Black Jack Smatt, a pirate in the late 16th century, known for his unique ability to escape form authorities is believed to be the Jack be nimble.  The medieval game of jumping over the candlestick originated from the tradition of jumping over fires.  Successfully, jumping over a burning candle without blowing out the flame was thought to bring good luck in the future.

Leaping forward to the 21st century, I came up with my own rendition of Jack. 

Jack be awkward is not clever or nimble, but is stuck in the 20th century using desktop accounting tools.  Jack loves the software from the past.  It is familiar, it has always been there, in the back room on the old PC, which only the part-time bookkeeper knows how to use.  It has everything his business needs to print paper checks, reports and when he gets around to tracking inventory it will do that too.  The best part is at tax time each year Jack backs everything up on a thumb drive, jumps in the truck, drives it over to his tax accountant and is finished for the year.  Why would Jack change?  Jack be awkward is not changing, but for the rest of us there is a better way.

Bookkeeping and accounting should not be banished to the back room with information never seeing the light of day.  Cloud-based accounting software connects everyone, the business owner, bookkeeper, controller and tax accountant to the same information in real-time.  Online software can integrate with other applications used by the business and share the same data back and forth.  This allows the decision makers in the business to view and analyze real-time information and stay ahead of the competition.

There are many cloud-based accounting apps to choose from.  Do some research and discover which one is right for your business.  You can become Jack be nimble and bring some good luck to your future.

This week I was having a conversation with a bookkeeper who recently switched to QuickBooks Online.  For the most part they were adjusting well, but had one complaint.  How do I work on two screens within the same company?  This is an easy fix and not even a QuickBooks Online issue but a browser feature.  In Chrome right click on the tab you are in then select Duplicate from the menu.  Now you have two tabs open and can switch back and forth.