Cloud-based accounting solution to empower micro-SMEs in Singapore

MAYBANK Singapore recently announced a partnership with Asian Business Software Solutions (ABSS) to empower startups and micro-SMEs in Singapore with a new program, Financio.

Financio is a cloud-based accounting solution aimed at boosting productivity, driving collaboration and helping businesses stay on top of their finances.

The program was developed from the frustrations of Financio’s chief technology officer Jye Eng, who was then a small business owner.

“He came to realise how frustrating it is to handle accounting the manual way (paperwork) and the lack of resources that could help him with the task,” Paul Conway, CEO of ABSS told Tech Wire Asia.

Financio is an easy and affordable option for small business owners. For many small businesses, the amount it costs to hire an accountant to manage their finances can take up a significant cut of their budget.

According to Conway: “There is plenty of accounting software out there that is not focused on supporting the micro businesses in Asia, which are predominantly owned by non-accountants.”

Financio, on the other hand, was designed with non-accountants in mind.

“We wanted to develop Financio as a product that can be used universally by anyone,” said Conway. “We also discovered that there is a gap in the market for the underserved micro-SME community, who are in need of an affordable and simple solution to help them solve their financial management issue.”

Financio offers cloud-based accounting software needed by companies in the digital age in order to bring their offline processes online, thus reducing repetitive operations that leave room for human errors.

“Mundane tasks like data administration should be automated, and with Financio, owners can focus on delivering customer value and strategic tasks instead of worrying about financial management,” said Conway.

On top of making many features more automated, Financio’s cloud-based solutions give micro-SMEs greater flexibility to conduct businesses anytime, anywhere. Users will be able to access critical information when they want, instead of waiting to go back to the office.

Data storage is also taken care of in Financio’s cloud-based software. Even in the case of losing your device, your data is kept safe and easily retrievable.

Financio allows users to track sales, purchases and miscellaneous transactions through a simplified dashboard, and automatically generate financial reports and tax records or forward transactions to recipients via email and inventory tracking. Other features include e-invoicing, charts and reports, and live backup of your data.

“Financio has simplified accounting processes and removed the jargon so business owners don’t have to try to understand complicated finance management themselves,” said Conway.

The use of cloud computing is disrupting all industries, and micro-SMEs need to embark on their digital transformation journey to stay relevant.

“Financio is a solution geared towards micro-SMEs, a broadly underserved but important part of the economy,” said Conway.

More often than not, micro-SMEs are unable to afford the full services of an accountant. Through Financio, companies are able to get full visibility of their business, create visual graphs, establish good business practices and generate reports to help them.

There's less to stress about with @thefinancio! https://t.co/rJxAZtYIRW

— ABSS (@abss_asia) May 24, 2017

The introduction of Financio does not mean to say the role of an accountant in your business is unnecessary, but can help in facilitating the workload.

SMEs form 99 percent of the economy in Singapore, and micro-SMEs make up 80 percent of that community, according to SPRING Singapore. This is where the software’s Financio Connect feature can come into its own, with businesses able to connect seamlessly and share documents on the platform.

According to Conway, Financio has helped more than 4,700 micro-SMEs in Malaysia and Singapore, saving them over 384,000 man hours a year.

“We are expecting 125,000 users within the next eight to 12 months, and expect to be in Hong Kong and the Philippines soon,” Conway told Tech Wire Asia.

Maybank Singapore and ABSS will also be launching a series of workshops tailored for micro-SMEs, covering diverse topics such as financial management, data security and sharing best practices for small business owners. These workshops are set to launch in Q1 2018.

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