Today, many rental companies in Australia are looking for new and innovative ways to reduce overheads, streamline operations, and increase profitability.
Gone are the days when staff at rental companies had to rely on pen-and-paper methods to do accounting; today, most companies use accounting software to get the job done. However, companies don’t need separate software for managing accounts—there is rental management software with rental accounting software built in, eliminating the need for a separate software solution.
With the help of this software, your rental business can cut costs and save money in the process—let’s take a look at how it can help you do this.
Automate bookkeeping and reporting
Keeping track of income and expenses, preparing financial reports, and categorising transactions are some of the most tedious tasks you’ll have to do. These tasks are also quite repetitive and require a lot of human interaction.
Naturally, people make mistakes and this could reflect in your accounts. Even a small mistake in your business accounts may lead to some expensive consequences that could get in the way of your business operations and affect your reputation.
Rental accounting software, however, can make this process far easier. It automates repetitive financial tasks, saving your company hours of manual work and reducing the risk of human error. Also, the software can generate tax-ready reports that fully comply with the latest deductions and regulations, saving you money on tax preparation fees and helping you avoid penalties.
Streamline rent collection and payment
Collecting rental payments is one of the most difficult challenges that a rental company would face. When you do things manually, you’ll need to remind your clients to make their payments on time and also remind your business to pay vendors that supply your rental assets.
With the help of rental accounting software, you can streamline the payment process, making it easier for your clients to pay you on time and giving them multiple options for making the payments.
The software allows you to accept online payments, send automated reminders to customers as well as receipts, and even set up automatic payment facilities. This will allow you to reduce late fees, improve your cash flow, and avoid expensive legal disputes with clients.
Optimise rental asset performance and profitability
The accounting software can also help your rental business optimise the performance of your rental assets and their profitability by providing real-time data and insights.
With this software, you can keep track of key metrics such as utilisation rate, cash return, cap rate, and net operating income. Also, you can analyse income and expenses in terms of units or categories by highlighting areas where you can reduce costs and increase your income.
Additionally, you can keep track of the value of your rental assets and their depreciation—this will help you plan more efficiently for improvements and future capital expenditures.
Integrate with other platforms and services
Accounting software for rental companies is designed to integrate with your existing software, meaning that you won’t need to spend money to replace anything.
The software will integrate seamlessly with your inventory management system, CRM software, and your company’s bank accounts.
How can you choose the right rental accounting software?
Now that we know about the many benefits this software can offer your business, let’s look at what you need to consider when choosing the ideal account software for your rental business.
- Business-specific needs: The software should focus particularly on the rental equipment industry, offering functionalities such as equipment monitoring, rental contract management, stock tracking, and schedule maintenance
- Accounting features: While choosing an accounting system, pay attention to its full capability to perform all the functions like invoicing, accounts receivable/payable, general ledger, financial reporting, and tax preparation. Synchronisation with widespread accounting software such as QuickBooks or Xero could be also beneficial for users
- User interface and usability: Pick the software that has a user-friendly interface and is simple to understand as a sharp learning curve may inhibit your team’s efficiency. Make sure the interface is neat and the design is simple
- Integration capabilities: The software needs to be easy to integrate with the other systems you use such as CRM systems, payment gateways, and email marketing services. This can streamline the workflow process and will lessen the workload of manually entering staff data
- Scalability: Determine whether the software is scalable to your business in terms of resources and progresses as your business does. It should be so flexible as to hold and process more inventory, book more transactions, and let more people use it without facing major performance issues or needing a radical design overhaul
- Cost: Analyse the structure of a software cost, including any setup fees that might be incurred initially, the rates and subscription fees per month, and the charges for extra users and features. Ensure it fits into your budget while covering what your business needs at the same time
- Security: Because the software will process confidential information about finances, strong security functions are a must. Look for features such as encryption, two-factor authentication, and code audits regularly
- Demo and free trial: Do not make a definite choice until you try the product through its demo or trial version, free of charge. This will help you identify bugs or errors and also evaluate whether the software has the desired functionality as per your expectations
Work with a reliable rental accounting software provider
When looking for good software to handle your rental company’s bookkeeping, you need to find a good provider of rental software. They can help you identify which software functions are right for your business and help your team learn how to use the software effectively.
Get in touch with a leading rental software provider today.