A Story About Digitizing Your Finances: The Impact of Mail -

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Before I start, I need to clarify that I, like many of us, love receiving actual paper mail. This love of mine started in the early years of elementary school. Getting off the rural bus route that took my siblings and me home every school day, crossing the country road and pulling down the creaky metal door of our many times painted over mailbox was such a spark of unpredictability as a young child. Often, what lay inside were merely Canadian Tire fliers and Hydro Bills. Even if there was nothing personally addressed to 8-year-old me, it was still a highlight after an hour or more riding on bumpy country roads at the end of the school day.

How Mail Plays a Role in Accounting

Fast forward to a few decades later (without aging myself), and I have started what would become my journey and career in accounting.

Before I became a bookkeeper, I started out my career in finance at a nation-wide accounting firm in the administration department. Not only was I in charge of answering phones and greeting clients, but nearly all day-to-day internal tasks came down to me and my wonderful, oft under appreciated, coworkers in admin. And one of those many duties was the duty of opening and sorting through the days mail. Just as I had looked forward to it as a child, the daily mail delivery was a highlight of my day. And the undertaking of opening, sorting, and recording payments that came in as cheques, was less of a chore and more of a moment of contentedness.  There truly is something to be said about the entire process, even if just as it were when I was a child, none of these letters were addressed to me.

Today’s Realities

But something has happened between then and now, and our mail system may not be as reliable as it once was. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been numerous disruptions in mail delivery all across Canada. Canada Post workers and facilities have been at the forefront  dealing with major outbreaks which have caused delays in deliveries. On top of this mail delivery has been suspended to some recipients, sometimes for weeks on end. These disruptions are not just inconveniencing but can be extremely worrisome for individuals and especially for businesses who send and receive payments through the post.

Technology Enables Us To Carry On

Despite everything happening in the world, life and business must go on. So how do we here at Business Sherpa Group help our clients continue to function successfully? We take all those prior manual mail processes, and we digitize them. Our clients no longer rely on sending and receiving mail for anything that can and should be sent electronically. With the uncertainty of the post system, this can be a huge game changer.

Here are some of my favourite programs that we at Business Sherpa Group’s Bookkeeping team work with everyday to help our clients with sending and receiving invoices, statements, and payments without having to rely on the postal system:

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks has been around for so long, it is pretty much synonymous with bookkeeping programs, but their online version takes it one step further. Not only does QuickBooks Online have all the great stuff the desktop version does, it also seamlessly syncs to other programs we use to help manage your company’s day to day finances. And when you have our team at BSG managing your QuickBooks system, it is pretty much smooth sailing for you as a business owner.

Hubdoc

Hubdocs is such a workhorse, it basically takes all the work of opening, sorting, and filing that once had to be done physically when the mail was dropped off every business day. When we set up your company with Hubdoc, we can also help you complete the process getting all those invoices, receipts, and statements sent directly to Hubdoc, so there is no need for you to wait for anything in the mail.

Plooto

Plooto makes payments easy, you will never have to write a cheque, post it, and wait for it to clear again. Plooto takes all your outstanding payables and lets you decide who gets paid when, and how much.  Not only that, but it also has a built-in approval system so you as a business owner have direct authority and knowledge on the money leaving your bank account. So not only does it make the process easier, but it also gives you as a business owner peace of mind.

To Thriving

It seems like it is easier than ever to reminisce about the mundane everyday things that have seemingly forever changed due to the pandemic. Those little moments that seemed ordinary and unremarkable before having now become an appreciated tidbit in our collective pre-covid nostalgia. But as the lock downs and restrictions persist past what most have us predicted; I am one among many who are trying to pivot my fear of uncertainty into new opportunities to find growth and efficiencies. And I can say with certainty that the rest of our Business Sherpa Bookkeeping team absolutely want to help you come out of this time more successful and better prepared for the future.

In Conclusion

So, I will keep my love for all things in the paper post, but I think now it is the time to focus that on sending and receiving letters to our loved ones and family. Will you join me in this? I know a few people in my life who would love to receive a handwritten letter in the mail, especially since we still cannot safely catch up in real life. So let us get our companies running as efficiently as ever by digitizing our finances and let us save the letters for those who really matter the most to us.

About the Author

Megan O’Neil is an Accounting Associate here at Business Sherpa Group. She enjoys helping small businesses and the sense of relief these businesses get when they no longer have to struggle with their accounting. Outside of work, Megan loves plants, her dogs and her husband Dave <3