Extracting value where it counts

As an accounting firm looking to grow, you may be looking to expand on the services you offer your clients. As CBW’s Peter Winter explains however, the day to day accounting functions that clients require can be very time consuming. This may be preventing you from being able to offer additional services that clients are demanding- and willing to pay for. You could find that you are spending more time with each of your clients, acting almost as if you are part of their business and advising on important financial issues.

To ensure that your firm is in a position to take full advantage of these new business opportunities and limit time spent on less- profitable activities, it is important to have a clear insight into where you are spending your time and on what kinds of activities.

This kind of clear overview of the business’s servicing levels is not achieved through numerous spreadsheets but by having a single version of the truth via an integrated ERP system. By having a consolidated and clear insight as to servicing levels and which activities may be taking up larger amounts of time, firms are in a stronger position to make strategic decisions. This could include specialisation within the firm to speed up certain functions, or re-distribution of resources to areas of the firm with extra capacity.

By having the knowledge as to where time is being spent within the firm and on which activities, you are also in a much stronger position to identify and capitalise on opportunities where additional value- added services can be sold.