When it comes to buying new software in Q4, you might think it’s too late in the year to embark on implementing new software and Q1 is a much better time to begin onboarding new processes. If this is your current thought process around buying new software, you’re not alone. Many businesses wait until the new year to make a large software purchase. However, you might be surprised to learn that the months leading up to the end of the year can be a perfect time to invest in new software for your firm.
Benefits of Buying New Software in Q4
When it comes to buying new software, Q4 is when the magic happens. A year-end software purchase works in your favor in these five ways:
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More time to implement a new system
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Expenses become tax write-offs
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New accounting software makes tax prep easier
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More access to customer support
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Year-end discount offers
More Time to Implement a New System
Many companies think of Q1 as a time to start fresh. This includes implementing new software for their firm. However, it can take anywhere from 1 week to several months depending on the software and the complexity of the implementation/data migration.
Why not get ahead of the competition and implement your new software in Q4?
Buying new software in Q4 gives you the end of the year to onboard. So, while other firms are busy training their teams, you stay ahead of the curve and ahead of the competition.
January is too late to start thinking about buying new software. You’ll need to bring members of your team in on the evaluation, get approvals and signoffs, and then begin the onboarding and training process. Before you know it, you’ll be well into Q2 before you are using your new tool. By onboarding your team before Q1 begins, you can position them for a strong year starting January 1st.
Plus, using the software as early in Q1 as possible makes it easier to measure performance from Q1 to Q4. If you begin implementing in Q1, you might not have everything fully working to get full data until late in the quarter.
So, if you’re looking to implement a new tool to start the new year, you’ll want to buy it a couple of months in advance to make sure you have enough time to implement it, migrate your data, train your team, and see results from day one of Q1.
Expenses Become Tax Write-offs
Q4 is the ideal time to buy new software from a cash flow perspective since all expenses are essentially tax write-offs. Rather than buying software during the year and waiting until tax season to get money back, buying in Q4 means you’ve made that purchase just in time and you’ll quickly see money back early in the following year.
Under the IRS’s Section 179 Deduction, you can depreciate the cost of new software over a 3-year period so long as it meets the following 3 criteria:
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It is readily available for purchase by the general public.
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It is subject to a nonexclusive license.
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It has not been substantially modified.
If your software purchase satisfies these three criteria, you’ll be able to deduct 1/3 of the cost in the following year, and Q4 gives you the shortest amount of time to see a return.
Accounting Software Makes Tax Prep Easier
Speaking of taxes, you know how stressful tax season can be, especially as you try to ensure you have all your expenses and financial data properly recorded. Are you still manually keeping track of your accounting? Whether you’re using spreadsheets or another form of data entry, you know that this is not only tedious but can be highly prone to errors.
Accounting software, such as the accounting feature in BQE CORE, makes tax prep easier by enabling you to:
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Receive a full view of your financial performance at every level: company, client, project, phase, and staff.
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View key data in one place: financial reports, profit & loss (P&L), balance sheets, trial balance, GL, and timesheets.
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Save hundreds of hours in data entry and eliminate errors when downloading all bank or credit card transactions.
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Fully integrate business accounting with project accounting to help you be more accountable to the P&L.
And these are only a few of the beneficial features accounting software can bring to your firm.
Accounting software helps you get back more time in your day. It also helps you eliminate errors and gives you a 360-degree view of your financial performance. When you onboard new accounting software in Q4, it’ll be ready to use in the new year so you can have your data and finances recorded to make tax prep easier than ever before.
More Access to Customer Support
Many customers buy new software in Q1, which means that customer service is likely to be stretched thin compared to other times in the year.
If you decide to buy software in Q4, the software company’s customer success team can be more available to help you with important set-up requirements right away.
Remember that the post-sale activity is what will take the most time and is also when you may require the most customer support. This can include transferring your data, onboarding and training your team, and making sure everything is running smoothly. It’s a process where you want full customer support available to you whenever you need it.
If you push your decision to buy new software off until January, you could find yourself competing with all the other companies requiring customer service at the same time. Because Q1 can be so busy, training options might be limited, so a good time to consider switching software is in Q4 before the beginning-of-the-year rush.
Year-end Discount Offers
When do you typically get the best deal on a new car? The end of the month. Or if you’re looking at current models it will be the end of the year before the newer models come in.
Think of buying your new software in the same way. Companies often offer year-end discounts and promotions in Q4 in order to close out their fiscal year on a high note. Purchasing software in Q4 can often result in cost savings that you wouldn’t see during any other time of the year.
However, once the year is over and sales targets are reset, those special deals are likely to expire. So, take advantage of any savings or special upgrade deals in Q4 while you can.
BQE CORE’s Firm Management Software
Don’t think of Q4 as the end of the year. Think of Q4 as the chance to get ahead of the coming new year.
At BQE, we want you to stay ahead of the competition by helping you onboard and implement your new firm management software early so you can be ready to hit the ground running in Q1.
Our fully integrated suite of intuitive tools provides back-office automation to power your front-office insights. BQE CORE is an all-in-one dashboard that provides project management, time and expense tracking, billing and invoicing, human resources, reporting and analytics and more whether you’re in the office or working remotely.
Our award-winning customer support is here to help you implement and onboard your new software while providing powerful learning tools such as webinars and training. This year, close out your Q4 by setting yourself up for a successful Q1.
