Each year, respected experts and reputable organizations in the accounting and finance professions take note of trends they expect to see going forward. While in some cases, their predictions might differ slightly, this year, there’s one major focus they’ve almost unanimously agreed upon: Most accountants are thinking about growth. This includes attracting and retaining new talent to expand and add skill sets to their teams. It also includes considering the expectations of future clients, as well as adding and developing new services.
While all of this might seem overwhelming, the best place to start is to make your firm more efficient. In this article, we’ll talk about why efficiency is key to achieving your goals, what a modern, efficient accounting practice looks like and actionable tips that will help you take your firm to the next level.
1. Transition to the Cloud
Transitioning to the cloud offers a number of significant advantages for accounting firms looking to stay competitive, including increased security, better client collaboration and easier, safer access to important documents. It eliminates the cumbersome, time-consuming paperwork, frees up your time to offer higher-value services to your clients, and makes it easier for them to securely communicate with you and access their documents and other important information. In fact, a study of over 1,000 accounting and finance professionals found that 62% reported that switching to cloud-based technology improved their business, client collaboration and bottom line.
2. Automate Monotonous, Time-Consuming Tasks
Sure, some aspects of technology are still controversial, but automation isn’t one of them. Automated software lets you work smarter, not harder, by taking over old-school accounting tasks that used to take hours, caused massive amounts of stress, turned off new hires who were seeking more exciting, cerebral work, and prevented accountants from expanding their businesses and increasing their profits. Automated software easily integrates with the cloud, as well, reducing the need to mail or call clients in to hand them paper documents that could easily be lost or compromised. Automation will also reduce errors, thereby increasing satisfaction, help you retain top talent and use their skills to grow your business and free up your time to spend more time helping your clients by offering tax and financial advice.
3. Improve Communication With Clients and Staff Members Alike
An efficient, well-organized workflow is easier to explain to your clients and staff. Your clarity and effective leadership will help build long-lasting relationships based on trust with employees and your clients. Because the workflow is clear and supported by secure, user-friendly technology that keeps everything in one place, it will be easier for your clients and staff to collaborate and communicate. Strong relationships with the people you work with not only reduce frustration and turnover but also make people feel more relaxed and more receptive to advice.
Building a modern, efficient firm requires the right tech. Streamline the way you collect source documents, organize client data and share files by using a secure, branded client portal built for accountants and accounting firms.
SmartVault Accounting Pro + Right Networks
When you combine SmartVault Accounting Pro with Right Networks, you have everything you need to run your accounting practice in the cloud—securely, easily and efficiently. SmartVault’s document management tools seamlessly adapt to the workflows you already have, integrating with Lacerte®, ProSeries®, DocuSign and more, so you can easily share critical documents with your team, vendors and clients—anywhere, anytime. Maintain peace of mind knowing you’re working in the Right Networks secure cloud environment with security patches and updates handled by our team.
To learn more about how SmartVault can help you achieve smoother tax seasons, enhanced collaboration and seamless integration—all with the protection that comes with being in the Right Networks cloud, get started online today or schedule a demo.