Zoho Books Research: Benefits of Cloud Accounting Software Report 2022

Over the last few years, the accounting domain has witnessed a lot of changes—from using the traditional methods like legacy based accounting systems to using cloud accounting applications. In today’s digital era, it is imperative for businesses to adapt to technological advancements and, in turn, be agile in their operations. Zoho Books has been helping growing businesses solve their accounting and tax compliance challenges for more than a decade.

This report has the results of two surveys:

1. The first survey was run amongst 350 business owners who were already using Zoho Books.

2. The second survey was conducted amongst 150 Chartered Accountants (CA)in November 2022 who had registered for the WCOA.

Based on a poll of Indian business owners from different industries who use Zoho Books to manage their finances, the results reveal how they were able to save time, grow their business, and increase revenue.

Insights gathered from data in the first survey revealed several key findings for businesses to adopt Zoho Books:

Getting paid on time for a positive cash flow:

Typically, when businesses are not able to collect payments on time, they have trouble maintaining a positive cash flow. The survey revealed that 75% of businesses were able to collect payments on time, follow up with customers, and improve their cash flow with Zoho Books.

Automating key accounting processes to save time:

Managing accounting manually can be tedious. For business owners, managing day-to-day accounting and bookkeeping tasks is crucial, and time-consuming. 85% of the businesses found that they were able to save upto 10 hours per week, while the remaining 15% were able to save more than 10 hours with Zoho Books compared to a traditional alternative like a legacy-based system. 

Focusing on business growth:

With Zoho Books, business owners can analyze their financial data using which they can make informed decisions. The results of the survey revealed that 85% of the businesses were able to improve their business performance owing to the real time visibility and insights offered by Zoho Books. 70% of them were able to focus on their business growth, which resulted in a 20-40% y-on-y growth in revenue.

Insights gathered from data in the second survey revealed how accountants are leveraging cloud accounting solutions to grow their firms:

The ongoing trend of digital transformation is driving a big shift to cloud accounting. Accountants across the world were asked their opinions on cloud accounting software, and how it is helping them and their firms.

Findings of the survey:

Enhanced efficiency:

Cloud-based accounting platforms automate many accounting and banking tasks, reducing manual work. This helps accountants save time performing essential tasks like tax filing, and accounting, which they can spend on providing value added services like pricing analysis, and annual budgeting.
88% of accounting firms, especially the smaller ones, were able to save up to 10 hours per week providing advisory services to their clients by using cloud accounting solutions.

Increase in value-added services:

More than 85% of the respondents stated that cloud accounting solutions help them in performing essential accounting tasks, which gives them additional time to offer advisory services to their clients.

Improved collaboration:

Cloud-based accounting solutions offer deep collaboration capabilities where businesses can add accountants to their organisation so that they can view transactions to ensure accuracy, run real time reports for business insights, and file taxes on time. 85% percent of the accountants and financial advisors were able to work with their clients in real time using cloud accounting solutions.

Ease of compliance:

Cloud accounting software helps firms offer built-in tax and regulatory compliance for businesses. 89% of accountants found that cloud accounting solutions helped them solve challenges their firm or client’s business faced in complying with regional tax and regulatory laws.

About Zoho Books:

Zoho Books is a comprehensive cloud accounting software that helps businesses take care of their finances. The accounting application offers businesses a simple way to manage their core accounting, track stock, reconcile bank statements, manage projects, while staying tax compliance.