Why You Should be Planning for Accounting Firm Growth in 2024

We’re coming up on the end of the year, a time when many accounting firms like to think about growth. It’s our belief that every accounting firm should be thinking about growth – but we’ve found that not every firm really understands what that means.   

In 2023 (almost 2024), growth doesn’t have to mean adding new clients and making more bottom-line revenue. The glamorous world of “unicorn” startups and venture capital television shows has convinced many people that growth means adding as many new clients as quickly as possible in order to grow revenue exponentially. 

This kind of approach might work for some companies – especially larger ones that have shareholders or investors to answer to – but for the majority of accounting firms, trying to onboard a huge number of new clients as fast as possible will only lead to a serious drop in quality and an immense amount of stress placed on the team.  

We’re not suggesting growth is bad. Many of our clients come to us specifically with growth in mind, and there’s no inherent issue with wanting to add more revenue. The problem is that most accounting firms pursue growth without a set plan or blueprint – let alone an underlying motivation for why they want to grow. 

What are your accounting firm's growth goals? 

As the calendar prepares to flip to another year and we get things in order for 2024, it’s important to think about your growth goals as a business.   

But before you crack open your books and try to get a better handle on your P&L over a set period of time, remember this: growth doesn’t always mean “more revenue.” There are plenty of other ways in which your firm may want to achieve growth, including:  

• Reducing overhead so that the firm can maximize profits to either reinvest into the business or be set aside for emergency situations. 
   
• Improving client satisfaction by offering a service that’s faster, more accurate or provides them with more details. Communicating more frequently is another great way to improve client satisfaction. 
   
• Growing your team with training and educational opportunities that they might not be able to pursue outside of work. Today’s workforce strongly desires the chance to improve and get better – according to a recent study by LinkedIn, three of the top five reasons people pursue new jobs are related to career growth.  

Remember, we’re not saying you shouldn’t be thinking about revenue and sales. These are the lifeblood of any business, so it’s critical to think about how you will either maintain or increase the amount you’re bringing in. But revenue is only one piece of the puzzle: there are many other ways you can plan for growth that has a significant positive impact on your firm. The key is in how you plan to attain this growth.  

Tips for year-end planning 

Now that you’ve gained an understanding of what kinds of goals you can be thinking about, the next step is to decide on a few and create a roadmap to pursue them. You don’t want to overdo it – we suggest picking three goals that relate to different areas of your business and then coming up with a plan for how to achieve them.  

As far as the actual tactics you use for achieving that growth, it can vary depending on what they are. The tried-and-true framework that can provide a good starting place is the “SMART” goals framework: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. There are plenty of other great resources online that dive deeply into the smart methodology, but above all, you should ensure the goal is an important one, constrained to a certain timeframe, and comes with a clear roadmap for how it will be achieved. 

Make sure you have the necessary tools 

As anyone who’s been in business for a while knows, it’s easy to spend lots of time coming up with elaborate, specific plans and goals, only for things to change dramatically once you actually attempt to implement them. That’s why we suggest limiting the amount of time that you spend setting goals and strategizing to ensure that you’re devoting enough time to getting real feedback on how your goal-achieving tactics are working. 

Finally, be sure you’ve equipped your team with everything they need to work efficiently towards the firm’s goals. In today’s era, this means finding technology that offers the specific solutions your firm needs. With the right kind of integrated accounting practice management software, you can take care of everything under the same application, saving you and your team the time it takes to switch between several different tools at a time.  

If you devote enough time to strategic goal-setting, avoid getting caught up in misconceptions of what growth looks like, and ensure your firm has the materials needed to execute the desired tactics, you’ll find that not only will your goals be better-aligned with your company’s function and mission, you’ll have a much easier time achieving them.