From time-to-time, Insightful Accountant features the partner programs offered by various developers in our Advisor Alliance articles. We created Advisor Alliance as a way to make you aware of opportunities that exist with these developers to help you gain more business, improve your business performance as it relates to their product(s) and your clients, and to essentially earn more money through a working relationship with these developers.
A few days ago I gave you one of my 'First Looks' at ApprovalMax, an App I had seen several years ago at a XeroCon which now works with QuickBooks Online. I told you why ApprovalMax was a perfect App for businesses who needed controlled workflows for either Purchase Orders or Vendors Bills when using QBO and a little later in this feature I will tell you why it also works for Accounting and Bookkeeping practices who manage clients, but first I want to tell you about their Partner Program because that's one of the primary reasons why I write these Advisor Alliance articles in the first place.
Let's face it, things have 'tightened up' financially under COVID-19 because more and more consultations are remote and you are probably seeing your clients less often and so you may be providing an entirely different scope of services. You need every opportunity to expand your sources of revenue, but at the same time support your clients with an expanding set of tools that will work for them and you.
If you have clients working on QBO (or Xero for that matter) who need the kinds of approval workflows I mentioned above and described in detail in my First Look then you should definitely consider ApprovalMax for those clients. As their accountant, bookkeeper or consultant you may have come to realize they don't even know they need the kinds of 'internal controls' that you can help them build with ApprovalMax because 'their people' are simply "out of control" when it comes to buying without getting proper authorizations.
You can find out more about ApprovalMax by registering for the free Insightful Accountant hosted webinar, "Bill Automation Tech Stack: Establish Proper Financial Controls for Accounts Payable" on November 19, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. EST.
Register for this free Insightful Accountant hosted webinar here.
But as good a tool as ApprovalMax is to help those clients, and help you meet your clients' needs, it wouldn't be much of a product if it didn't have a Partner Program to support You in supporting It. Fortunately, there is the ApprovalMax Partner Program designed for accounting and advisory practices who use and support QuickBooks Online (and/or Xero) with ApprovalMax. When you elect to sign-up for the 'Free' ApprovalMax Partner Program you will get the following benefits:
- Your own 'Free' ApprovalMax Professional Plan* for your use.
- Free 1 on 1 interactive training and consultation on demand.
- Partner Program Learning & Certification opportunities.
- Priority support via email and/or telephone.
- Partner discounts including ApprovalMax in-service packages or resale values to your own clients.
**IMPORTANT UPDATE** ApprovalMax will begin offering their formal 'Advisor Certification for Partners' in December (2020) for more details go to the ApprovalMax.com/QBO website. (Update added 11/19/2020)
In some cases your role as an ApprovalMax Partner may be to simply 'advise your clients' regarding the product including set-up as well as assist with the definition and implementation of approval workflows, and provide product training. In these cases the ApprovalMax subscription would be held by your client.
But, if you or your firm provide outsourced business process or financial services, or you have been considering expanding your role in these areas, then ApprovalMax can be just what you are looking for when your clients are using QBO or Xero. In these cases it can provide you with:
- Centralized spend control through automation by simply setting-up workflows within ApprovalMax linked to your client's accounting that notify you (or one of your staff members) when a client purchase (purchase order) needs authorization.
- Shared accountability with the client regarding payments if you establish payment based workflows within ApprovalMax linked to the client's accounting that notify you (or your designated staff person) when a bill (vendor bill) needs approval for payment.
- When the client's bills are processed via ReceiptBank there is a complete eradication of error-prone manual entry of bill data, you (or you or your designated staff person) can review all synchronized data as part of the established workflows to determine accuracy and validity.
- A full audit trail of each authorization process, including all reviews is maintained as part of each document on both the purchasing and bill payment side. In this way whether you (or your staff members) or the client (or their employees) are involved in the initiation, review or approval process it's all documented in full.
ApprovalMax greatly expands the ability of you and your firm to expand and enhance your services, provide increased billable opportunities and share in revenues through both the Partner Program as well as utilization of the actual App itself.
For more information see the ApprovalMax Partner website, or submit an inquiry if you have a question, or go straight to their Sign-up Page if you are ready to move ahead.
You can actually find out more about the ApprovalMax App by registering for the free Insightful Accountant hosted webinar, "Bill Automation Tech Stack: Establish Proper Financial Controls for Accounts Payable" on November 19, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. EST.
Register for this free Insightful Accountant hosted webinar here.
* - Accounting and advisory practices as well as advisors can use ApprovalMax both internally (e.g. in the practice app capacity for review and approval of their own bills or sales invoices) and externally for the approval workflow automation in their clients’ businesses.