Cloud accounting stores your financial records, software, and reports on secure remote servers instead of a local desktop, so your team can access live data from any device with an internet connection. Benefits of Cloud Accounting include automated bookkeeping, lower IT costs, stronger data security, and easier compliance with HMRC’s Making Tax Digital rules.
Key Takeaway
- Cloud accounting gives real-time access to financial records from any device, replacing desktop software and manual spreadsheets.
- HMRC’s Making Tax Digital for Income Tax becomes mandatory from 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000, falling to £30,000 in 2027 and £20,000 in 2028 (HMRC, 2025).
- Firms on cloud-based systems report stronger profit growth than those on traditional software — 74% versus 65% — in a 2025 survey of 100 UK accountants (Wolters Kluwer, 2025).
- Corient Business Solutions runs its outsourced bookkeeping, VAT and payroll services on secure cloud accounting technology for UK accounting practices.
What is Cloud Accounting?
Cloud accounting is the practice of running your accounting software and storing financial records on a remote, internet-connected server rather than a local office computer, so authorised users can view and update the same figures from anywhere.
You must have heard about cloud computing, which is the on-demand access of computing resources over the Internet. Similarly, under cloud accounting, your accounting practice can access accounting software on a remote server. Under it, you can store and access financial records, reports, and the accounting system anywhere using your official computer via the Internet.
The benefits of cloud accounting allow multiple users to access and remotely store important financial records. These records or data are sent to cloud providers, where they are processed and safely stored.
How Does Cloud Accounting Work?
Cloud accounting works by hosting your bookkeeping software on a provider’s servers: your team logs in through a browser, transactions sync automatically, and data is backed up off-site — removing the need for each user to install or maintain the software locally.
Cloud accounting focuses on streamlining your accounting processes using secure web-based software. Through it, your accounting teams can access all important information from their locations, thus making teamwork and financial reporting easy. In other words, web-based software reduces your requirements to buy and set up multiple desktops with the software because now everyone can access it through their personal desktop via the cloud. It saves time and reduces cost, and everyone will be working on the same page.
Furthermore, cloud accounting also offers data security, which includes data backup and recovery. So, if you have an accident at work or face a technical problem with your official computers, your data is safe and secure. There are many advantages of using cloud accounting, which we will elaborate further in the blog.
What Are the 7 Benefits of Cloud Accounting?
The main benefits of cloud accounting are automation, lower infrastructure costs, remote accessibility, stronger data security, reduced paper use, improved accuracy, and scalability as a client’s business grows.
Technology is moving at a fast pace. That’s why if you are still using desktop software and spreadsheets, it is time for an upgrade to cloud accounting. Shifting to cloud accounting will open the gates to multiple benefits, which will give your accountants the flexibility to work from anywhere and enhance their performance without any worry about accessibility, data storage, or data security.
From the multiple benefits, we have narrowed it down to 7 main benefits of cloud accounting. These benefits are as follows.
Automation
For any accounting practice, getting accurate financial numbers becomes difficult when they depend on the physical paper process of accounting. Also, a manual accounting process will lead to errors, which, if they go unnoticed, can lead to larger problems.
Using a cloud accounting platform to manage accounts will reduce these errors to a bare minimum by giving access to financial data in real-time. It also reduces manual work and increases efficiency by automating multiple accounting and banking tasks.
Lower Expenditure on Infrastructure
If you are not interested in cloud accounting, then get ready to invest in a server that will store your accounting software and data. Also, you will have to recruit an IT expert to maintain the server. All this comes under overhead expenses. Indeed, you would not be interested in making such expenditures when you have an effective and cost-saving option in cloud accounting. It will allow you to transfer all your work to the cloud. Thus, there is no need to buy expensive IT infrastructure or to pay the staff to maintain it. You can use the money saved on business expansion and improving your accounting services.
Of course, cloud accounting and infrastructure are still significant investments that require a certain level of expertise, which you and your staff may lack. That’s why many accounting outsourcing service providers are offering cloud accounting and infrastructure services at reasonable prices.
Cloud is now the preferred delivery model for UK payroll and accounting software: 41% of respondents in Moorepay’s Annual Payroll Survey 2025–26 named cloud-based software their preferred solution, ahead of on-premise or desktop systems.
Accessibility
One of the most significant benefits of cloud accounting is the ability to access crucial data from anywhere. With it, your accounting staff will have an option other than to come to the office where the server is placed to access information. With cloud accounting, you will need internet and a laptop with a web browser to access all the financial reports, records, and transactions. All this can be achieved without installing any software on your staff’s desktop.
Thanks to cloud accounting, your staff will not have to be in the office daily and can work remotely without affecting their performance. This is possible because they have all the information available with a click of a button.
Data Security
While running your accounting practice, you deal with sensitive financial information that is prone to theft by cybercriminals. This keeps you and many of your competitors awake at night. Any breach or leak of your client’s financial or personal information can lead to legal issues and damage to your reputation.
You may be thinking that you should implement strong data security measures in your office, but nothing can match the security of a data centre. If you are using cloud accounting, then you must know that all your financial information is stored in the data centre. These centres are secure with strong security features, and even during natural calamities, you will not lose any data. As your clients scale, cloud accounting pairs well with outsourced bookkeeping and VAT support, so extra transaction volume doesn’t fall back on your in-house team.
Firms that have moved to cloud-based systems report stronger profit growth than those still on traditional software: 74% of cloud-based UK accounting firms reported profit growth, against 65% of traditional firms, in the Wolters Kluwer Future Ready Accountant Report (2025 survey of 100 UK accountants).
Eco-Friendly
Because of climate change, people are becoming aware of its consequences and are expecting companies and governments to tackle it. As an accounting firm, you can do your bit by choosing cloud accounting. This way, you are reducing the consumption of paper and printer cartridges used by your employees.
Also, paper reports require physical storage and sending, which makes the whole accounting process slow and inefficient. Hence, when you decide to choose cloud accounting, you are not only becoming efficient and fast but also having a positive impact on the environment.
Improvement in Efficiency and Accuracy
In the good old days, accounting work used to be done manually, and no matter how good your employees where they were bound to make human errors. Any wrong information added will only lead to miscalculations, harming your reputation in the market. Currently, you have the option of cloud accounting, which will reduce the chances of double entries and automate invoices. Therefore, your accountants will be required to spend less time checking each entry and adding data, thus increasing the productivity of your staff and bringing in more business.
Scalability
It is one of the most attractive benefits of cloud accounting. When your clients expand the size of their business, their accounting demands and volume of financial data will also increase. With this added burden, your accountants will be unable to manage it just through desktop accounting solutions. That’s when cloud accounting comes in quite handy. Cloud accounting software can automate most of your accounting functions, thus enabling you to match up with the demands of your client’s business expansion.
Also, you are meeting client expectations through cloud accounting, expanding your accounting business, and creating a good name in the accounting field. For more insights on how technology is shaping the accounting profession, explore the future of accounting for UK businesses and understand what’s ahead for your firm.
People Also Ask
How much does cloud accounting cost compared to desktop software?
Cloud accounting is usually billed as a monthly subscription rather than a large upfront licence fee, which removes the need to buy and maintain a server or hire IT staff to run it. Costs vary by provider and user count, but firms typically save on hardware, maintenance and IT support, redirecting that budget toward client-facing services instead.
Is cloud accounting software compatible with Making Tax Digital (MTD)?
Most established cloud accounting platforms are built to be MTD-compatible, letting firms keep digital records and submit updates directly to HMRC. This matters because MTD for Income Tax becomes mandatory from 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000, extending to lower income bands in 2027 and 2028 (HMRC, 2025).
Can I switch from desktop accounting software to the cloud without losing data?
Yes. Reputable cloud accounting providers offer migration tools or support to import historical transactions, contacts and chart-of-accounts data from desktop software, so records carry over rather than starting fresh. Most firms run both systems in parallel for a short handover period to check the migrated data matches before switching over fully.
Who should consider outsourcing cloud accounting setup and management?
Practices without in-house IT or cloud expertise, or those juggling multiple client platforms, often benefit from outsourcing setup and ongoing management to a specialist provider. This avoids the learning curve and configuration errors that come with a first cloud migration, while still keeping working papers and documentation accessible for review at any time.
Why Choose Corient for Cloud Accounting?
Corient specialises in bookkeeping, year-end accounts, VAT, and payroll outsourcing for UK accounting practices, built on secure cloud accounting technology. Working papers and supporting documentation are kept accessible for client review at every stage, and Corient can also work within a firm’s own document management system where that’s the preferred setup. The team is led by Sachin Lohade, Director of Operations and New Business, who has over 19 years’ experience across BDO International, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Serco Plc.
Conclusion
In conclusion, cloud accounting is the present and future solution. It offers solutions that will reduce manual labour, improve accuracy, and streamline accounting processes. Your accounting staff can access financial information in real-time from anywhere in the world.
However, we understand cloud accounting is new and requires expertise to handle. In that case, you choose to outsource accounting to Corient Business Solutions, an accounting service provider.
We specialise in bookkeeping, year-end, VAT, and payroll outsourcing services. Corient uses secure cloud accounting technology to make our working papers and supporting documentation accessible for your review. We are also open to using your firm’s document management systems to record our work if that is your preference. We can connect at your convenience by phone or online meeting to discuss our services in detail.
