Don’t sell yourself short by using generic accounting software that meets only some of your needs and costs you time and frustration in other areas. Accounting software for interior designers is a must-have foundational tool for your business that will cost you less than your phone bill!
Find the right software to suit your needs and make this smart investment in the overall health of your business. Below are seven benefits you’ll find when you choose accounting software for interior designers.
1. Order Tracking Features
This area related to the supply chain of goods is absolutely critical to being able to deliver a project on time and without increased prices to you or your client. With so many details to keep track of in even a single project, it’s imperative that you have an automated tool to help you and any staff keep on top of the status of all orders.
Accounting software for interior designers has custom tools like this built right into the system, making it so much easier to keep track of everything that is on order, and to know the status and billing of orders.
2. Fixed Fees and Hourly Fees Easily Managed
Whether you track and bill your time out by the hour, or if you charge flat fees, having a software that includes your fee tracking and billing is one way to save significant amounts of time. Centralize the tracking of everyone’s time so that fee invoices can be created swiftly. Add recoverable expenses and even project items to the same invoice in seconds. Analyze time and fees to see where improvements could be made. Always know where you stand in a project and where you need to make up some ground.
3. Custom Workroom Orders
A vendor favourite! Do you ship fabrics or other things to workrooms and manufacturers? If so, this may become a very popular feature within your software. Workroom orders save email back-and-forth and they reduce errors. Give your workrooms these special POs with a heads-up on what materials they will be receiving from other suppliers. The order shows them the quantity of materials, images, instructions for application, and specifics to look for when confirming the right material has arrived.
4. Industry Knowledgeable Support Staff
Customer service and support is necessary to a successful transition onto any software. Get on board with a software company who has a proven track record of supporting their clients. Ensuring your accounting software provider understands the design industry is a must if you want to be able to get quick and accurate answers to questions. Support staff should also be able to guide you on the best way to use the tools to match your business needs.
5. Excellent Visibility and Control of Margins
Do you know what margin you are making down to the smallest element in a project? It’s much easier to hit your profitability goals when you have complete visibility and control of markups and discounts of items being sold to your client, down to the smallest detail. An added bonus is that with integrated accounting software for interior designers, the information is all connected–so you can get a status update on where you stand anytime you want. Powerful pricing tools also help to simplify and standardize the pricing of goods.
6. Easy Access to Custom Project Reports
Reporting at the project level can be a difficult task for firms working with generic accounting software or design software that does not have a built-in accounting system. With an interior design accounting software program, reports for the client are available at the click of a button. Export attractive and up-to-date reports that don’t take you hours to build.
7. Integration with Your Accounting
Using an interior design software that has an integrated accounting package reduces the amount of duplicated work that needs to be done. When bookkeeping is organically connected to the management of projects,you can spend more time designing and less time on administrative tasks. Project reports are available as neededand company financial reports are accessible anytime. You’re always in control!
