How Practice Management Software Boosts Accounting Firm Branding

If you’ve spent any time researching or comparing almost any kind of business software products, you’ve probably seen several common benefits touted often on company websites and in marketing materials: saving time, keeping documents more organized, improving security, and so on. 

These benefits (and many others) are applicable to comprehensive accounting practice management software, but there’s one other benefit discussed less frequently that may be even more important: the way practice management software improves your firm’s branding. 

It may not seem like software meant to streamline your firm’s internal operations would have any impact on the way people outside the company perceive your business and its work. But there are actually several tangible branding benefits to using the right software tools. 

Improves visual identity 

Think about some of the most recognizable brands in the world. For most of them – especially in the consumer space – the visual component of their brand is one of the most memorable elements. Think about the “golden arches” of McDonald’s or the distinct brown color used on UPS trucks and uniforms. Even IBM, one of the most important B2B and B2C technology companies of the last century, is often recognized as “big blue” thanks to its primary logo color. 

And while accounting practice management software won’t give you a brand like Coca-Cola or Apple, it will equip you with tools to build a much stronger visual brand identity. Most of the top accounting practice management software options will include ways to incorporate consistent logos, colors, fonts, and other elements of your accounting firm’s brand on documents you send to clients. Over time, these visual elements become ingrained in your clients’ minds and are associated not just with your company but with the kind of services you provide. 

Makes reporting more efficient 

Reporting is one of the most important tools an accounting firm has to keep in touch with its clients and make sure they’re updated on service progress. Despite this, we still frequently come across accounting firms using outdated, labor-intensive methods for creating reports. Not only is this inefficient, but more manual effort expended creating reports means more chances of a costly error.  

With software as a solution for accounting firm reporting, you can generate reports easily without having someone on your team get numbers and information from different places. A cohesive practice management software keeps everything in the same place, saving you time and impressing your clients with the consistency and quality of your weekly, monthly, or quarterly reports. 

Offers self-service to improve client satisfaction 

When you boil it down, information is the key to success in an accounting business. You must be able to collect, store, process, and return information given to your clients in a way that meets all the legal standards of accounting services.  

Following this concept, one of the major problems we see coming up frequently at firms of all types and sizes is an obstacle preventing information from flowing between accountants and their clients. Whether some of your clients are in different time zones, not tech-savvy or prefer to consume information in very specific ways, these obstacles can throw a wrench in your projects and cause the client relationship to deteriorate. 

One of the best ways to solve this challenge is through the use of accounting practice management software that offers a client portal solution. With a secure user ID and password, clients can access important information related to their account, like invoices, overhead reports, and other key details that help them stay in the loop. 

The self-service client portal concept is particularly valuable in a field like accounting, which has many traditional firms that operate in a rather opaque way. You’ve probably interacted with a business like this in some field – you get a quote, pay the fee, then don’t hear a word from them until the deliverable is provided. This model might have worked in the past, but most of today’s accounting clients expect to be updated more frequently. 

If you’re able to empower clients to access their own data and get the solutions needed without having to contact you by phone or email, it helps portray your accounting firm as a true partner that wants to work with them – not just extract fees as quickly as possible.  

Final thoughts on accounting practice management software and branding 

For any business, a brand is like a first impression – it’s perceived quickly and very hard to change outside of drastic occurrences. And while your idea of “brand” might be most closely associated with colorful logos and snappy slogans, the concept of your brand goes far beyond visual elements. 

With the right accounting practice management software, you can incorporate your brand identity into more elements of your business, empower clients to find their own resources and make your reporting process more efficient. Above all, continuously improving your software stack shows prospects and clients that you are a forward-thinking accounting firm dedicated to using technology to provide the best possible service.