Finance automation expert shares practical ways small businesses can save money and grow faster by streamlining everyday financial tasks
For many small business owners, finance and accounting are among the most time-consuming and expensive parts of running a company. Spreadsheets, paper invoices, endless reconciliations — these tasks eat up valuable hours and often require extra staff.
Hence more and more businesses are turning to automation. In fact, according to a recent Visa report shared by Forbes, 91% of companies say they’re planning to bring in automation and AI tools over the next year to make their operations more efficient.
And it’s not just the big players—small and mid-sized businesses are jumping in, too, because the benefits are real: less manual work, fewer mistakes, and serious cost savings.
That’s exactly what Nigar Nasirzada has helped companies achieve. Nigar has spent over ten years helping businesses simplify and improve their financial systems.
Over the years, she has led accounting and finance operations across multiple sectors — from oil and gas sector and real estate to nonprofit organizations and multinational corporations — giving her a unique perspective on the real-world challenges small businesses face.
As a finance automation expert, she has worked with businesses of all sizes to reduce costs, improve accuracy, and free up time. She did that all through smart automation tools that don’t require big budgets or tech teams. And that’s how she did that.
1. Think Automation Is Complicated and Expensive?
Many small business owners still think automation is something only big corporations can afford—something that needs a huge IT team and tons of money. But that’s just not the case anymore. These days, cloud-based finance tools are affordable, simple to use, and can grow with your business.
Actually, Nigar has proved it in practice. She created a hands-on methodology tailored for small and medium-sized businesses to simplify financial management. The idea is to help business owners save time, avoid mistakes, and focus on growing their company instead of getting buried in spreadsheets.
The methodology starts with choosing the right ERP system that fits the business’s specific needs and then customizing it to work smoothly. It also brings everything into one place — so there is no more jumping between tools.
On top of that, routine tasks like invoicing, payroll, and tax calculations can be automated to run in the background. And because it’s all cloud-based, business owners can check in on their finances anytime, from anywhere, and easily collaborate with their accountants or remote team.
Over the years, Nigar has worked with a range of financial systems — from robust tools like QPLIX and Sage to more lightweight solutions like 1C and QuickBooks.
Each time, she saw how these tools could be tailored to fit a company’s size, budget, and level of complexity, proving that automation doesn’t have to be one-size-fits-all. Instead of juggling spreadsheets or switching between apps, businesses get a single, connected system where everything runs smoothly in the background.
“Using a good cloud ERP system is like switching from running around different stores to shopping in a big, well-organized supermarket,” says Nigar Nasirzada. “Everything you need is in one place, easy to find, and you don’t waste time running back and forth. That’s exactly what it does for your finances—it brings everything together and makes your life so much easier.”
2. Start Small, Grow Fast: Automation That Grows With You
You don’t have to automate everything at once to see the benefits. Financial automation isn’t some huge, all-or-nothing project — even small steps can make a real difference. Something as simple as automatically tracking invoices or organizing expenses more efficiently can save time and reduce stress.
“It’s like when your family grows — you don’t build a mansion on day one, you just start adding rooms as you need them,” says Nigar. As your business grows, you can always add more tools along the way.
That’s exactly what she did while working at Cape Industrial Services LTD, best known for delivering expert scaffolding and access solutions for high-risk industrial environments.
The British energy services company, it also provided thermal and acoustical insulation, asbestos removal, fire protection, painting, coatings, and refractory linings services before being acquired by Altrad in September 2017.
Nigar started from the basics. She automated routine tasks like payroll and tax reporting with the help of internal dashboards and tools like Sage, which is a user-friendly accounting software known for its strong payroll features, customizable reports, and ease of use for non-accountants.
This smart shift immediately made day-to-day operations more efficient and accurate without any costly systems or complex transitions.
Once the core processes ran smoothly, she introduced additional automation features that improved financial visibility and helped the clinic manage costs better. Over time, this gradual approach led to a more structured, scalable financial system — without disrupting the business or stretching the budget.
3. Save Hours Every Week by Automating the Repetitive Stuff
Things like processing invoices, handling tax reports, or running payroll can take a lot of time—especially when they’re all done by hand. Manual work often leads to mistakes that can be costly down the line. But with the right automation tools, these tasks can be done faster, more accurately, and often in real-time.
“Honestly, filling out tax forms every month is just plain boring. It’s repetitive, it eats up your day, and no one really enjoys doing it,” says Nigar. “When you automate that stuff, it’s like lifting a weight off your team. People finally get to spend their time on work that actually matters.”
While enhancing accounting automation at Cape Industrial LTD, Nigar implemented an automated system for tax declaration filing. Instead of employees manually preparing documents each month, the system now generates and submits reports automatically.
Such an upgrade saved over 40 work hours monthly and drastically reduced errors. Additionally, It saved the company tens of thousands of dollars, otherwise required to hire a separate consulting company to fulfill assigned tasks.
4. How Automation Makes the Work Easier
Another project, Discovery Property Manager, had a problem because it was a complex business where the major company ran several different units that struggled with messy, inconsistent financial data. The company is distinguished for its specialized management of and commercial rental properties.
Nigar solved the problem by leading the full implementation of QPLIX Wealth Management Software, a special platform that is created to handle complex financial structures. The QPLIX software holistically maps the entire range of liquid and illiquid asset classes as well as complex legal entity structures.
It consolidates all investment data from multiple sources in a high-performance database and provides them for holistic controlling, accounting, analytics, and reporting. The system was rolled out across 24 properties, streamlining workflows and significantly reducing the time spent on manual data consolidation.
“The biggest challenge was that every team used their own tools, like disconnected islands,” Nigar explains. “We built a system that acted like a central train station — all the data flowed in and out through the same track. Once everything was linked and mapped correctly, the information moved smoothly, and the reporting process became faster and far more reliable.”
When financial processes are done manually, mistakes happen — numbers get typed wrong, documents get lost, and small errors can lead to big penalties or bad business decisions. But when you automate, everything runs cleaner and more accurately.
Data is consistent, reports are reliable, and your team spends less time fixing problems—and more time moving the business forward.
5. Financial Automation Frees Up Time for Growth
When business owners and finance teams aren’t buried in routine paperwork, they finally have the headspace to focus on the bigger picture — like strategy, customer experience, or developing new products. Ultimately, automation isn’t just about cutting costs — it’s about creating room for real growth.
That’s exactly what happened when Nigar worked as a Finance Manager at a not-for-profit organization, Mothers and Babies Perinatal Network, providing specialized support and coordinated care for maternal mental health and perinatal wellbeing.
She set up financial tools that bring budgeting and reporting together in one place enabling automation that helped to track expenses and adjust budgets in real-time. This meant the company could spot budget changes early and react quickly without digging through spreadsheets or waiting for monthly reports.
Overspending and underspending were visible at every stage of each project. As a result, they managed to cut cost overruns by up to 30% — and in some cases, avoid them completely. The team stayed financially stable and used their resources more effectively simply because the system gave them a clear picture of what was happening when it mattered most.
“Seeing those numbers grow just because we freed up some internal resources — that’s the most rewarding part of my work,” Nigar recalls. “It’s proof that even small operational changes can lead to real business breakthroughs.”
Automation isn’t just something big companies are chasing — it’s becoming a natural next step for every business that wants to stay on top of things.
As Nigar’s work shows, even small improvements can make a big difference. Less time on routine tasks, fewer mistakes, and more energy to focus on growing your business — that’s what it comes down to.
You don’t need to do everything at once. But starting somewhere, even with just one process, can make your business smoother.
“We’re only at the beginning of what technology can do for small businesses,” says Nigar. “Very soon, automation will handle even more of the heavy lifting. And business owners will finally be able to spend their time where it matters most: on people, ideas, and growth.”
