Article

Why and how you should be automating Bank Statements

Joe Griffin
Joe Griffin

As automation gets smarter, it’s beginning to take over more and more thankless workplace tasks. And automated bank statements are a welcome feature for several reasons. Perhaps more than any other form of admin, bank statements take an emotional toll, as you stare at the harsh reality of your business’s expenses and overheads.

Automation removes much of that toll, as well as the actual labour.

Here are five reasons you should be automating your bank statements. We’re also giving some advice on getting started in bank statement automation.

1. Automation makes it easier to be tax compliant

One of the great nuisances of taxes (apart from the paperwork itself), is the filing and maintaining of old documents.

Accountants are often asked how long a business should keep old tax records and bank statements. The answer varies according to territory. In the UK it’s five years; in the United States it’s six, and so on. The very least you can getaway with is two years, wherever you are.

Maintaining accounting records digitally and in the cloud makes it much easier to keep all of the necessary paperwork. It also saves on rent, as much less storage is needed when records are paperless.

And, of course, there’s the automation vs human error factor. Automation can reduce human error by up to 53%, according to a recent survey of hundreds of CFOs. As any tax auditor will tell you, errors can be costly!

2. Automation saves time and money

Naturally, whether you’re a small business or an accountant, you don’t relish the manual entry or transfer of bank statement information. It’s arduous and time-consuming.

Time does have a monetary value, whether it’s hours of labour paid for or time that could be spent doing something else. Unsurprisingly, several sources have crunched the numbers on this. And, broadly speaking, automation could save your company $4 million annually (according to Forbes).

3. Information is consolidated when you automate bank statements

Much of admin and accounting is manually funneling relevant information into one location. So, one of the ways in which automating bank statements can save enormous amounts of time is in the consolidation of data. When the right software, you can automatically have invoices, receipts and statements all loaded into the relevant software or documents.

4. It makes borrowing easier

This consolidated and accurate data is catnip for lenders, providing a centralized narrative of all of your company’s finances. Your books are your story, and the clearer the story, the better position you’re in when it comes to borrowing.

5. It’s future proofing

Recent months have revealed how agile (or not) companies are, from small and medium businesses to huge enterprises.

Automating bank statements allows for remote working, it’s paperless and it’s cloud based. All of this allows for a more agile, functional business.

How to automate bank statements

With AutoEntry you can scan, email or photograph bank statements and upload them to your accountant, excel sheets or software. Or you can do so from the bank statements in your inbox.

We have a comprehensive guide to banking and credit card statements and how to upload them to AutoEntry.


AutoEntry – giving you the gift of time

Accountants and small businesses around the world are discovering that AutoEntry can save them several working hours per week by automating accounting and admin tasks. If you’d like to know more, booking an AutoEntry trial would be a perfect place to start.

An intro to data entry automation

Our free guide explains how you can harness digitisation to save time and improve productivity.

Smart, accurate, automated.

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