Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.
AIA

Tools that can help you build your practice

by
23rd Apr 2015
Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

AccountingWEB’s Practice Excellence Awards (PEA) offer some unique insights into how technology is being successfully applied within the profession.  

Client relationship management

Client satisfaction is the bedrock for practice growth. The best way to make your clients happy is to ensure they know they are important to you.

Without exception, firms shortlisted for the PEA last year held regular face-to-face meetings with clients, and followed up these review sessions with pro-active contact. Technology has greatly reduced the cost of communicating with clients, and introduced an abundance of new ways to reach them. Customer relationship management (CRM) software allows you to target and track those contacts.

Cloud collaboration

Cloud technology is rapidly establishing itself among top-performing firms. It provides a direct connection between accountants and their clients.

Client web portals make it easier to store documents securely so they are available when needed. Clients can be trained to upload documents when they arrive rather than holding up the firm’s work by sitting on batches of information.

Online bookkeeping has been around longer than web portals, but continues to offer accountants a platform for virtual FD services, reviewing live figures with clients and using them as a springboard for offering business advice.

Management reporting

Successful firms recognise that technology is just a tool - what really makes the difference is how they apply it. With all the cloud and client management tools at their disposal, many firms shortlisted for the PEA were marked out by the effort and skill they put into delivering compelling management information.

Partners at Milsted Langdon, for instance, are issued with iPads as standard. Extending this flexibility to clients, the firm has configured management reports so they can be delivered via smartphones or tablet devices.

This approach ensures clients get information to make important business decisions in a way that suits them - the essence of good communication.

This article extracted from the Practice Profitability Guide 2014 which can be downloaded here. The Practice Profitability Guide 2015 is coming soon.

Practice Excellence Awards 2015 are open!

The AccountingWEB Practice Excellence Awards 2015 recognise and celebrate the very best in our profession with eight categories that showcase the firms and individuals driving standards of excellence ever higher. Join them here.

Replies (1)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

avatar
By redboam
25th Apr 2015 11:14

Planning?

Planning client profits, liquidity and cash flow using figurewizard is one area that works well for us. Some clients use it themselves too and this tends to generate constructive interaction and fees. It's an excellent tool for business that deserves more exposure.

http://www.figurewizard.com/

Thanks (0)