For small business owners, the future is what you make it. Planting seeds today will help you grow tomorrow. The question is, what can you start doing right now that will yield results for your firm down the road? For accounting practices, it’s a question with no shortage of right answers.
Should you hop on the latest accounting trends? Improve your accounting education? Expand your scope of Client Accounting Services (CAS)? The real question is, why not all of these things? It might seem like a monumental undertaking, but thanks to modern software and accounting resources, it’s more than achievable. With a little upfront investment of time and effort, your growing accounting practice could balloon.
Technology investments are the simplest way for accountants to scale their practice. Most accounting software is tiered to be accessible to small and growing firms, and integrations abound in a way that makes building a custom tech stack simple (and wildly productive).
Focus on technologies that serve a distinct purpose in the scope of your service offerings. QuickBooks for core bookkeeping services. Gusto for payroll and benefits administration. Veem for global payments and AP/AR automation. DocuSign and Box for document file management. Avalara for sales tax. The list goes on. These tools come together in a digital accounting ecosystem that sets the foundation for repeatability, scalability and reliability.
The future of accounting lies in constructing a tech stack that can largely automate financial tasks. Small practices need to think bigger than they are and investigate software solutions that enable the level of service and value they hope to offer to clients.
Speaking of tech, accounting firms are already utilizing some powerful technologies—software that’s only getting more robust. In fact, studies have concluded that many accounting practitioners and financial professionals are at a 98% chance risk of having their job automated.
Before you panic, keep in mind that it’s the clerical aspect of your job that could become obsolete. What’s still very much in-demand is your fundamental understanding of the accounting discipline and being a trusted advisor. To that end, growing firms need to lean more heavily into CAS like offering strategic, forward-looking insights and analysis. Don’t just automate your clients’ books; help them identify and plan for financial challenges and opportunities.
The future of accounting is shifting from quantitative to qualitative. That is to say, while artificial intelligence and machine learning handle the numbers, accountants need to embrace their role as strategist. In fact, 77% of business owners polled in a recent survey stated that they’d pay accountants to provide Client Accounting Services that further their business—not just balance their books.
You’ve heard the old adage “dress for the job you want.” It’s also important to shape the business you want to run. Growing your accounting practice means looking ahead at how you want to position your business and making strides to implement changes that lead there.
Think about how you can automate the nuts and bolts of accounting. Cultivate your breadth of Client Accounting Services. Define your key demographics and optimal client profiles. Then, start building your sales funnel to attract the right clientele. Building out your client roster with the types of businesses you’re most capable and confident serving will put your practice on the path to prosperity. And, because you’ve laid the groundwork for growth, scaling becomes a matter of automating solutions through your tech stack and offering value through a customized CAS approach.
What your accounting practice becomes in the future depends on what you do today. Thankfully, there’s a lot you can start doing right now to ensure your firm grows into a prominent provider, built on a firm foundation.
Take the first step into the future by optimizing and automating your accounting tech stack. Sign up for Veem as an Accountant and let our specialists help you optimize integrations, create synergies and leverage technology—all in pursuit of a more efficient accounting practice that’s ready to become everything you envision it can be.
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