When it comes to a new-fangled business trend, we all have our doubts. Ten years ago did anyone really think that remote working would be a thing? The office was the centre of the workspace, and to step outside of it seemed unfathomable. Neither did we consider that personal branding would take off. Why would people want to buy something from pretending to be their friend? It all seemed a bit dodgy.

The same can be said for cloud accounting. We all have our concerns about whether it really will become a global trend used by every business. It’s mainly down to the doubts that surround it, borne from our worries over data hacking and corruption.

‘If my accounts are filed in an Excel spreadsheet, they’ll be safe from the cyber-hackers!’ we would cry. But when we thought this, we failed to acknowledge the risk that comes with only keeping one copy of accounts, in one location.

While there are some risks with the storage of any important financial information, cloud accounting has become a big deal for a reason. A lot of the rumours we’ve heard can be put into perspective by debunking the myths. They’ll also explain why cloud accounting is perfect for your business.

You won’t have control

The assumption is that when you submit your soul to cloud accounting you’ll be handing over control of your financial data. While it might seem like the end of world, it’s actually the complete opposite.

Rather than losing any control over your accounts, you’ll actually gain it. You’ll be able to access your data from any device at any time of day. So when you work up a sweat in the middle of the night trying to remember if you paid that invoice you can check it in a few clicks and rest soundly.

There will be delays in accessing your data

If everyone’s using the cloud, surely the system will lag and it will take forever to get to your information? Wrong. Sure, there might be hundreds of people using the cloud server at a time but this is what these hardy machines are designed for.

The Cloud is constantly updated, and the multiple servers give it more power to keep them running. So your data should never lag, and you’ll be able to access it whenever you need to. Even if some servers are damaged or lose power you’ll still be able to get to your information without a problem.

It isn’t safe

If you can access your data from any site then what’s stopping hackers getting hold of your financial information? Or what if your data becomes corrupted or lost through cloud failure?

There’s been a lot of media coverage about hacked data from cloud computing, so it’s a valid concern for users. However, security is at the top of the list for cloud accounting services, and they do everything to ensure security and antivirus measures are strong.

The largest breaches of cloud security occur due to failure to store log in information safely – a human error rather than a server one; although it is important to remember that no server is 100% safe anywhere.

Don’t forget to look at the different providers when signing up to cloud accounting. There will be varying differences in how they work, and some will be more reliable than others.

Do you think cloud accounting is better than spreadsheets? Or do you stand by your trusty Excel software? Leave a comment in the section below!