View source for The use of digital bookkeeping systems

Whilst some business do still keep their books in manual systems many now use electronic versions, these could be in [[Excel]], custom software, [[Xero]], [[QuickBooks]], [[Sage (Software)|Sage]] and many others.

=== Features of Digital Systems ===

* Digital creation of [[Invoice|invoices]]
* Digital recording of purchase [[Invoice|invoices]]
* Automatic import of [[bank]] transactions
* Assistance in making electronic payments
* Automatic updating of the [[General (Main/Nominal) Ledger|general ledger]]
* Importing transaction data from third parties
* Automatic creation of transactions from third party documents

=== Benefits ===

* Balancing of the [[Cash Book|cash book]]
* Automatic transfer of date from the day books to the [[Ledger Account|ledgers]]
* Automatic transfer of data to the control accounts
* Assistance in the reconciliation of accounts to bank accounts and control accounts etc.
* Creation of a [[Trial Balance|trial balance]]
* Handling repeating transactions
* On demand reporting against the accounts e.g. [[Trial Balance|trial balance]], customer statements
* Reduction in errors as double entry is handled automatically

=== Drawbacks ===
As the double entry is handled automatically the main drawback is it's possible an incorrect value may not be picked up as it will be automatically balanced off the automatically added second value. Also be aware of repeating transactions where the value has changed.