There’s one thing small business owners continuously ask for - more time to enjoy life outside work.

For many, it’s the reason they became their own boss in the first place.

Research shows the majority sacrifice personal and family time in order to run their businesses. I’d like to share some news that will hopefully reduce this sacrifice time…

These days it’s possible to get more ‘me time’ by scrapping one important thing: keying bank transaction data into your financial accounts. By scrapping I mean automating… *cue sharp intake of breaths around the country*.

Yes, this is possible and it’s easy to get in motion.

MYOB now enables business owners to automatically import and match their business bank account transactions to the relevant codes within their accounting software. The transactions are simply fed directly into the software on a daily basis, with security, reliability and accuracy. The service is a key feature of cloud accounting solutions.

MYOB recently surveyed 600+ small and medium-sized business owners and managers who use our MYOB bank feeds service to find out what value it gave back to them.

We discovered on average they saved 10 hours per month, which they valued at an average of NZ$458. That’s a big saving and is equivalent to a day off a month or a couple of weeks of holiday each year!

Still not convinced? There’s further proof that accounting software, and in particular bank feeds, is significantly changing SME business lives for the better. Our clients pointed to other important benefits such as less stress and greater ability to spend time on the business and/or with family.

40% of those who saved time with bank feeds spent it on improving systems and processes, 28% reviewed business performance and 20% spent it on strategic planning and marketing. From a personal perspective, 38% spent the extra hours with immediate family, 29% on ‘me time’ and 26% with extended family and friends.

Our research also showed these business owners now spend 42% less time on bookkeeping thanks to bank feeds. 77% said they now had less work at end of the month and 71% said there was less data entry.

Time saving was the biggest benefit (89%), with others including easier bank reconciliation (75%), clients feeling more up to date with their accounts (70%), staying on top of financial paperwork (70%) and managing accounts more efficiently (70%).

This type of business benefit is somewhat typical of the types of benefits that are delivered by cloud based solutions. We’re delighted when we see that our products and services genuinely deliver tangible benefit, and that some of that benefit is returned in establishing work life balance.

There’s no doubt that running your own business is a big challenge. Hopefully it will be a little easier when you’ve automated one of your least favourite tasks!

By MYOB CEO, Tim Reed