis of your financial data.
  • Compliance: Ensure that the software complies with the tax and legal requirements in your region.
  • Reviews and references: Read reviews and look for recommendations from other companies that already use the software.
  • Trial version: If possible, use trial versions or free demos to try out the software before you buy it.
  • Updates and maintenance: Clarify how regular updates and maintenance services are provided.

Digital accounting through digital document management

Digital document management with a DMS such as fileee is the first step on the way to introducing digital accounting. Switching from paper-based accounting to digitized accounting requires the digitization and management of all relevant financial documents, such as invoices, receipts, contracts and bank statements. By digitizing and storing these documents electronically, they can be organized, searched and processed more efficiently. This forms the basis for the automation of accounting processes and enables faster and more accurate bookkeeping. It also facilitates compliance with legal regulations, such as the GoBD. Use digital accounting as a strategic advantage for your SME to work more efficiently, minimize errors, save time and reduce costs in the long term. Through this targeted use of modern accounting tools, you can put your company on a solid financial footing and move forward on the road to success.

Author
Kerstin Eiwen

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