4 Cloud Tools to Boost Productivity for CPAs
CPAs face many challenges. Clients often surprise you, respond on their own time, and there’s especially difficult moments when all of your clients reach out to you simultaneously to talk about filing and tax dates. While you can’t change your clients, when it comes to your own business there’s a lot of amazing and affordable cloud technology now that can help streamline and automate more of of your work, making your day less stressful and your business more profitable.
Here’s a list of technologies that help CPAs overcome the daily obstacles and improve work productivity:
Email & Calendar
It’s nearly impossible to be a modern CPA without a strong email platform and shared calendar. While there’s some people who are still getting by with legacy POP3 or on-premises email systems, there are two primary email and calendar systems you can choose to adopt to make work life much easier. Here’s a couple of advantages to adopting a cloud-based email and calendar platform:
- Incredible sync with your smartphone for email and calendar.
Being able to open an email from your phone, put it in a folder (Office 365), give it a label or snooze the message for a later time (G Suite) means you can be responsive and productive while you’re away from your desk. You can start a quick reply with the tap of your thumbs and pick it up from the comfort of your computer since these systems also sync drafts. When things are busy and urgent, being able to use the time you have effectively, wherever you are, is key.
- Powerful calendars including real-time invitations and responses.
Desktop Outlook has made it easy to manage your own calendar for decades. Cloud systems have taken this a step further, especially for small businesses, eliminating the need for Exchange servers. The cloud tracks invites and replies in real-time, all from your phone, and there’s also the added bonus of being able to see your colleagues availability, and they can see yours too. There is less miscommunication and more valuable time saved!
Accounting
CPAs who have been in the industry long enough have witnessed first-hand how cloud-based accounting packages have made major improvements over the desktop software of the past. While there are a few CPAs that continue to work off of legacy platforms, cloud platforms are changing the way work gets done. A few of the major benefits to utilizing a cloud-based accounting platform for you and your clients include:
- No more back-and-forth sending of data files.
Legacy desktop systems require clients to send their data files over to you, and with the added time synchronization challenge, this means you’re dependent on their response speed. Often times, this leads to a “hurry up and wait” mentality, which causes higher stress levels and increases the likelihood of mistakes being made in an effort to beat the clock. By switching platforms, you, your client, and their bookkeeper can access the same data that is always up to date in the cloud, saving you plenty of time and money, not to mention eliminating frustration all-around.
- More automation, less low value busy work.
Cloud systems have the ability to synchronize with other systems, especially bank feeds and receipt tracking tools, which allow you and your clients to directly benefit from more automation by spending less time on manual data entry. The possibilities to automate are endless, with easily accessible report options (Quickbooks Online) and the capability to connect with over 700 apps (Xero). Everyone can turn their focus on the higher value insights, reporting, and learning from the data, making it much more worth you and your clients’ time.
Workflow & Time Tracking
The tools above are essentials for doing work for your clients, a different set are needed to effectively run your practice and managing your own team and workflow. Learn three ways you can benefit from implementing a cloud-based practice/work management platform:
- Ability to manage all of your client work in one place.
Easily oversee projects, tasks, and timesheets (WorkflowMax/XPM) and for higher performing firms bring all your client work together with a dynamic system that automatically syncs your email, calendar, and contacts in real-time (Accelo), enabling you to manage all facets of your practice in one place. By doing so, you will also eliminate the admin burden of updating client files and rid yourself of the copy/paste tasks that creep themselves into our to-do list on a daily basis.
- Efficiently automate tasks, track schedules and forecast utilization.
Online practice management platforms also make it possible to create templates of the work you do, including automatic task creation on a scheduled basis, the ability to see how busy the professionals in your firm are in real-time and in the more powerful tools, and a utilization dashboard for you and your team (Accelo). Being able to see at a glance whether a client, project or team is profitable is invaluable for running a successful firm. - Streamline timesheets and improve client billing.
As a CPA, the best way to spend your time is by focusing on your clients and applying your skills to their challenges while identifying opportunities. Cloud-based practice management technology can streamline important but burdensome tasks, such as tracking your time and creating transparent invoices (Accelo). Your clients expect you to set the gold standard on these tasks, and with a cloud practice management system you can fully upgrade your processes.
Video Conferencing
CPAs are busy and so are your clients. It’s better to have a higher frequency of smaller meetings than save everything for a long meeting, where it’s harder for clients to retain all the information. It’s much easier nowadays to plan meetings without the hassle of scheduling a physical meet-up. Discover how a cloud-based video conference platform can impact your work:
- Meet no matter where both parties are located.
As a CPA, it’s important to take the time to talk to your clients and maintain a positive working relationship. If you’re already on GSuite enjoy free, convenient video conferences (Hangouts). Do your clients have a burning question or just need some quick financial advice? Meet face-to-face without leaving your office. Your clients will appreciate you segmenting time to chat with them, and it’s not a heavy lift on your end.
- High quality staff & business meetings.
Cloud-based video conferences simplify the meeting process internally and externally. With a paid subscription, get a higher quality meeting experience for your entire team, benefits like longer call times, and wide support across different platforms (Zoom). Share screens, collaborate remotely and record for later use if needed to refer back.
As a CPA, take the next steps to bolster your processes and get back to the work you love. If you’re looking for a platform dedicated to helping you run a great practice, start a free trial of Accelo today, and see how our system can automate your practices and help you and your clients’ businesses and relationships flourish.
