A2X reduces business owners’ stress, says The Digital CPA

Accounting connector app permanent addition to Jay Kimelman’s digital toolbelt

Jay Kimelman has his hands in many different pots. Over the past 20 years, he’s been the CFO of a pharmaceuticals company, helped to design, build and deploy SAP-based ERP solutions for Siemens Hearing Instruments, and started – then sold – a nutraceutical manufacturing business.

He’s all about the tech – a workflow automation expert and self-proclaimed “recovering appaholic”. So it makes sense that in 2011, Jay rolled everything he knew about accounting and systems into one – launching his cloud-based accounting firm.

For the past ten years, The Digital CPA has helped e-commerce sellers achieve their business goals through workflow automation. Jay is passionate about supporting his clients to improve their processes so they can spend time doing the things they love, “whether that be selling more product, taking more vacations, or spending time with your family.”

Jay wouldn’t be able to do his job without digital tools like A2X. He says not only do they save him – and his clients – time, but more importantly, they also take away some of the stress of running an e-commerce business.

Drawing on 20 years’ experience

The good thing about a multi-faceted career and wearing lots of different ‘work hats’ is, you have a tonne of experiences to pull from. Having first-hand experience as a business owner, Jay knows how time-consuming and inefficient manual processes can be.

He says that when running his manufacturing business, he went through all kinds of systems. He started from scratch, building and integrating databases and platforms, then dropped a hefty sum on servers and an all-in-one inventory e-commerce system.

But there were always issues. Sales wouldn’t go through and credit card processing wouldn’t match, so reconciliation would need to be done manually. These days, you don’t need to spend a small fortune on apps and systems to automate your business processes, Jay says.

“That’s where A2X comes in. We’re automating all those processes to provide numbers to our clients, so they have data that they can rely on to make business decisions.”

A2X saves time, less stress

The Digital CPA primarily works with US-based Shopify sellers – some Amazon FBA clients too – with a wide range of annual revenues. It offers a full service from bookkeeping to tax compliance.

For a business built on a foundation of automated processes and continuous improvement, it comes as no surprise that A2X is part of the app mix. A2X posts your e-commerce sales and fees directly into your accounting system in tidy summaries that match the payments to your bank account.

Jay says by simplifying and automating sales reconciliation, A2X “probably saves his clients on average an hour every month.” That might not seem like a lot, but it “takes away the stress of having to do something you don’t want to do,” which, Jay adds, is even more valuable to a business owner juggling multiple tasks.

“A2X just works – and it works right,” he says. “Time saved is time that can be spent doing something else.”

Consistency is key

The real power of digital tools like A2X is, they can help you unlock your full business potential, Jay says. There’s now a clear distinction between his clients who use A2X – and those who don’t.

“Those clients who are using it are reconciling their books faster, have up-to-date information, and have what they need to make good, timely business decisions,” he says.

It’s around this time of year when taxes are due that most of his clients see the value in using digital tools to consistently stay on top of their books.

“Doing your books inconsistently is worse than doing them wrong,” Jay says. “If they’re done wrong, but consistently, it’s easy to fix. Inconsistency means pulling things from everywhere to get it fixed – and it makes it really difficult.”

A2X has also helped Jay standardise his own business practices. Now, it doesn’t matter which staff member looks at what e-commerce seller account, “they understand what it is, how it works, and we know it’s just going to work every time.”

Harness the power of digital tools

Technology has come a long way in 20 years – and it shows no signs of slowing down. It’s an essential part of how Jay runs his business, and therefore his clients’ businesses too.

A2X joins a fleet of other apps and systems on Jay’s digital accounting toolbelt – he uses Xero, Slack for keeping in touch with his team, Practice Ignition for client contract management, Salesforce as the CRM and Hubdoc for collecting and managing receipts and invoices.

If there’s one thing he’d like to say to e-commerce sellers, it’s “Don’t be afraid of technology.” He admits some can be overwhelming at first, but A2X is not one of them.

“Also, their support is awesome. You don’t have to ask a question two or three times. You get an answer the first time and that makes a big difference – especially to me and my clients who are trying to do it on their own.”

Jay says he knows how easy it is to procrastinate – “I’m guilty of that with certain things,” he laughs. “But if it’s not in your wheelhouse, then find something else that can take care of it for you.

“Today with Shopify, Xero, A2X and an inventory app, I can do what I did with a $135,000 system – and it’s more robust now than what I had then. “Just jump right on in there and try it – you’ve got nothing to lose!”