A a food distributor you wear many hats. The last thing you want is to stress over your accounting. The internet is changing the way food and beverage businesses operate. Now distributors an integrate business accounting to their management system.
Here’s how integrated accounting increases your efficiency and reduces your overall costs.
What is integrated accounting?
Integrated accounting is the combining of your businesses accounting to your food and beverage management software. Data is automatically synced from one program to the other program instantly and accurately – removing errors and costly administration time.
Why is integrated accounting so beneficial for food and beverage distributors?
Distributors face different challenges; bookkeeping should be easy! You should have the peace of mind knowing that your accounting is accurate, correct and accessible at all times.
Integrating your accounting to leading accounting package Xero, provides your business with a centralised solution that removes the need of going back and forth between programs.
Reduce administration time:
The benefit of integrated accounting is it eliminates the need to use several programs to keep track of your business financials.
Integrated accounting is instantly transfers data from program to program once entered – saving you time and bookkeeper fees.
Eliminate errors:
Using multiple systems is a common habit for many food distributors. The problem with that is it create errors and additional costs for your business. Integrated accounting gives you a simplified solution that transfers all information quickly and accurately between the programs – eliminating common human errors.
Slash accounting costs:
Integrated accounting ultimately lower your accounting expenses.
Many accountants charge per hour, using multiple systems requires your accountants to go back and forth between programs to find and allocate financial information. The problem with this is it takes time. Integrated accounting centralises all financial information and correctly allocates it to the correct location. The less time your accountant needs – the less you will pay!
How Integrated Accounting Works for Food Wholesalers
Integrated accounting connects your ordering system and your accounting software so they talk to each other instead of sitting separately. As soon as an order gets packed and marked done, the invoice and stock updates flow straight to tools like Xero or MYOB, so nobody’s stuck typing it all up later that day.
That means you know who owes what, what stock’s moving, and how much cash you’ve actually got in the bank, and you’re not waiting until the end of the month to find out.
Manual vs Integrated Accounting for Food Distributors
When you handle books manually, it means someone on your team spends hours copying figures from paper dockets or spreadsheets into your accounting system by hand.
Connecting your software takes those repetitive tasks off their plate, running them in the background, which saves time and keeps human error out of your numbers.
Here is how the two compare in a daily workflow:
| Task | Manual Accounting | Integrated Accounting |
| Entering invoices | Re-typing line items into your software by hand | Invoices move straight into your accounts automatically |
| Matching payments | Going through bank statements to match payments line by line | Payments link straight to open invoices as they land |
| Fixing mistakes | Updating dockets, spreadsheets, and software separately | Fix it once, and it updates everywhere automatically |
| Business reports | Reports fall behind while you wait to log old paperwork | Figures stay current, so you always see live numbers |
| Daily admin | Hours spent re-keying the same information twice | Routine entry work drops away entirely |
How EasyVend can help?
EasyVend by Jeal provides food and beverage distributors with a complete management software that automates the day-to-day tasks of running a food distribution business. EasyVend includes all your everyday needs like invoicing, receipting, standard orders, inventory control, payment gateway, online ordering and so much more.
For a free no-obligation demo of EasyVend submit the form below. You’ll love it!
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Frequently Asked Questions
How can food distributors improve cash flow?
It helps to send invoices out the second goods leave the dock, keep a tight grip on overdue accounts, and stop over-ordering stock that sits around in cold rooms. Setting firm credit terms from day one also keeps money coming in regularly.
What causes cash flow pinches in food distribution?
The main culprit is paying your own suppliers weeks before your venue clients pay you. Having too much cash tied up in slow-moving stock, sudden fuel hikes, vehicle repairs, and stock spoilage make that squeeze even worse.
How can you get customers to pay faster?
Get accurate invoices to venue managers straight away and give them easy ways to pay online. Putting firm credit limits on accounts, sending automated reminder texts, and following up on late payments early keeps cash flowing.
What is the cash conversion cycle?
It is simply the number of days it takes for money you spent buying stock to come back into your bank account as cash from customer sales. You calculate it by adding how long stock sits on shelves to how long customers take to pay, then subtracting the credit days your suppliers give you.
How does automation help cash flow?
Automation gets invoices out fast, matches customer payments automatically, and shows you right away who is late paying. Cutting out manual data entry removes billing delays so you collect money sooner.