How to Create Chart of Accounts for Fintech?

Fintech refers to all contemporary financial technology-based startups or enterprises. It serves as a general word for technology adapted in finance. It has the capability to improve, modernize, digitize, or undermine traditional finance services. Fintech involves various types of programs, technologies, and mobile and desktop applications. These platforms make it possible to perform routine chores efficiently. Like check deposits, money transfers between accounts, bill payments, and financial aid applications. Additionally, they enable peer-to-peer lending and cryptocurrency exchanges. Fintech is mainly used by businesses to process payments, conduct e-commerce, and handle accounting. It also frequently cooperates with government aid programs like the Payroll Protection Program. In this article, we will get into detail about the importance of the Chart of Accounts for the Fintech Industry. A chart of Accounts is essential because it is impossible to deal with finance without keeping a record and tracking all financial details.

Chart of Accounts 

A financial management tool known as the chart of accounts (COA) serves as an internal part of accounting. It involves all the accounts that a company is currently managing. COA records all sorts of assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, and expenses. To facilitate tracking and reporting, the COA classifies, groups, and combines the above accounts as necessary.

COA has taken over the role of an older method that involves labeling individual drawers for all your critical accounting documents. However, it provides a comprehensive perspective of every part of your organization. That spends or produces money by showing all the accounts engaged in your daily operations instead of hundreds of papers. For example, COA provides information on sales, the rent for your office or storefront, the expense of sending goods to customers, etc.

COA should categorize information in the most comprehensible way possible. Since the COA feeds your financial statements, reliable reporting is the main advantage of a well-organized COA. As a result, businesses can make sensible expansion plans. They identify the right times to look for new investments. Also, they get a more comprehensive picture of how their operations are faring. Thanks to the financial insights provided by such reporting.

Overview of Fintech

Give yourself a moment to recall your life before Covid-19. Fintech was an absolute legend in those less socially isolated times. First, you use the mobile app for your bank to take a snapshot of your paycheck transaction and upload it. Next, to determine your monthly spending, you looked at Mint. Next, you and your friend used Venmo to split the dinner bill. You later paid for a drink at the bar by tapping your phone. Finally, you stepped into an Uber when it came time to go home and paid with a saved credit card.

Fintech can be confusing due to the vast array of tools, platforms, and services under its voluminous umbrella, as with many other burgeoning technological areas. If you’re still unclear about Fintech, the following explanation should help.

Fintech improves or simplifies financial services and operations. The terms “finance” and “technology” are combined to form Fintech. The term refers to a quickly expanding sector that benefits consumers and companies in various ways. Fintech provides multiple uses, from cryptocurrencies and investment apps to mobile banking and insurance.

Fintech Banking: What Is It?

Banks use Fintech for consumer-facing solutions. Just like the app you used to check your balance and back-end operations like tracking account activity in the background. Banks use Fintech as well to underwrite loans. In addition, Fintech allows people to use numerous bank services, such as paying with a smartphone for transactions and then getting investment advice on their personal computers.

What is a Fintech Company?

Fintech companies successfully integrate technology into the conventional finance sector to make the traditional financial sectors safer, quicker, and more effective. Companies are experimenting in nearly every aspect of finance, from transactions and loans to credit assessment and stock trading, making Fintech one of the fast-expanding digital areas.

The annual Forbes Fintech 50 list highlights the sector’s most popular and influential businesses. Stripe, a ten-year-old payment processor, valued at $95 billion, is at the top of the 2022 list. The second-place finisher is Klarna. A 16-year-old Swedish company valued at $46 billion provides consumers with financing for transactions at numerous big stores.

Wealthtech (apps like Wealthsimple, an online wealth management service for Canadians), invest tech (like Acorns, which enables users to round up transactions to the nearest dollar and invest the difference in a broadly diversified Portfolio), and innovation are some of the more specific industries that fintech branches off into (such as Next Insurance, a mobile-first carrier). However, it affects almost every market, including geographic and company models.

Effect of Fintech on Traditional Services

Three primary purposes are served by traditional financial service providers worldwide. Mostly banks and credit unions:

• They keep cash on hand, including deposits and various investment options.
• They give loans, both secured (such as mortgages) and unsecured (like student lines of credit).
• Also, they move money through international money transfers. And regular, straightforward payments through global networks like SWIFT.

Like, cryptocurrency has significantly changed the payments industry (moving money). And although there is much discussion about the validity of cryptocurrencies as money. There is no question of using it as a means of exchange. The blockchain’s goal that powers cryptocurrencies are to decentralize the centralized sector. Decentralization will probably replace traditional banks, investment firms, and other payment channels. The term “defi,” which is relatively new, is a byproduct of the fintech revolution. It is the term “decentralized finance” combined.

Numerous Fintech companies in the payments sector include programs that have become commonly available, like Stripe, Venmo, Alipay, and even Apple Pay. They have gradually begun to undermine the older financial systems. They are also funding consumers and businesses and removing the turbulence of borrowing from a traditional financial services firm. These new products and services include buy-now-pay-later, peer-to-peer lending platforms (P2P), and others.

The conventional role of holding money in the financial services sector is also susceptible to the fintech revolution. These include entirely virtual banks, which have licenses and have met all legal requirements in their numerous states.

As we know, the stockbroker industry’s democratization of trading has virtually destroyed it, which has profoundly impacted the investing sector. They used to be fee-based, extremely high-margin businesses. But discount stock brokers have driven many companies to forgo their costs to stay competitive. Young customers as a whole engage with Robo-advisors and savings apps. They hardly ever walk into a physical bank office. The fintech revolution has produced numerous significant and expanding subcategories. They include, among others, those mentioned above “defi,” “insuretech” (insurance technologies), and “regtech.”

How Does Fintech Function?

Fintech makes unavailable traditional financial services accessible to people in novel ways. For instance, many conventional banks now provide customers with mobile apps. That lets them access bank services while on the road, like checking their balance, transferring money, or depositing a check. Improvements are more affordable and practical than getting in-person financial advisor investing advice.

A lot of commercial functions, including property valuations, are automated by Fintech. As a result, Fintech companies may understand their clients better and boost their marketing efforts. They also include design, development, and underwriting by combining artificial intelligence with vast troves of consumer data.

How Has Fintech Changed Over Time?

Fintech isn’t necessarily new just because it’s popular. It is a signature-verifying technology, and ATMs were at the forefront of fintech innovation.

Fintech has evolved in recent years by being connected with intrepid startups. Now they are playing a substantial role in long-standing and established financial institutions. Currently, a lot of big banks are collaborating with fintech firms or starting their fintech projects. For instance, JP Morgan Chase invested $25 million in fintech firms in 2019. Also, Goldman Sachs leveraged Fintech to build an online bank named Marcus in 2016.

Chart Of Accounts for Fintech

You must include every financial transaction you keep track of in your COA, including invoices and office supply purchases. You must follow the steps to figure out which account to record. Each account generally correlates to two financial statements: the income statement and the balance sheet.

A balance sheet provides a comprehensive overview of your company. You can clearly see where your firm stands at any given time. Just by knowing what it owns (assets) and what it owes (liabilities). And what is left over for the owners after settling off any financial obligations (owner’s equity).

You would have the following balance sheet accounts:

Asset Account 

Asset accounting lists every valuable resource that your business owns. Inventory, property, machinery, and accounts receivable are all included in this.

• Cash
• Short-term Investments
• Accounts Receivable
• Allowance for Doubtful Accounts 
• Accrued Revenues/Receivables
• Prepaid Expenses
• Inventory
• Supplies
• Long-term Investments
• Land
• Buildings
• Equipment
• Vehicles
• Furniture and Fixtures
• Accumulated Depreciation (a contra-asset account)

Liability Accounts

These accounts follow the asset accounts in the balance sheet, accounting records, and chart of accounts of an organization. Liability accounts typically contain credit balances in the general ledger.

• Short-term Loans Payable
• Current Portion of Long-term Debt
• Accounts Payable
• Accrued Expenses
• Unearned or Deferred Revenues
• Installment Loans Payable
• Mortgage Loans Payable

Equity Accounts 

Equity is the sum provided by a company’s owners or shareholders for the initial launch and ongoing operation of a company.

• Common Stock 
• Preferred Stock
• Additional Paid in Capital
• Contributes Surplus
• Retained Earnings

Income Statement

The accounts in the general ledger utilized in a company’s profit and loss statement are known as income statement accounts. Income Statements keep track of the revenues and expenses related to its numerous product lines, sections, and divisions. A larger business can have a large number of income statement accounts. The following are some of the frequently utilized income statement accounts:

• Revenue
• Sales discount
• Employee benefits
• Marketing expense
• Professional fees
• Taxes
• Income Taxes

Fintech Revolutionary Role

The financial services industry isn’t frequently associated with flexibility. But in today’s world, consumers and company owners demand flexibility and speedy variation. In addition to fast pleasure, Fintech speeds up procedures that previously required days, weeks, or even months. Additionally, Fintech has the potential to increase financial inclusion because it meets unbanked needs in some regions of the world where governmental assistance is missing.

Fintech can streamline clumsy operations since it is based more on numbers and logic than on the knowledge and judgment of people. At the same time, many fintech services combine components of both conventional intermediaries and algorithms. Others assist users in completing financial chores without involving human beings.

Customers can avoid going to typical bank locations today to apply for loans or mortgages. Instead, casual investors may now browse their selections online or even utilize chatbots to help them make decisions, eliminating the need to get down face-to-face with financial specialists. 

The answer to the issue of how Fintech influences your life depends entirely on each circumstance. The influence of Fintech on your life is a personal matter determined by how many services you choose to connect. Aside from activities like online account monitoring, which have become routine responsibilities in day-to-day banking, you have the option of delving deeply or remaining on the surface.

Is Fintech a Safer Choice?

Dealing with Fintech might expose you to undesired or unanticipated threats because many of them are still entirely unregulated, especially in the Wild West world of digital currencies and Ethereum blockchain.

The notion that Fintech upholds a higher moral code than the major banks is mainly proven to be untrue. However, as noted by fintech expert Ron Shevlin, banks and clients who engaged in “fintech fetishism,” an overly optimistic attitude associated with its early iterations, are currently experiencing a harsh wake-up call as many promising potential startups face challenges both related to and unrelated to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is wise to embrace glamorous but unproven Fintech and its grand claims with a fair dose of skepticism. Large-scale security blunders also increase in frequency and importance as digital information becomes exponentially more pervasive and essential to daily life. These hazards have come to light due to recent breaches, such as the high-profile bitcoin heists. Unfortunately, there is no agreement on how secure fintech solutions are overall. Finding such guarantees will probably be challenging, given the fintech development’s size. However, customers should exercise caution because, according to the E&Y report, 71 percent of fintech adopters worry about their data security when dealing with businesses online.

Fintech and New Technology

The distributed ledger technology that underpins blockchains and enables cryptocurrencies is possibly the most significant innovation that has impacted financial services. However, lesser-known developing technologies may ultimately have a more substantial impact. The most intriguing ones include:

Internet Of Things

Internet of Things demonstrates sensors that permit contactless transactions and ATMs that determine how many consumers are waiting in line.

Augmented reality and Virtual reality

One potential application of augmented and virtual reality technologies is virtual stock trading.

Smart Contracts

Smart Contracts autonomously go into effect when specific circumstances are satisfied, can enhance security, boost productivity, and save financing costs.

Bots

Bots automate repetitive processes, sometimes called robotic process automation, which can free humans from regular work, allowing them to concentrate on more worthwhile pursuits.

Voice-enabled payments

Voice-enabled payments allow people to check their balances, transfer money, and finalize purchases on their smartphones by speaking.

Future Of Fintech

Nobody can predict what fintech developments will appear in the future, and the pandemic’s instability has worsened this uncertainty. In addition, Fintech has experienced financial setbacks like their clients; some reduced personnel or laid off workers, and others are having trouble obtaining investor capital. As a result, fintech demand is at an all-time high at the same time that organizations and banking clients depend more and more on technology to manage their finances.

More significant, long-term patterns for the future of Fintech are still largely intact despite the current state of economic turmoil. It appears that legacy banks and Fintech will soon consolidate, form alliances, and continue to work together. And consumers can undoubtedly anticipate the continuous growth of businesses offering eye-catching, news-worthy services, such as blockchain, bitcoin, and artificial intelligence.

Final Thoughts 

Fintech is now practically omnipresent in the financial services industry. Customers, companies, and various financial services providers increasingly use creative software, hardware, and data combinations to develop and offer novel and conventional financial products and services. Our financial society is rapidly growing with Fintech, and this impact will continue to expand. A Chart of Accounts is essential to keep track of such vast and efficient industry finances.