A Quick Guide to Business Central for Accounting

Modern businesses are utilising Microsoft Business Central for accounting purposes, and it sounds good based on the strong set of tools and capabilities it offers. Before getting into how Business Central can simplify financial and accounting, let’s understand the need for such a modern solution in today’s businesses.

Do you spend essential hours of your daily business managing invoices, streamlining accounts, and generating reports manually? If so, you are spending precious hours of your daily routine on unproductive tasks that can be automated.

Being a business owner or from the finance department of small or medium-sized businesses, handling different financial operations altogether is a complex process that requires time and effort.

Also, such businesses have to deal with a lack of financial transparency, data inconsistency, limited reporting capabilities, tax compliance challenges, and weak collaboration between team members.

To eliminate all such issues and empower your business with advanced automation capabilities to tackle financial transactions, implementing Business Central is the best choice you can make for your business.

D365 Business Central is a cloud-based ERP solution that offers powerful capabilities to streamline the diverse operations of a business. However, in this blog, we are focusing specifically on managing finance and accounting processes through Business Central for SMBs.

Financial Challenges of a Business

To understand the financial complications more precisely, our experienced Business Central consultants have done market research to understand the major challenges a business has to deal with without a proper ERP solution to streamline finances.

• System Inefficiencies

Businesses have to tackle a lot of manual data using different spreadsheets, and managing data silos leads to huge time consumption. Also, manual data processing is the major cause of errors in a business, which can be eliminated using Business Central.

• Lack of Visibility

Tracking numerous financial processes using an unstructured ERP solution is a kind of impossible task. You wouldn’t be able to get real-time information about financial health to make data-driven decisions.

• Data Inconsistency

Data redundancies and duplication across the business maximise the risk of process failure and the occurrence of errors that hamper quality. Managing the accuracy level of financial operations is so critical that even a small error can lead to a big loss.

• Limited Reporting Capabilities

Generating financial reports is an essential part of the organisation as it contains important information that can be analysed and visualised for more outputs. Without precise reporting, a business may have to face challenges in business growth.

• Compliance Challenges

Global compliances are transforming as per changing market trends, and businesses must adhere to them to perform international business. Without a centralised or advanced ERP solution, it would be cumbersome to adapt to all changing compliances.

Core Accounting Features in Business Central

To eliminate all such challenges and push a business towards simplifying accounting processes, Business Central accounting software is a perfect fit for your needs. Implementing these solutions will enable you to gain a deeper understanding of financial health by leveraging cloud capabilities. Some of the major Business Central accounting features are:

• Chart of Accounts

In an organisation, there are various COA categories that include liabilities, assets, income, and expenses. Business Central empowers such businesses to organise different financial accounts for accurate reporting.

• General Ledger

Record all financial transactions to maintain the health of the accounts. Dynamics 365 Business Central comes with an in-built general ledger to let you track and record all financial operations.

• Accounts Payable

Smoothen all payments from partners and vendors to track expenses. Also, you can utilise Business Central to automate purchase orders, track invoices, and boost the payment approval process.

• Accounts Receivable

Simplify the process of sharing invoices with customers while ensuring an accurate collection process. Business Central allows businesses to create, send, receive, and modify invoices digitally. Also, you can track and receive outstanding payments to keep track of overall profitability.

• Fixed Asset Management

Businesses are built with different fixed assets that play an important role in increasing efficiency. With Microsoft Dynamics 365 accounting, you can track assets, optimise their performance, and maintain their health.

• Budgeting

Track expenditures, optimise budgets, and forecast your financial goals with the cutting-edge technologies of Business Central. Integrate Power BI with Business Central to avail yourself of advanced data reporting and analytics capabilities.

Major Benefits of Business Central for Accounting

Dynamics 365 Business Central accounting software offers the most practical benefits to businesses. It lowers the chances of errors, boosts system efficiency, and increases team productivity. Some of its core benefits are:

• Automation

Business Central lets you automate most of the manual and recurring tasks to reduce errors and maximise overall efficiency. Such financial and accounting processes include invoice processing, journal entry, bank reconciliation, general ledger, and managing different accounts altogether.

• Enhanced Process Visibility

Cloud deployments enable a business to get real-time process visibility, centralise financial data, and establish communication bridges between departments. Business Central allows users to generate advanced reports and offer clear data on their financial health to help them make informed decisions.

• Multi-currency Management

Business Central comes with a multi-currency management system that allows you to perform business across international borders. You can easily track expenses, follow different compliances, and automate the process of payments.

• Seamless Integration

Enhance the capabilities of your Business Central by integrating native solutions from the Dynamics 365 ecosystem. Microsoft empowers users to seamlessly connect with other solutions in no time. You can integrate Dynamics 365 Sales or Dynamics 365 Finance to get advanced capabilities in sales and finance.

Getting Started with Business Central

Microsoft Business Central is a powerful tool when it comes to streamlining business and managing financial operations. With modern tools and capabilities, Business Central offers a user-friendly interface and sufficient tools to simplify your finances.

This guide has highlighted most of the major features and functionality that can supercharge your business to automate workflows and provide real-time financial insights.

The Business Central implementation will empower you to avail yourself of all such features from a single dashboard. In case you are running into some unique business demands, feel free to contact Dynamics Square—your partner in growth.