Could accounting software be the key that unlocks growth for your business?

Accounting software is massively undervalued and underused. It gets a bad rap, too. It’s considered unnecessarily complex, an unwelcome additional cost, and unless you’re an accountant or bookkeeper, accounting software is a bit, well, dull and uninspiring, isn’t it?

This partly explains why so many small UK businesses don’t use accounting software. According to the Department for Business & Trade 2025 SME Technology Adoption Report, about half of UK firms with fewer than 20 employees don’t use accounting or financial management software. About 30% of them use basic computer spreadsheets to record their income and expenses, while 20% either outsource their bookkeeping or handwrite figures into actual accounts ledger books.

Small businesses that keep financial records manually miss out massively. They don’t get accounting software’s time- and cost-saving automations, while basic mistakes can be much more likely when you write or key in numbers by hand.

It can take far more time and effort to view numbers that reveal a business’s actual performance and financial health, which can seriously undermine day-to-day and longer-term strategic decisions. Tax compliance is more difficult and time-consuming, too, while filling in a tax return is certainly far easier and quicker if you use accounting software, because the summary numbers you need can be found in seconds.

By providing real-time visibility of cash entering and leaving a business, accounting software is also key to sound cash flow management. Detailed cash flow forecasts can be produced and updated with remarkable ease and speed. And accounting software enables better credit and debt control, because at any time you can see how exactly much you owe and are owed. Accounting software can even send out branded invoices for you and help you to chase payment.

Need to know! The first phase of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax was introduced on 6 April 2026, changing tax reporting requirements for 864,000 sole traders and private landlords. Millions more will be impacted in the next few years.

Read our blog >> 10 things every sole trader and landlord should know about MTD for Income Tax

Cloud-based accounting software can be integrated with inventory, CRM, ERP, payroll and other software, providing business owners and managers with a holistic view of their operations. Growth strategies can fail if focused just on finance and sales, because the impact on supply chains, staffing, premises, etc, also matters.

You should be aware of any issues in all areas of your business that could prevent or slow your growth. Enabled by accounting software, a holistic view can ensure that your decisions are more balanced and sustainable, with risks better managed, too, so that growth strengthens your business, rather than stretching it to breaking point.

Being as lean and efficient is also essential, because any inefficiencies will grow as your business does, which will inflate your costs and create unnecessary cash flow strain. Accounting software makes reliable cost assessment across the board much quicker and easier, enabling you to see where you need to cut costs, to leave your business in much better shape for growth.

Accounting software can also enable a business to judge whether it can afford to target new markets, take on new people, launch new products, diversify, etc. And as well as helping a business to realise that it needs external funding to grow, it can tell you exactly how much you need.

Accounting software reports can also show which products, services or customer segments are most profitable, so that a business can better focus its efforts where they are most likely to deliver transformative growth. And by analysing historical data, businesses can better understand demand patterns and times when a business needs to sell more. 

Setting cost budgets aligned to your growth goals is also easier with accounting software, and you can assess your business’s financial trends so you can forecast future revenue, expenses and cash flow. You can also consider various “what if?” scenarios and plan for different outcomes. Sound planning and decision-making are key to growth.

Beyond mere numbers, accounting software makes it easier to judge your performance, mitigate risk, minimise costs and maximise efficiency, so that your business is better placed to achieve growth. It can tell you where the best opportunities for growth lie, so you can move forward with more confidence. Maybe accounting software isn’t so dull and boring after all.

• Tech Adoption for Growth is a new, government-funded pilot programme offering free, practical digital support to help SMEs and sole traders in the South West get more value from digital tools. Eligible businesses are assessed and then randomly allocated to receive either one-to-one expert tech support or the opportunity to take part in expert-led tech workshops. To apply click here.