Over the past decade, much of the development in cloud accounting has been focused on inputs, such as automating data entry with bank feeds, bank rules, scanning, OCR, digital payments, and API integrations. All that helps us get data into the GL faster and with fewer errors.
But what about your outputs? What are you presenting to clients after doing the work? A great example is the monthly reporting package. In all this time, that deliverable hasn't changed all that much.
It’s easy to spend much of our time thinking about inputs. So much of the job is about gathering and organizing data. Often we’re so pressed for time that reporting is a mere afterthought.
However, as technology continues to automate the flow of data, the true measure of success in accounting firms will become how they handle outputs. Outputs are what clients value because that’s what they see. The rest is hidden. If we want to generate more value for clients — and thus more billings for our firms — we have to produce connected intelligence to help businesses grow.
It’s time to level up our outputs, delight our clients with unexpected value so they stay, and attract new clients with an integrated accounting and finance service offering that will differentiate us in a big way from the competition.
Join us for our webinar with Insightful Accountant, "Level up Your Financial Outputs: How to Save Time, Add Value, and Delight Clients," today, May 19, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Register here.
A model for moving up the value chain
There is tremendous value in outputs such as forecasts from financial models, and in the insights and advisory services we can provide our clients using these tools. Meanwhile, demand is falling for jobs that involve data entry and manipulation.
According to the World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs report, accounting, bookkeeping, and payroll clerks are among the top 10 roles expected to decline by 2022, while data analysts and management analysts make the top 10 most in-demand jobs list for 2020.
The difference? The jobs that are projected to grow create value focus on analysis (outputs), while the jobs in decline mostly process data (inputs).
So let’s talk about how we can improve our outputs. To guide our discussion, we’ll use Gartner’s Data Analytics Maturity Model as a framework. This model plots a path we can follow as accountants from simply providing information to helping our clients optimize their businesses.
Descriptive Analytics — What happened? — Bookkeeping and accounting tells us what happened in a business. It is 100% hindsight. If you’re producing traditional financial statements and sending them to customers without additional analysis, you’re at this stage.
Diagnostic Analytics — Why did it happen? — When we start to ask “why,” we’re edging from hindsight into insight. This level of service is typically provided by a senior accountant, manager, or controller. Examples of outputs at this stage include key performance indicator (KPI) dashboards and flux analysis reports.
Predictive Analytics — What will happen? — Controllers and CFOs ask this question when they provide financial forecasts.
Prescriptive Analytics — How can we make it happen? — If you are answering this question for your clients, you’re providing CFO-level advisory services. To truly advise our clients, we have to understand their key business drivers and figure out how to pull those “levers.”
Where do your current services fall on this spectrum? What opportunities do you have to help your clients get to where they need to be?
In our upcoming webinar, we’ll dive deep into the Data Analytics Maturity Model as it applies to accounting firms and suggest practical ways you and your team can move up to the next level from whatever stage you’re at now.
Outputs matter now more than ever
The shift toward valuing forward-looking advisory services was already beginning in the accounting world, even before COVID-19. However, the need today is even more pressing.
The clients we serve are asking questions. They need help avoiding a cash crunch. They need help planning for a future that may involve significant economic uncertainty for years.
By providing more meaningful reporting and analysis, accountants are helping to keep our clients in business.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to level up your financial outputs, check out our upcoming webinar with Insightful Accountant TODAY, May 19, presented by Blake Oliver and Martin Zych.
Our clients need help. During times of confusion and fear, it’s time for accountants to step forward. At Jirav, we’re here to help you do that with business planning software for small businesses that’s both powerful and easy to use.
With a forward-looking financial model, the ability to compare multiple scenarios, and a visual dashboard to easily communicate the impact with your client, you can help them make better decisions and increase your value as a strategic advisor.
Author Bio: Blake Oliver, CPA, is an entrepreneur, accountant, writer, and speaker who specializes in cloud accounting technology. He has been named a Top 100 Most Influential person in the accounting profession by Accounting Today and a “40 Under 40” by CPA Practice Advisor. He is the director of marketing for Jirav and co-host of the Cloud Accounting Podcast, a weekly news round-up at the intersection of accounting and technology that is also the #1 podcast for accountants and bookkeepers in the world.