Admin is a natural part of business accounting. Whether tracking invoices or managing expenses, it’s key to keeping the show on the road.
Although essential, administration can also be highly time-consuming. Instead of focusing on useful, growth-related activities, employees are hampered by repetitive tasks.
The good news is that businesses don’t have to settle for sluggish admin. Smart accounting tools save hassle and increase efficiency, freeing your team to focus its talents elsewhere.
H2: Why Admin Overload Is a Growing Problem for Small Businesses
Admin overload is becoming a widespread issue for businesses. Fyxer’s 2026 Admin Burden Index of UK and US businesses found that avoidable admin tasks cost companies an average of $17,000 per employee per year. Office workers devote nearly six hours every week to manual admin tasks.
Many of these activities can fly under the radar. Tasks such as sending emails or making phone calls often go untracked, meaning organisations are often unaware of wasted time.
But productivity losses aren’t the only symptom of admin overload. Manual processes not only limit business growth but can also stunt employee progression.
Most employees find manual tasks tedious. Too much repetition removes a sense of career progress, leading to frustration and a lack of motivation. Fyxer’s study found that 48% of office workers have considered leaving their roles due to feeling overwhelmed by admin.
Put simply, businesses must change tack to avoid admin overload and achieve long-term growth.
H2: Where Small Businesses Lose the Most Time on Finance Admin
Financial admin overload can be attributed to various tasks. The most time-consuming examples are listed below.
H3: Invoicing, payments, and chasing late payers
Consider the amount of time your organisation devotes to invoice processing.
Invoice creation itself can be time-consuming. Even with a template, employees must pay attention to make sure documents are accurate and error-free. Any mistakes can lead to delays as staff correct and update invoices.
Tracking late payments can be equally time-intensive. This is especially true when employees are forced to send multiple follow-up emails before payment is made.
H3: VAT tracking and submissions
In the UK, all businesses must provide accurate VAT returns. Failure to do so can lead to fines and other legal issues.
Of course, guaranteeing this level of accuracy takes time. The more complex the transactions you handle, the more time-consuming the process becomes. Once again, there’s also the risk of human error. Mistakes can lead to further corrections later down the line, as well as potentially painful fines.
H3: Expense management and record keeping
A crucial part of good bookkeeping is expense management. It enables you to monitor cash flow, track trends, and ultimately, make more informed decisions.
But expense management is a highly detailed process. Your organisation likely handles many different expenses, ranging from employee wages to marketing and sales costs. Each should be tracked and documented accurately to avoid penalties and increased costs.
Unfortunately, too many businesses still rely on manual bookkeeping processes. Compiling spreadsheets and waiting for human approval takes time. Errors can also further impede the process.
H2: What Smarter Accounting Tools Actually Do
Manual accounting is time-consuming, leads to errors, and damages staff morale. That’s why smart accounting tools are essential for modern businesses. Let’s explore some of the ways these tools can help you.
H3: Automating repetitive tasks
As mentioned, repetitive tasks do little to help employee enthusiasm. Smart accounting tools do the work for you by automating the process, enabling employees to focus their talents elsewhere.
Let’s take one example: emailing invoices to clients. Manually, this is a long and tedious task with potential for error. An automated tool can be programmed to handle the process in seconds.
H3: Creating a single source of financial truth
Under manual methods, financial information is housed in varied locations, such as spreadsheets, printed documents, or regional databases. This leads to data silos as businesses struggle to get the full picture.
When using smart tools such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, it’s much easier to monitor the financial health of your business. All data is kept in one place, giving businesses a bird’s-eye view of their finances.
H3: Giving business owners real-time visibility
Traditional accounting requires every transaction to be logged manually. This means it could take hours or even days for transactions to be recorded.
Smart tools log transactions the moment that they occur. This enables faster decision-making. Previously, stakeholders would take time gathering data from various sources. With smart accounting tools, they can get the needed information at a glance.
Because tools are stored on the cloud, there’s also no limit on when information can be retrieved. Instead of waiting for an employee to retrieve a certain file, business owners have 24/7 visibility.
H2: Reducing Compliance-Related Admin With Digital Tools
As explored, although essential, manually guaranteeing compliance takes time. Here’s how financial admin tools streamline the process.
H3: Why digital tax requirements increase admin when systems aren’t set up properly
In the UK, businesses must maintain digital records and make quarterly VAT payments to HMRC.
This puts a heavy, stressful burden on finance teams. Without smart systems in place, employees fall back on manual methods. The need to file updates and maintain regular bookkeeping applies constant pressure to teams, leading to mistakes.
Adding to the problem, many organisations still rely on older, legacy hardware. These systems struggle to run modern software, resulting in a slower, more frustrating experience for employees. To overcome this issue, many organisations invest in legacy system modernisation services.
Simply put, businesses without up-to-date systems handle taxes less efficiently and often have a less contented workforce.
H3: Using digital solutions to simplify VAT submissions
One solution designed to help with VAT submission is Making Tax Digital software. This eliminates manual filing and enables automated bookkeeping and tax submissions, significantly reducing the risk of error.
The software helps with the following aspects of VAT:
- Filing quarterly reports – Income and expenses are automatically summarised, enabling accurate submissions to HMRC.
- Automated bookkeeping – Software links with your bank account, so transactions are logged when they occur.
- Providing tax estimates – Some solutions offer up-to-date tax estimates, so businesses are always clear about the amount of VAT due.
H2: How Smarter Accounting Tools Save Time Across the Business
Smart accounting tools are designed to help every department cut down on admin and increase efficiency. Here are some of the ways smart tools benefit your business overall.
H3: Less time on data entry
From HR to marketing, every department must log financial information. It’s not hard to see why manual data entry can quickly slow your department down.
Here are some of the ways automation provides benefits across your organisation:
- Interfacing with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to record sales data.
- Logging software upgrades from IT Service Management Systems.
- Recording payroll information for HR.
H3: Faster collaboration with accountants and advisors
Software gives advisers the full picture of an organisation’s finances, offering a complete and accurate account of all transactions. There’s minimal delay; advisers don’t need to wait while clients compile financial data. They have easy access to all the information they need.
H3: Fewer errors and rework
Financial tools significantly reduce the risk of error in repetitive admin. As long as they have been programmed correctly, they’ll carry out tasks exactly as described. This requires teams to devote less time to correcting or reworking errors. It also reduces the risk of fines and other issues that result from mistakes.
H2: How to Choose the Right Accounting Tools for a Small Business
For the reasons we’ve discussed, smart accounting tools are valuable for small businesses. Having the right software, however, is even more important.
Here are some factors to consider when choosing your solution.
H3: Prioritising ease of use and scalability
Accounting software will be used by people across your organisation. That means it must be easy to use, accessible, and present information in an intuitive way. Look for features such as customisable dashboards that allow users to access key insights without having to follow multiple menus.
Scalability is equally important. As your organisation grows, your accounting needs will become more complex. It’s important that tools can scale up (or down) alongside your growth. Look for a platform that offers tiered solutions, so you can choose a package that aligns with your current needs and change plans when required.
H3: Avoiding overcomplicated systems
Unnecessary system complexity can cause a range of problems. An overly complex or poorly integrated system may suffer from performance issues and slow response times. Complicated systems also often require specialist hardware, meaning a tool might not perform properly on your business’s systems.
H3: Integration with existing tools
To provide a full picture of your financial data and automate key processes, accounting tools should integrate with other business tools. If a department uses a tool to collect financial data, your accounting tool should integrate with it.
A key example is CRM software, which, when integrated with an accounting tool, brings essential insights from sales, marketing, and customer support.
H2: Turning Admin Time Into Business Time
The bottom line is that repetitive admin does little for business growth or employee satisfaction. Smart accounting software gets your business back on track towards growth. Reviewing your current systems could be the first step toward reclaiming valuable business time.
