We’re living in a digital world, where technology increasingly has a role in how we work and live. For the CPA or small accounting firm, keeping pace with new advances can be overwhelming.
After all, this is a profession where relentless deadlines and recurring tasks are par for the course. Yet it’s that relentless and repeating aspect of accounting work where automation can really shine—and shine a light on a better way to manage the workflow of your business.
4 benefits of automating your practice (or workflow)
Here’s the rub. To many, it seems daunting to consider automating what you do. Isn’t automation too complex and expensive for smaller firms? After all, you likely have proven practices and tools like Excel to keep you on track.
Rather than ceding control, consider automation essential to gaining control and confidence. Whether you are a one-person operation or a small firm with a small team, or a growing firm with contract, full-time and part-time people, and many clients to handle, automation answers the call.
Workflow automation gives accountants and bookkeepers added muscle and quick ROI. With the right tools, you can eliminate inefficient, manual hours required for repetitive tasks and focus on areas of greater impact, like expanding value-added services to clients.
Here are four ways automation can help your practice:
1. Track tasks and productivity with ease
With quarterly filings and year-end closings, punctuated by daily tasks and evolving requirements throughout the year, you are juggling a lot of data all of the time. With automation, you can track every task and every deadline with ease. For example, recurring payroll deadlines should be automated, likewise with tax. If you are recreating monthly tasks or projects, you’re wasting time along with margins (and sanity). Automating your due date creation is essential to being more productive with your resources and your bottom line.
2. Reporting metrics and ROI
Accounting firms are prized for timely, accurate results. Automation can make it so much faster and easier to produce reports, synthesize metrics and analyze data. For example, you should be able to quickly run “done vs due” reports to instantly gauge how well you’re doing against fundamental productivity goals. Again, it is power within to do more with less to streamline your workload and path to ROI.
3. Visibility into employee capacity and choke points
Beyond the more mundane recurring tasks, automation software can provide greater clarity into who’s doing what, who’s next in the workflow, and where any issues or choke points may lie. Oftentimes, having something as simple as a “next week” work view can help you pinpoint upcoming fires—especially today. With so many firms struggling with staffing issues, it is your best bet for insights and answers.
Workflow automation gives accountants and bookkeepers added muscle and quick ROI. With the right tools, you can eliminate inefficient, manual hours required for repetitive tasks and focus on areas of greater impact, like expanding value-added services to clients.
4. Increased collaboration
When everyone on the team works with the same automated tool, you empower the whole team to stay on the right page. The right workflow software will make it easier to share information, connect with others, and collaborate to solve problems and meet critical deadlines for clients.
In my work with accounting and bookkeeping firms of all sizes, I see a lot of diversity in how firms operate, their specialties and vertical focus. Yet there is a common trait I see post-automation. This profession can demand a lot of hours. Too many owners burn the midnight oil to keep all their clients and deadlines and tasks on track. Once they automate, they gain time back.
Some simple math for you to consider. Automation can save on average 30 minutes a day. If your hourly rate is $100/hour, you can realize a savings of $12,000 in your time that can focus on other areas to improve and grow your firm such as marketing, sales, recruiting, and pricing optimization. Think about that.
Your time is your most precious commodity. Use it wisely to manage your practice, serve your clients and grow your firm. Use tools that make you stronger, able to react faster, where you have critical data at your fingertips, not locked in a file cabinet.
With the right workflow software automation in your practice, you gain a valuable asset for reclaiming your time, refocusing on client service and more profitable services, and growing your client base.
David Cristello is founder and CEO of Jetpack Workflow, an award-winning workflow software that helps accounting and bookkeeping firms track recurring client work so nothing falls through the cracks. Since launching in 2015, Jetpack Workflow now serves over 7,000 customers in 18-plus countries, which collectively completed more than five million client projects on time. In 2020, it reached the Inc5000 list as one of the country's fastest growing private companies. David also leads several innovative marketing strategy programs that include insightful blogs, several eBooks, and a popular podcast series “Growing Your Firm.” With over 725,000 downloads, the podcast shares industry knowledge with global SMBs on accounting industry pain points and staying ahead of the curve. An established author, Mr. Cristello co-authored the best-selling book, “Double Your Accounting Firm: Lessons Learned on How Top Firms Grow Faster, Build Stronger Teams, and Increase Profit.”
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