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Are you leveraging automation effectively in your accounting business? Technology in automation has grown to a point where you can implement it in almost every aspect of your practice. It is important for accountants and bookkeepers to know precisely what automation is capable of doing and where they can use it to maximize the benefits. Here are the key functions every accountant and bookkeeper needs to be automating to stay ahead of the pack.
Onboarding
After weeks or months of prospecting, you have finally turned these individuals into clients, but how are you going to build a cohesive relationship with them so that you can work more effectively? Onboarding is the structure or “backbone” in which you and your clients will communicate and collaborate.
Providing automation to your onboarding will establish effortless consistency for you, your team, and your clients. Creating and sharing documents is an integral aspect of your accounting business, you and your clients need to establish the working conditions so that collaboration will be problem-free and as you know, collaboration with clients is imperative to accountants and bookkeepers. With automation, you can also streamline how and when you and your clients will send and receive documents so that your collaboration will run smoothly.
To get started efficiently, start with a checklist to ensure nothing falls through the cracks. Consider automating your practice management using specialized software like TaxDome or similar tools tailored for accountants. These solutions can streamline client management and automate tedious back-office tasks, freeing up your time for more strategic activities. Look for features that match your specific needs, whether it’s client communication, document management, or task automation, to optimize your accounting business operations effectively.
Invoicing & billing
Handling invoices and payments is a significant part of the daily grind for accountants and bookkeepers. It’s frustrating to spend so much time tracking down unpaid invoices or wondering if clients have received them. This eats into your productivity and disrupts your workflow. Automating these tasks should be a top priority because it frees up valuable time and energy. Instead of chasing payments, you could be focusing on expanding your client base or nurturing existing relationships to grow your business.
With accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP) automation, you can streamline your invoicing process. You can set up and send recurring invoices to loyal clients, accept payments online, and handle your monthly bills with minimal effort. Solutions like Forwardly offer faster payment options such as affordable instant payments and free same-day ACH transfers, making transactions quicker and more convenient for you and your clients.
Automation not only saves time and money but also reduces paper usage since everything is handled digitally. Say goodbye to physical filing and storage headaches. There’s every reason to automate your invoicing and billing processes today.
Document management
Managing your documents physically and even digitally can be a hassle. Physical documents are often kept in boxes, unorganized, damaged, or missing entirely. Digital data often comes from many sources on your many accounts over the web and that includes scrolling after scrolling, page after page. Automation helps you eliminate all of these problems and makes document management easy and quick.
As we mentioned earlier in this article, you can go digital and eliminate all your physical documents. Using OCR (optical character recognition) technology allows you to scan or take pictures of a physical document and then convert it into a searchable digital file that will then be stored in the cloud or locally on your desktop. You can also import key financial data into your accounting software; saving you so much time, space, and trouble from scouring through boxes.
Some documents can already be stored digitally such as bank statements through online banking. However, it can be very time-consuming to go through month after month of statements to find a single purchase. Also, banks only keep your statements for only a limited period of time but tax authorities in most countries request records for 7 years or more.
Today you can download or even better fetch all your relevant bank statements and organize them accordingly to your liking so that you can find what you need whenever you need it, all while creating your own digital database for all your important financial data. These documents are already converted into digital files which can be shared easily between you and your clients.
Data Entry
Manual data entry is a dreaded task for accountants and bookkeepers, but automation offers a solution to reduce its burden significantly. Beyond basic document scanning and data import, automation can input relevant information directly into the correct forms and reports.
For instance, Forwardly’s 4-way sync feature seamlessly integrates with accounting software, improving cash flow management and financial transparency. This saves hours of manual reconciliation work, especially during tax season when dealing with large volumes of tax documents.
Another example is Bookkeep, it streamlines revenue accounting tasks, making your job smoother and freeing you to focus on what really matters—providing more value to your clients. With automation handling the grunt work, you can dedicate more time to growing your accounting business and maximizing revenue.
Think the Forwardly way
Automating these functions not only makes your job easier but also frees up time to deliver more value to your clients. So, why not take advantage of automation to transform your accounting business? With Forwardly, you get instant payments for just a 1% fee (capped at $10) and free same-day ACH transfers—no subscriptions needed. Forwardly seamlessly integrates with QuickBooks Online, Xero, and FreshBooks. It’s time to ditch manual invoicing and reconciliation headaches and paper clutter for good.
By automating with Forwardly, you’ll have more time to focus on growing your client relationships and expanding your accounting business. Ready to streamline your workflow and boost your bottom line? Check out Forwardly today and see how easy accounting can be.
