How I Learned Cloud Bookkeeping [Chapter 1]

Geoffrey Gualano

Cloud Bookkeeping

Hi! Nice to meet you. I’m Geoffrey, Hubdoc’s Sr. Product Marketing Manager, and interim bookkeeper.

By day, I develop and execute go-to-market strategies for Hubdoc product launches (like the launch of our Xero HQ integration). By night, I collect documents, post and reconcile transactions, approve and reimburse employee expenses, and process payments.

Wait… why is a marketer doing Hubdoc’s bookkeeping?

Great question! The answer is quite simple.

At Hubdoc, we believe that the only way to truly understand our customers is to put ourselves in their shoes. Our co-CEO, Jamie McDonald, started this hands-on tradition – and he has since passed it down to our Head of Product, Dan Shiner. Now it’s my turn.

Four months ago, I knew very little about bookkeeping or how to use cloud bookkeeping technologies (other than Hubdoc, of course!). Fast forward to today, not only was I able to manage the books from a small town in Italy, I also closed a quarter!

(That’s me, smiling like a dope in Perugia, Umbria, Italy)

To be clear, I am not a bookkeeping expert – far from it, in fact. I leave most days scratching my head and hoping that I didn’t screw anything up. (I was trained by the team and took online courses before getting started. I'm also lucky to get support from Jamie, Dan, and an outsourced bookkeeper whenever I have any questions or need help.)

If this experience has taught me anything, it’s that bookkeeping isn’t easy. It takes years of experience to perfect. The value it provides extends far beyond keeping a business’ financials in order. It helps demystify the complexities of a small business’ finances, giving them the insight they need to make informed decisions.

The reason I was able to “successfully” (pending audit) close a quarter and do the bookkeeping anytime and anywhere (e.g., Italy), is because I learned how to leverage cloud bookkeeping technologies. This experience – the learning curve, the struggles, the successes – is the inspiration to our “How I Learned Cloud Bookkeeping” series.

What is the “How I Learned Cloud Bookkeeping” series?

In four months, I went from knowing very little about bookkeeping or cloud bookkeeping technologies to closing a quarter. (Well, everything minus accounts receivable, revenue reconciliation, tax preparation, and payroll. It’s only been four months, I’m not a bookkeeping savant!)

Because Hubdoc is a cloud accounting application, our tech stack is – as you would imagine – 100% in the cloud. We even change it every few months to test different workflows and integrations. Today, we use Hubdoc and Fujitsu ScanSnap for document collection, Xero for reconciliation, Expensify for expense reporting, and Bill.com for payment processing.

As I learned how to use these technologies, I thought to myself, “maybe other accountants and bookkeepers would want to follow along”. Even seasoned bookkeepers might have questions about how they can better leverage the cloud to increase efficiencies in their workflow.

So, we teamed up with...

...to bring you the How I Learned Cloud Bookkeeping series.

In the coming weeks, we’ll partner with each cloud accounting application and publish a blog post about:

How and why Hubdoc uses the application (and the problem it solves)
My experience learning how to use the application (and the resources I used)
How I fared when putting the application into practice (warts and all)

We’ll close the series with a webinar, where I’ll show you:

How and why we chose our cloud bookkeeping tech stack
How we built and optimized our bookkeeping workflow

I’ll also demo each application and show you where they fit in our day-to-day.

I look forward to all of us sharing our struggles and best ideas. We can learn a lot from each other. And at the very least, you can laugh at my pain.

See you soon.

Tweet @geoffreygualano and @Hubdoc if you have any feedback, suggestions, or advice!

"How I Learned Cloud Bookkeeping" Calendar

Chapter 1 - You are here!

How I Learned Cloud Bookkeeping [Introduction]

Chapter 2 - November 15, 2017

Automated Document Collection with Hubdoc and Fujitsu ScanSnap

Chapter 3 - November 21, 2017

Effortless Reconciliation with Hubdoc and Xero

Chapter 4 - November 29, 2017

Quick and Easy Expense Reporting with Hubdoc and Expensify

Chapter 5 - December 6, 2017

Automated Payment Processing with Hubdoc and Bill.com

Chapter 6 - December 13, 2017

How I Learned Cloud Bookkeeping: The Webinar

About the Author

Geoffrey Gualano is the Director of Marketing at Hubdoc. He has a passion for customers and bringing products to market. An ex-musician and aspiring chef, he spends his free time cooking and listening to music. <a href="http://content.hubdoc.com/how-i-learned-cloud-bookkeeping">Follow his cloud bookkeeping journey in 'How I Learned Cloud Bookkeeping'!</a>
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