SimplBooks Elevates Accounting for Micro and Small Businesses

SimplBooks OÜ, a provider of accounting software for micro and small businesses, aims to elevate accounting processes by offering a more efficient way to read, interpret, and if needed, transfer data between systems. “Our goal is to simplify day-to-day data management for businesses and save time through automation. Since accountants’ time is highly valuable, it’s crucial to keep this in mind when developing software functionality,” says Jaanus Reismaa, CEO of SimplBooks.

Forward-Looking Solutions That Truly Help

SimplBooks has a vision of embracing automation in accounting. From the beginning, the company has prioritized creating software with more open data. However, challenges still arise when companies want to switch software but face difficulties in transferring data from their existing systems. Often, older software doesn’t allow easy data extraction, which can limit a company’s ability to explore better alternatives.

According to Jaanus Reismaa, this problem doesn’t exist with SimplBooks. “We don’t hide data from our customers. On the contrary, they can download their data anytime and use it however they need,” he explains. To promote data openness, SimplBooks has made significant strides, such as participating in the real economy follow-up program aimed at standardizing accounting transaction information, which helps streamline processes. However, creating a standard is not enough; each software must also provide an endpoint to output or process this standardized data. Every software has its own peculiarities—different data storage methods and varying amounts of data processed.

Automation: A Step Toward Innovation

Given the central role accounting plays in data management, automating as much of the work as possible is a logical step. It helps save time and effort for accountants. “In the future, we expect the submission of declarations to become more automated and user-friendly. While declarations can already be submitted directly from accounting software, more improvements are needed to make these processes safer and more convenient,” says Jaanus Reismaa. He envisions a time when human intervention is no longer needed for verifying data in declarations. The only potential issue might be the accountant or business owner not entering all necessary documents on time.

Bank interfaces also play a crucial role in reducing workloads. “Although most bank interfaces are free, there’s still a surprisingly low level of interest in using them. This is partly because businesses may hesitate to change their established routines. However, if the software is intuitive and easy to use—requiring just a few clicks for setup—it could increase adoption,” the CEO suggests.

He offers a practical example: “On average, businesses save about one minute per sales invoice or bank transaction, and around three minutes per purchase invoice. For a small business generating 20 sales invoices and 15 purchase invoices monthly, plus bank transactions and data verification, the total time saved through automation could exceed an hour per month. For a slightly larger business with 100 sales invoices, the time savings could amount to more than five hours per month.” Reismaa is optimistic about the situation in Estonia and Baltics, noting that bank interface solutions are already highly effective. “Typically, it only takes 3-5 clicks to activate the interface, and it’s usually free to use,” he adds.

The Future Is in Our Hands

Despite advancements, many businesses still spend too much time on manual data entry or redundant tasks, time that could be saved with automation. “Software can handle many tasks that accountants currently spend valuable hours on,” says Jaanus Reismaa. He adds that companies should fully leverage accounting software for invoicing, activating bank interfaces, and other operations, rather than forcing accountants to work with outdated processes, such as paper invoices submitted at the end of each month.

Today’s efforts are a stepping stone to tomorrow’s solutions. Business owners and accountants should reflect on how much of their work is already automated and where there is room for improvement. How can they eliminate bottlenecks and bring accounting practices into the 21st century? Accounting software can already suggest corrections and point out errors, but SimplBooks envisions software that can analyze increasing amounts of data, providing insights and suggestions to help users make better decisions. “We support forward-looking solutions and are here to help you make informed choices,” says Jaanus Reismaa, encouraging businesses to reach out to SimplBooks for consultation.