FNB introduces revolutionary new auto-processed accounting and bookkeeping solution for small business market
FNB introduces revolutionary new auto-processed accounting and bookkeeping solution for small business market
First National Bank (FNB) today launches Qwill Instant Accounting solution, a new online software solution aimed at addressing
administrative bottlenecks that usually face small businesses.
The Qwill Instant Accounting solution was developed in collaboration with a group of South African entrepreneurs.
The solution is designed to address administrative and financial control bottlenecks commonly found in small and medium sized businesses, especially delays in producing
accurate financial statements. Because of these bottlenecks, financial reporting is often neglected or delayed, however, daily financial control is critical for accurate decision-making within any organisation and a significant factor in business success.
Financial accounts are often produced too late to be useful for financial control and the process of producing these financial statements is often inconvenient and a hassle for the entrepreneur, so they tend to be neglected.
“This is something we at First National Bank are acutely aware of,” says David Milligan, Head of Growth and New Markets at FNB Commercial.
“As a bank, our traditional role is to help finance new businesses, but the success of the new venture is crucial to our success – if the business fails, then the risk of the bank not recovering the funds we have loaned increases.
But more than that, FNB Commercial Banking seeks to take into account far more about our business clients than issues relating directly to the funds we lend. We want to see their businesses succeed and grow at every stage”.
Milligan says FNB already offers a range of support services to new business-owners via the Biznetwork and Enterprise Development offerings, which range from assistance with the development of a solid business plan, to mentoring services from experienced entrepreneurs, to opportunities to network with other business-owners and potential clients.
“We are now able to add to our extensive range of support services for business an exciting new solution called FNB Qwill Instant Accounting,” he adds.
FNB Qwill Instant Accounting solution is unique in that it taps into the bank’s infrastructure, with bank statements being fed into the system daily and auto-processed to the customer’s own general ledger categories.
“This means that, as transactions flow through the business’ bank account, they are updated on the accounting records of the business.
By way of example – when an online payment is processed by the bank and debited to the business’ bank account, the payment will automatically reflect in the cash book and ledger of the business,” says
“The end result is that the customers can receive their financial statements from the system including their income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement and VAT returns.”
The benefits to a business using FNB Qwill Instant Accounting solution are enormous. The typical scenario of the business-owner arriving at his bookkeeper’s office a few times a year, carrying a mound of unsorted bank statements and hoping that the accountant will be able to make some sense of it all, will be eradicated if the business uses FNB Qwill Instant Accounting solution.
Because transactions are automatically reflected in the accounting records of the business on a daily basis, there won’t be a backlog of any sort.
This allows for a far more accurate picture of what is going on in a business at any given time – thereby reducing the risk to the business.
The administrative load for the business-owner or his bookkeeper is also far less, and the accountant preparing annual financial statements will also be working with organised and accurate records. Moreover, having an accurate daily financial picture of their business means that owners can make decisions based on the actual financials, rather than having to use rules of thumb because of the delayed financial reporting experienced by many businesses.
“Now bookkeepers and accountants can concentrate on providing value-added services to their customers instead of very time-consuming and resource intensive data capturing,” says Bond.
The FNB Qwill Instant Accounting solution is structured into a variety of modules – a client chooses which ones they need and then pay accordingly, on a monthly subscription basis.
Milligan says the Qwill solution is only available to businesses that bank with FNB because the system draws information from the FNB bank system.
“Not only is this key to the way the system works, but it also means that the business has data sitting on the FNB server, thereby reducing the need for the business to keep its own back-ups,” says Milligan.
Pilot studies with a few selected FNB business customers indicate that the Qwill service is having a positive impact on how the businesses operate and is improving their efficiencies.
For more information, please visit the Commercial section of the FNB website:
http://www.fnb.co.za/
