Running a roofing business is a busy task. On top of servicing your customers, you also need to keep up on your marketing, hire new employees and manage your bookkeeping to keep your business afloat.
Far too often, bookkeeping falls to the bottom of the priority list because of its time-consuming nature. However, your business needs to have up-to-date financial records, so you have visibility on your financial health and a good understanding of your profitability.
With advancements in technology, many accounting software and tools in the market can help automate some of your bookkeeping tasks, saving you both time and money.
1. Digitize your invoicing process
Streamlining your invoicing process is an excellent way to ensure you are getting paid on time, and making this process automated can save you a lot of hassle.
Instead of printing out an invoice and mailing it to a customer, you should create digital invoices and email them. The faster you can get your invoices to your customers, the quicker you will get paid.
There are two main ways to generate a digital invoice: you can use your field management software or your accounting software. Either of these methods will also give you the option to set up automatic payment reminders a few days before the due date and again after the due date if payment hasn't been received.
2. Integrate your management software with your accounting software
Many roofing contractors utilize field service management software like Jobber to organize their workflow. This software helps them send quotes, schedule bookings, dispatch team members, generate invoices, and get paid. It collects essential accounting data regarding clients, payments, invoice statuses, and timesheet hours.
However, you still need your accounting software, like QuickBooks Online, to track expenses, sales tax, reconcile your bank accounts, and perform project costing. Instead of re-entering the information on your field service management software to your accounting software, you can integrate both tools to allow your data to sync automatically.
For example, Jobber and QuickBooks Online have a direct sync feature where you can sync clients, products and services, invoices, and payment data. This will save you a significant amount of time on manual data entry and help reduce errors.
3. Manage your expenses using Dext Prepare
Part of the bookkeeping process is recording expenses and storing the invoices and receipts for auditing purposes. As a roofing contractor, it can be challenging to store these loose documents safely while you're on the road before you return to the office. Manually recording these transactions can also be time-consuming and, frankly, quite dull.
Thankfully, Dext Prepare can help. Dext Prepare allows you to take a snapshot of your invoices and recipes with your smartphone and automatically extracts the key data from these documents. Once the data is extracted, they will create a transaction that you can then export to your accounting software.
This means that you no longer have to store the original hard copies of the documents because a version of it is stored safely in the cloud. This creates an audit trail and eliminates the need for manual data entry.
Plus, it can integrate with your accounting software. All of this will make it easier for you to reconcile your expenses with bank statements at the end of the month.
4. Streamline your payables process with Plooto
To provide your customers with the best service possible, you will need to carry a certain level of inventory to meet their demands. This means that you will have orders to place and suppliers to pay. Ensuring that your suppliers are paid accurately and on time will keep you in good standing with them and will also give you the added bonus of taking advantage of early payment discounts.
Plooto can help you take care of all this and more. This program allows you to set up automatic payments that can be approved with just the click of your mouse. It also allows for easy electronic payments worldwide, eliminating the need for cheques and the delays that often come with writing them.
Finding ways to automate your business means that you don't have to spend as much time or money on things like bookkeeping. This allows you to focus on more critical tasks like scouting new customers and growing your entire operation.
If you are looking for more ways to automate your bookkeeping workflow and operate more efficiently, Enkel can help. Our team of trained professionals can assist you by helping you manage your bookkeeping, payroll and more. That way, you’ll always have access to accurate, timely financial data and make better decisions. Contact us today for more information on how we can lend your roofing business a hand.
How We Select and Evaluate Our Software Recommendations
We thoroughly research and test the apps we include in our regular workflow for Client bookkeeping services. After deciding on criteria for evaluating the software and then researching the app itself, we tested the app, noting its strengths and weaknesses. We then work with the app for at least a few weeks before deciding whether to recommend it to our readers. We use the software as it was designed for its intended tasks. For a detailed walk-through of how we select and evaluate software, please see the details of our process.
