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Due to everything getting shifted online, we have seen many new technologies getting evolved in different ways. People are discovering new ways to enforce their work more effectively, with each passing day. From casual meetings to formal group discussions, everything is being transferred over a screen according to the situation.
Paperwork that consumed a whole day and for which companies use to hire a separate team are now getting easier and comparatively less time-consuming with new software.
One of the most important and time-consuming paperwork for every business, no matter which sector it is; is Accounting. Accounting requires a lot of concentration, knowledge, patience, and practice. But technology has found better alternatives for accounting also; Desktop accounting and Cloud accounting.
The work of both these software is the same, but still, ways to execute the accounting process or properties of both software are different.
Definition: Cloud accounting is internet-based accounting software through which one can access data anytime and anywhere. Desktop accounting is accounting software but you cannot access your data anytime or anywhere if you don’t have your primary device with you.
Data storage: In cloud accounting nothing stores in your computer, everything is uploaded on the cloud. In simple language, it is just like google drive, which can be accessed through ID passwords anytime and anywhere on any device. In desktop accounting, everything is stored on your PC or laptop and can be accessed on that one device only, without internet access also.
The number of users: Many cloud computing software offers almost 20-25 users to use the software simultaneously. On the other hand, in desktop accounting, only one user can have access to the data.
Pricing: While using cloud computing one has to pay a fair amount of money every month to keep the subscription ongoing. Whereas in desktop accounting one doesn’t need to pay such amounts regularly to keep the services ongoing. Only renewal money is required when the software upgrade comes. That too once in a year.
Data backup: One of the main things while transferring paperwork to the computer is backing up data. One has fear of losing their important data. In cloud accounting, there are features of backing up data 24*7. But, in desktop accounting there is no such feature, data has to be backed up manually and if one forgets to back up data, all the data might get lost.
Sharing data with CFO: The business needs to keep in touch with their company CFO regularly to get accounting more effectively. For this cloud computing is a great rescue as it allows the primary user to share their accounts with CFOs easily. While in desktop accounting, one cannot share their data directly with CFOs. They have to print or save the files and then send them to the CFO which might be a long process.
Automation: Cloud accounting is fully automated, it requires merely zero efforts in calculations, but desktop accounting is not that much automated, it requires manual efforts.
These are some differences between cloud accounting and desktop accounting, cloud accounting is surely more efficient but with that, it is costlier than desktop accounting. Small businesses or growing startups with a low budget should prefer desktop accounting to reduce their expenses but if the company has enough budget one should go with cloud accounting to save their time and invest that time in other core things of business.