Digitalisation has made the accounting industry more efficient and competitive. Although Singapore ranks highly as one of the easiest nations to start a business in Asia, further digitalisation in its tax and accounting sector would be crucial to maintain its competitive edge. It allows Singapore accounting firms to compete for both local and international marketplace dominance.

This guide gives companies with an in-house accounting team and accounting firms in Singapore the essential information they need to know when intending to empower their business with digitalised accounting.

Why Digitalise the Company’s Accounting Function?

Singapore accounting services providers and other businesses stand to benefit from greater digitalisation in tax and accounting sector. The following are the main reasons why companies and accounting firms in Singapore should digitalise their accounting processes.

• Better real-time visibility: Digitalised accounting function allows companies to get a real-time view of their finances, cash flow movements, and status of liquidity. Also, business owners or accounting experts can retrieve easy-to-digest data and statistics across any device as long as they have an internet connection, allowing them to check their business operations’ status and financial health through a single interface.
• Decrease repetitive and manual tasks: Digitalised accounting help employees save time on repetitive and manual accounting assignments, allowing them to focus more on value-added tasks. This feature also helps to counter workforce disruptions as multiple companies carry out their business contingency plans during the pandemic, which include work-from-home arrangement.
• Shorten payments cycle: Companies and accounting services with an automated platform has the privilege of tracking outstanding invoices automatically. Digitalised accounting platforms also help remind clients when a payment is due automatically, allowing the companies to maintain healthy cash flows. Moreover, digitalised accounting interface has convenient payment options which would enable clients to make payment conveniently.
• More reliable data security: As technology advances, cyber-attacks become more sophisticated. Malware and data breaches can jeopardise business operations and lead to massive losses, especially during high volatility time. Digitalised and cloud-based accounting platforms provide better information security than downloadable accounting software. Although digitalised accounting cannot prevent digital fraud, it provides more security layers compared to conventional accounting, with safety features like two-step authentication and data encryption.
• Access to more value-added services: Popular cloud-based accounting platform, such as Xero, provides valuable insights that help generate scenario modelling and performance reports. This function is especially beneficial for business owners to make a more informed decision by allowing them to monitor current trends, predict future trends, discover potential markets, handle risks linked with subpar performance, and detect fraud.

What are the Government Grants Available for Digital Solutions?

On March 2020, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat introduced the Resilience Budget, which includes temporary measures to aid businesses in the country to fully utilised the Go Digital during economic downtime caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The following are some government assistance or grants for digitalisation.

• Enhanced SMEs Go Digital Programme: Productivity Solutions Grant or PSG helps businesses to adopt solutions for boosting efficiency, productivity, and improve business functions. The scope of solutions supported by this grant will be extended to include visitor management and remote working. Business owners can find a list of supported solutions in the digital solutions directory. IMDA and Enterprise Singapore also offer up to 80 per cent funding support to support and help enterprises to harness their digital capacities, adopt advanced digital solutions, strengthen their business continuity practices, and build resiliency.
• Nationwide E-Invoicing Network: Singapore companies can digitally send and receive their invoices by connecting to the Nationwide E-invoicing Network. Once connected to the network, they will get an e-invoicing registration grant worth $200.
• Support for Creating Digital Products and Services: Companies can boost their storytelling capabilities with workshops and masterclasses on Digital Storytelling. It combines digital tools with content creation and storytelling skill to convey engaging narratives and produce better brand storytelling that resonates with the target audience. Business owners can also build a foundational understanding of how to develop and refine User Interface/User Experience as part of the digital innovation process.
• Training and webinars: Training resources and webinars that can offer tips on skills upgrading to help companies to digitalise their business are also available. Some of them are free, while others are entitled to funding support from SkillsFuture.

How to Pick the Right Accounting Software for your Company’s Needs?

When choosing the best digital accounting solutions, companies, and accounting firms should consider the following factors:

• Cost: The accounting solutions may be inexpensive with basic accounting functions or more costly with additional value-added features.
• Usability: The platform or software should be beginner-friendly and easy-to-operate. Companies can choose a cloud-based platform that can be accessed anywhere across all devices to those that come with a mobile app.
• Features: Critical features to consider are flexibility, online banking, and privacy protection.

How can Accounting Firms in Singapore Help your Company to Digitalise?

Singapore accounting services providers that rapidly evolved their skills and digitalised their function to meet the ever-changing market can help companies to digitalise and reshape their accounting much faster and in the right way.