take mindful advantage.
by hitendra patil
client accounting services: the definitive success guide
coronavirus caught the entire world totally unprepared for its aftermath. the impact on economies is unfathomable. accounting firms are not immune to this unprecedented situation. the deadly pandemic led to “working for home” a requirement for accounting firms. the alternative was a risk to life itself.
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firms scrambled to make technological arrangements to make remote working possible. it was a systemic shock to the decades of operating models of accounting firms. but over about four to six months into the pandemic, several firms recognized that it is possible to achieve good results by remote working.
several staff members of accounting firms reported increased productivity and efficiency, as working from homes saved them commute times and stress. new collaboration tools like zoom videoconferencing, microsoft teams, etc. minimized the undesirable challenges like degradation of teamwork. despite employees working from their homes, such tools made it possible for them to regularly interact with others on the team and across the firm and clients.
how did accountants respond to the new normal amid the pandemic?
other than helping clients obtain small business loans and apply for paycheck protection program (ppp) benefits, what were accountants experiencing? based on daily conversations with accountants over six to eight weeks, i found these are some core focus areas of accountants:
- health safety of employees, and business continuity
- helping existing clients in their aim to remain solvent
- remote operations and online collaboration
- implementing more cloud technologies at the firm
- process and cost optimization at the firm
- providing more services, including more advisory to clients
- investing in growth measures to attract new clients
that led to another critical question: “are accountants now thinking differently about cas?”
one of the silver linings of the dark clouds of corona-impacted economic challenges is that business owners interacted far more with their accountants, compared to the pre-corona world. in addition to being commercial- and compliance-oriented, such interactions were also highly emotional in these crazily anxious times. accountants have seen far more busy times to meet the deadlines of ppp and small business administration loan programs. all of these efforts ensured that, in general, clients are very grateful to their accountants, and that accountants have accumulated very strong goodwill in a very short period of time during the pandemic. many accountants i interacted with told me that they waived tens of thousands of dollars in advisory and process work fees for clients for loans and ppp-related work.
importantly, clients increasingly experienced and recognized how much more accountants could help their businesses beyond traditional accounting, payroll, compliance and tax services. these experiences are fully expected to turn more clients obtaining more assistance from their accountants as post-pandemic, business owners would want to focus on their own businesses entirely. one of the key factors that are driving this new thinking among business owners is the experience they have had in recent times – how competent, capable and resourceful accountants are in quickly navigating the changing landscape – economic and legal-commercial – to meet tight deadlines successfully. without accountants’ help, thousands of businesses would have missed obtaining the ppp and sba loan benefits. clients have clearly experienced the lack of their own “professional capabilities” that accountants have in abundance.
given these new shifts in clients’ thinking processes, many accountants have planned to include more client accounting services in their offerings. many accounting firms are expecting and working on generating more revenue from existing clients because cas will also make the clients more “sticky.” it is also much faster and economical for firms to sell more services to existing clients who are more receptive to explore such possibilities now.
seven covid-19-driven client needs
in particular, here are the specific services accountants are working on offering more to their clients.
- business planning services: many accounting firms are planning changes to their practices – not just in core work but how they will run their own “business.” these freshly enhanced capabilities are making accountants help their clients more practically in planning their businesses.
- cost optimization advisory and working capital management services: firms themselves have rapidly worked on optimizing their own costs, and this experience is helping firms offer that expertise to their clients now. the measurable value of each dollar in a given business is something accountants understand masterfully. accountants can leverage this core competency to offer working capital management services to business clients.
- different tax planning and advisory services: the economic stimulus and ppp program will create new compliance requirements that are likely to have a significant impact on the taxability of businesses. there is no other professional segment than accountants to help clients with tax planning and advice.
- core, client accounting services: firms will do more work while clients will have no choice but to focus, more than ever before, on their core business transactions/operations, leaving professional accounting work to professional accountants. automation and integrations across many solutions mean accountants can achieve excellent process efficiencies at their firms to be able to service many more clients and process much more work without adding resources at their firms.
- payroll processing and compliance services: never in the recent past would have clients recognized the need to keep payroll records up to date and fully compliant as in these unprecedented times. this is the much-needed trigger for business owners to take the help of professional payroll service providers to keep things correct at all times. even with large-scale unemployment, small businesses will still employ millions of people, and many of these small businesses that did not have robust payroll processes will find greater value in professional payroll services. as people return to work in the post-corona world, this segment will grow quickly.
- technology advisory services: accountants have been adopting cloud technologies for many years now. even those firms that still had desktop solutions have now felt the urgency to move to the cloud. these experiences have turned into technological expertise for accountants. and no wonder accountants are finding themselves advising more clients on implementing technologies in client businesses more and more, at the very least in those businesses that do not involve purely physical labor.
- more interactive and collaborative services: social distancing made it necessary for accountants to be much more interactive and collaborative. clients who traditionally resisted a paperless way of working with accountants have more or less adapted to the new ways of working. the most significant impact of this has been the increased interactions and collaboration between clients and accountants. this is paving the way for clients to understand that accountants can provide real-time services even from miles away, liberating more work to accountants. accountants are adapting their business processes accordingly to make them more interactive and collaborative, thanks to technology. in other words, it means clients will be more open to working collaboratively with accountants, not just after the fact.
crisis brings opportunities
almost everyone has now been forced to rethink how to work and do business. accountants are not immune to this effect. it is actually turning out to be an opportunity for accounting firms to rethink their business processes, technologies, services mix and even business models of their firms. re-evaluating the allocation of the budget at the firm to productivity enhancement, and more importantly, to process innovation using more technology solutions is the opportunity you don’t want to miss to enhance your cas practice.
make your office virtual, at least partially
remote working is here to stay, pandemic or no pandemic. cloud software is a fundamental necessity for remote working arrangements.
in your firm’s cas staffing strategy, make sure you actively consider leveraging remote talent to make your office virtual, at least partially. it can help you create capabilities to offer higher-end services that otherwise would be difficult if you are in locations where staffing is a constant challenge.