Working in the cloud (which is fancy-talk for “doing everything online”) is not only changing the technological needs of accounting firms, it’s changing the foundation of accounting itself. If you’re already outsourcing accounting tasks that’s great, but what else can you be doing to stay ahead of your competition in the face of all this new technology?
Accounting outsourcing is a great way to keep your overhead down, but if you’re looking to expand your firm you’re obviously going to have to hire at least one or two in-house team members. The big question is – is your firm a place that can attract (and keep) star talent on the rosters?
As you make the necessary shift in your firm from being an old-school accounting house to a modern business consultancy firm some clients may express doubt that accounting outsourcing is worth the effort or the seeming risk. With that in mind let’s make sure you’re able to calm any fears they may have and show them how outsourcing makes your firm work better and faster and keeps fees down for your clients.
One of the benefits the outsourced accountant receives when they sign on with us is that they’re given the opportunity to go paperless thanks to our secured servers. The immediate benefits are pretty obvious – you save on time (physical filing and searches), space, and money. But there are some additional benefits you might not have thought of.
It’s absolutely true that missteps, mistakes, blunders, and outright errors can lead to wonderful insights. But there is no law that says that you have to be the one making these mistakes – you’re free to learn from the mistakes of others. We’ve worked with more than our fair share of firm owners, CEOs, and management execs and we’ve managed to compile a list of some of the more common errors we see all the time.
If you’ve been paying attention to news in the accounting world for the past couple of years then you’ll have noticed that everybody has been suggesting that firms shift from purely an accounting role to one of that encompasses more of a business advisory stance. That makes sense for the outsourced accountant in face of technological changes, but how do you convince your client to embrace the expanded menu of services?
Once upon a time you were a budding entrepreneur, building your own firm. You’d leap at every ring of the phone, eagerly hoping the call brought you more work. You’d happily visit with clients, daring to dream that they would refer their friends and associates. You might not have felt a pressing need to outsource accounting when your firm was more famine than feast.
So you hire a rock star accountant who is totally onboard with the idea of outsourcing accounting. There’s only one problem. She isn’t doing anything the way you like it done. Why isn’t she getting it? Why isn’t she figuring this thing out? It’s time for you to start documenting your workflow systems. That being said we do have some suggestions that may help you in designing your systems of creating systems.
In order to not only survive but profit from the shifts in the accountant-client relationship (from “just a bookkeeper” to “business consultant”) your firm is going to have to do more than just expand its menu – it’s going to have to standardise a whole new set of processes. But that’s going to mean more time spent per client, right? Here’s how the outsourced accountant will be able to stay ahead of the curve.
You’ve got plenty of solid advice to offer your small and medium-sized clients to boost their business. But if you’re thinking of throwing out your own shingle it can be a bit more difficult to take a bird’s-eye view. Do you have a business model for your firm in mind? If not, here are some examples and how outsourcing accounting can help you achieve them.
Working in the cloud (which is fancy-talk for “doing everything online”) is not only changing the technological needs of accounting firms, it’s changing the foundation of accounting itself. If you’re already outsourcing accounting tasks that’s great, but what else can you be doing to stay ahead of your competition in the face of all this new technology?
Accounting outsourcing is a great way to keep your overhead down, but if you’re looking to expand your firm you’re obviously going to have to hire at least one or two in-house team members. The big question is – is your firm a place that can attract (and keep) star talent on the rosters?
As you make the necessary shift in your firm from being an old-school accounting house to a modern business consultancy firm some clients may express doubt that accounting outsourcing is worth the effort or the seeming risk. With that in mind let’s make sure you’re able to calm any fears they may have and show them how outsourcing makes your firm work better and faster and keeps fees down for your clients.
One of the benefits the outsourced accountant receives when they sign on with us is that they’re given the opportunity to go paperless thanks to our secured servers. The immediate benefits are pretty obvious – you save on time (physical filing and searches), space, and money. But there are some additional benefits you might not have thought of.
It’s absolutely true that missteps, mistakes, blunders, and outright errors can lead to wonderful insights. But there is no law that says that you have to be the one making these mistakes – you’re free to learn from the mistakes of others. We’ve worked with more than our fair share of firm owners, CEOs, and management execs and we’ve managed to compile a list of some of the more common errors we see all the time.
If you’ve been paying attention to news in the accounting world for the past couple of years then you’ll have noticed that everybody has been suggesting that firms shift from purely an accounting role to one of that encompasses more of a business advisory stance. That makes sense for the outsourced accountant in face of technological changes, but how do you convince your client to embrace the expanded menu of services?
Once upon a time you were a budding entrepreneur, building your own firm. You’d leap at every ring of the phone, eagerly hoping the call brought you more work. You’d happily visit with clients, daring to dream that they would refer their friends and associates. You might not have felt a pressing need to outsource accounting when your firm was more famine than feast.
So you hire a rock star accountant who is totally onboard with the idea of outsourcing accounting. There’s only one problem. She isn’t doing anything the way you like it done. Why isn’t she getting it? Why isn’t she figuring this thing out? It’s time for you to start documenting your workflow systems. That being said we do have some suggestions that may help you in designing your systems of creating systems.
In order to not only survive but profit from the shifts in the accountant-client relationship (from “just a bookkeeper” to “business consultant”) your firm is going to have to do more than just expand its menu – it’s going to have to standardise a whole new set of processes. But that’s going to mean more time spent per client, right? Here’s how the outsourced accountant will be able to stay ahead of the curve.
You’ve got plenty of solid advice to offer your small and medium-sized clients to boost their business. But if you’re thinking of throwing out your own shingle it can be a bit more difficult to take a bird’s-eye view. Do you have a business model for your firm in mind? If not, here are some examples and how outsourcing accounting can help you achieve them.
