Why Accounting Practice Management Software is Key for Accounting Firm Growth

While many different companies can be well-positioned for growth, accounting firms are among the businesses best cut out to steadily serve more and more clients over time. Their work adheres to very specific steps that look similar from client to client. Still, there are many things required to grow an accounting firm successfully: business owners with the right mindset, a strong focus on key metrics that drive company growth, and the tools needed to maintain a high quality of service even as workload increases. 

Using the right accounting practice management software is a key step in setting your accounting company up for growth. There are a number of reasons why you need a comprehensive software suite to help maximize internal resources and keep your team on track as you grow. 

Accounting practice management software streamlines redundant work 

One of the biggest challenges that arises as a company gets larger and takes on more client work is the additional administrative load the situation presents. Many CPAs and accountants disdainfully refer to this as “busy work.” This bucket usually includes things like creating invoices and account statements, sending over initial questionnaires and forms, and getting clients accustomed to the way things are handled. 

Internally, this kind of work typically looks like creating client folders, giving team members the ability to bill hours against a certain project, and assigning teams and processes to client projects. Without a good system in place to handle all the new work created by additional clients, companies can easily find themselves in a tough position with employees who are burned out and making mistakes. 

Accounting practice management software helps to rectify this situation by automatically handling a lot of this busy work. In situations where it can’t be completed outright with accounting practice management software, firms may find it’s still much easier to get a new client set up. 

Software offers accountants a centralized platform for metrics 

As an accounting practice takes on more clients, it exponentially increases the number of things to track. For example, when it comes to handling tax accounting projects, each client has their own set of due dates and deadlines by which certain paperwork must be filed. Meeting these key dates is a non-negotiable part of any accounting service. And while most companies will eventually hire more team members to handle these key metrics, there are often periods where workload exceeds a team’s collective capacity. These scenarios can be handled if they are brief, but if an excessive workload situation isn’t resolved quickly, it can lead to critical problems for the firm. 

Practice management software helps to rectify this problem by keeping everything organized and highly accessible. From specific deadlines for client projects to notes about communication preferences, an accounting practice management software tool allows a firm’s team members to get a grasp on multiple client metrics without jumping from one application to another. 

Practice management software for accountants helps team members work efficiently 

One of the most important aspects of growing an accounting business is the ability to work with team members who share the same vision for growth as ownership. Accounting team members need to be committed to growing the firm since it’s through their actions and successful client services that the company will be able to expand. 

And while the right perspective is a good start, CPAs and accounting firm team members need to be equipped to do their work efficiently. If your team is constantly getting bogged down by administrative tasks or other non-critical work, they won’t be able to manage their time efficiently enough to allow the company at large to scale. 

Accounting practice management software for CPA firms and other accounting businesses can save your team from having to spend excess time on things like filling out their timesheet or creating templates for important project emails or documents. Since most sophisticated accounting practice management software is usable on any kind of device, it also helps accountants get more out of their time and schedule their work for windows when they are most productive. 

Final thoughts on why accounting practice management software is necessary for growth

Any business owner who has grown a company in any industry – from classic consumer goods to professional services – will tell you that the true key to growing without a great deal of stress and internal bumps in the road is systems. It’s certainly possible to attain growth with the manual creation and updating of different kinds of systems, but technology has alleviated much of this burden. 

With the right software tools in place, a firm owner can plan for steady growth while giving his or her team the capabilities necessary to take care of existing clients. Growth is much less challenging when you take advantage of accounting practice management software to help organize processes and track key metrics to keep your firm on track to meet all its goals.