Last editedApr 20234 min read
Are you using GoCardless to take Direct Debit payments? If so, you’ll already know how our software helps you take payments quickly and seamlessly, straight from your customers bank accounts. But have you considered the additional benefits of integrating GoCardless with your existing accounting and finance software?
With your payment gateway connected directly to the software you use every day, you’ll discover a range of efficiencies and advantages in how you manage your finances.
Here are 5 key reasons to look at integrating GoCardless into your existing finance or business software.
1. An end-to-end payment and accounting solution
78% of UK small businesses use two or more cloud solutions and increasingly businesses are using cloud accounting software to manage their accounts and day-to-day financial admin.
By integrating GoCardless with your existing accounting software:
Direct Debit payments connect direct to your accounts – bringing your payment transactions into the cloud and integrating your payment data with your accounting data.
Transactions are pulled through automatically – if your accounting software has a live bank feed, received payments appear automatically, reducing admin work.
Payment and bookkeeping is made seamless – giving you an an end-to-end payment and accounting solution that streamlines your finance functions.
GoCardless has integrations with a wide range of accounting software providers, including Xero, Sage 50 and 50c, Sage 200, QuickBooks, QuickFile FreeAgent, ClearBooks and Zoho. So whatever platform you’re using, you can easily connect Direct Debit payments with your accounts – something that our business users find incredibly useful:
“GoCardless has been a real game-changer. It’s been fantastic knowing that the money is coming in every month without us having to chase it. It has really streamlined the business.
When we create a new client, the integration with our FreeAgent cloud accounting software means we don’t have to replicate them in two different systems. So it’s also a great time-saver from that perspective.”
Fraser Sutherland, Co-founder, Lyles Sutherland - uses GoCardless for FreeAgent
2. Automatic reconciliation of your transactions
Having your invoices paid automatically by Direct Debit is a real time-saver but one additional benefit of connecting GoCardless to your cloud accounting is automatic reconciliation.
"We strongly advise our Xero online accounting clients to use GoCardless. It's quick to set up, improves cash flow and admin is reduced to almost nothing due to the automatic reconciliation."
Peter Czapp, Accountant and Co-founder, The Wow Company - uses GoCardless for Xero
With your payment data being pulled through straight into your accounts:
Received payments appear in your live feeds – so you see payments appear in your live bank feed (or noted in your ledger, depending on your accounting software), as well as seeing the transactions taking place in your GoCardless dashboard.
Transactions are automatically reconciled with invoices – your accounting software will automatically match incoming payments with the relevant invoice and even handle GoCardless fees, by recording them as an expense.
Your team waste much less time on bank reconciliation – making the whole bookkeeping process faster, more streamlined and giving your staff more time for higher-level work.
3. Predictable payment improves your cash flow
According to the Office of National Statistics, cash flow is responsible for up to 90% of business failures – a sobering thought for any business owner. So keeping in control of your cash flow is absolutely vital to long-term success.
With GoCardless payments being automatically received and reconciled in your accounting software, you get streamlined cash collection and a real-time view of income and cash flow.
“We use GoCardless for all our monthly recurring invoices. We can just invoice customers directly and payments will be collected through GoCardless on a regular basis.”
This has saved a tremendous amount of time, not having to chase clients for payment. There's no need to process payments through card machines or over the phone. It is all seamless. This has also helped us reduce cash flow problems, which is a big plus for our business.”
Steven Wu, Co-founder, R & W Media - uses GoCardless for Xero
With GoCardless payments being automatically received and reconciled:
The income pipeline is more predictable – with regular invoices paid on time, every time – Direct Debit gives you a more regular and predictable overview of your income.
A real-time view of cash flow is possible – with all transactions matched and incorporated into your reporting, allowing you to monitor your cash flow in as near to real-time as possible.
You'll receive real-time notification of payment failures – so you know instantly if any Direct Debit payments are not collected successfully from a customer’s account.
Forecasting helps to maintain positive cash flow – forecasting apps, like Futrli or Spotlight, allow you to project your cash flow numbers forward in time and forecast your cash position in the future – helping you to avoid any potential cash flow issues
4. Getting paid on time and reducing late payments
SMEs are owed £26.3 billion in overdue payments, underlining the problem of late payment for many UK businesses. Making it easier to get paid is one way to combat the issue of aged debts.
With Direct Debit as your default payment option, integrated with your accounting software:
Customers don’t have to remember to pay – as cash is collected automatically from their bank account by GoCardless as soon as the invoice due date is reached.
Your aged debtor number is up to date – with late invoices or uncollected payments all seamlessly showing up in your accounting software’s aged debtor reports.
Credit Control can be automated – credit control and cash flow apps, such as Chaser or Fluidly, can automatically chase any late invoices for you, speeding up payments.
“Before using GoCardless we had no Direct Debit offering – we simply sent out sales invoices for the full amount owing. GoCardless allows us to offer customers an additional method of making monthly payments by setting up Direct Debit, which is more convenient for customers.”
Michael Allan, Advantage Services - uses GoCardless for Sage50
5. A cost-effective payment solution that’s always improving
At GoCardless, we’re on a constant mission to make payment technology simpler, faster and more cost-effective – and key to this is our integration with online accounting platforms.
“GoCardless is extremely quick and easy to set up and use with QuickBooks accounting software, and it’s also relatively cheap as well – those are the key things for me.
I don’t have time to configure complex payment set-ups, so the fact that GoCardless is so easy to set up is a real benefit. And it really is very cost effective, particularly when you have larger individual payments, because of the £2 per transaction cap. If someone’s paying you £1,000 per month, the percentage you’re losing from that income is minimal.”
Charlie Carne, Accountant and Founder, Charlie Carne & Co - uses GoCardless for QuickBooks
By integrating Direct Debit into the latest in cloud accounting and business software, we give your business a payment solution that’s built for the digital age – and that will continue to evolve over time, adding new features, smart ways to improve cash flow and better sharing of business data.
Find out how GoCardless connects with your business software.
