If you’ve been following our “Starting your own practice” series, you’ll already have a solid plan for your practice, and a good idea of how to start building up your clients, services and team.
Those are the bare bones of your practice, but there are other key considerations to make from the start, including choosing the right technology to support you, making sure you have the appropriate certifications and establishing future-proof systems.
This final article in our three-part series will cover:
Choosing the right software for your practice
The most successful accounting practices are technology-led, integrating software throughout their business to enhance the service they provide.
Implemented the right way, software can increase your efficiency, productivity and profitability.
It can improve the accuracy and volume of data you hold, and help you to draw out more sophisticated insights for your clients. And it can keep your internal and external processes consistent, so your staff have clear workflows to follow and your clients feel looked after.
Software can be used for a wide variety of tasks, including:
- Data capture, bookkeeping and accounts production to support with the practical elements of providing your core services
- Practice management to handle the overall running of your practice
- Customer relationship management to store valuable client records and inform your sales and marketing efforts
- Specialist tools for specific tasks such as payroll, reporting, fee-setting, payments and more.
With so many options around, it’s easy to fall into the trap of picking new software as and when you need it. But this can make things feel cluttered – and you might end up paying for too many subscriptions, without getting real value out of any of them.
Instead, spend some time deliberately curating your software setup, and making sure it works together. You can do this by implementing an integrated suite that covers everything you need, or a curated tech stack.
When choosing your software, look out for tools that allow you to integrate with other software, and automate as many processes as possible.
Look for something that will give you real-time data – data that is constantly updated as it pulls through automatically from sources like bank feeds.
And think about how your team and your clients will work together on your choice of software. Many platforms allow for client and accountant access, so you can work with the same data.
Finally, make sure you’ve got the right security measures in place. Check the policies of the software you’re using, and think about your own practices around logins, authentication and data handling.
The benefits of professional body membership
Joining a professional accounting body can give your practice real credibility, as well as extensive support and resources.
Many accountants consider this a must-have for any new firm – and many clients will be looking for accounting accreditations to prove you’re qualified and regulated.
Some of the main membership bodies for accountants in the UK include:
- Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
- Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
- Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT)
- Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI)
- Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)
- Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)
Managing your time and your clients
For most new business owners, free time is hard to come by. Starting your practice is likely to take up most of your time – and the chances are, you’re doing this because you’re passionate about it, so you might also find it difficult to drag yourself away.
But in the long-term, it’s not sustainable to rely on working 24/7 to keep your practice afloat. Eventually, you want your practice to be a well-oiled machine that you can manage and grow, but that you can step away from if you need to.
To do this, there are a few things to consider.
Setting the right fees
Sometimes it’s tempting to under-charge to get new business coming in. But doing this too often, or failing to account for the extra time you put into getting a job done, can make your firm unprofitable in the long run.
Your fees should take into account all the work and resources that go into performing a service for your clients, and contribute towards your overall business goals.
Consider, too, the fee structure you set up, and the balance between one-off fees and regular payments. Subscriptions are a good way to establish a stable and predictable income, which you can fall back on if business slows.
Maintaining client relationships
Relationships are key to many accounting practices. Working closely with your clients means you can offer them a more valuable service that’s rewarding for you and your team, and keeps them with you in the long term.
There’s a fine balance to be struck between this and our last point: while you want to charge enough to be profitable, you also want to avoid making the relationship overly transactional. After all, having a meaningful conversation about your client’s life goals one day, then sending them a bill for it the next day, is likely to leave a bad taste in their mouth.
The key is to be clear and honest from the offset about your fees, when you charge them, and how they might change over time.
Streamlining with technology
As we’ve mentioned above, you can save a lot of time by implementing the right technology in your business.
The more repeatable tasks you’re able to automate, the more time you have to focus on the higher-value and strategic side of running your practice.
“Alongside having the very best team we are completely digital, and cloud-based, so workflow and commitments are visible to all,” said Caroline Armstrong, Infinitas Accountants.
Final tips
Starting a practice is as exciting as it is scary, and it can be hard to know when you’re ready to do it. We’ve covered a wide range of topics here, but there’s still plenty more to be said, and lots of advice you can get about running your own business.
At a certain point, you just have to take the plunge – but you don’t have to go it alone.
Make the most of your accounting body, expand your accounting network, and work with your software provider as a strategic partner in your practice.
With the right support on hand, you’ll be able to keep growing, learning and developing as you move towards your business goals.
“I would advise people to trust in themselves, have faith that it will work out and also, make sure you have enough capital to get you through at least the first few months,” said Rachel Balchin, Bulldog Accounting.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this content series, don’t forget you can also access all this information and more, plus eight fascinating case studies from inspirational accountants who’ve started their own practice in our free downloadable white paper – Starting your own practice.
