Issue #17 - Just Give Me My Community 🤌
Why accountants thrive in communities, not solitude + 12 days to #WorkflowCon + Best firms for women
Welcome to "Get Work Done," where we discuss the complexities of efficiently running accounting and bookkeeping firms. Brought to you by Financial Cents and delivered to your inbox every 2 weeks.
Small change, big difference
It’s another day of firm building, chasing deadlines, and trying not to yell at clients.
You’ve gotten a hang of it, or so you think:
You repeatedly tell yourself, “Just stay cool,” when clients say some stuff and take forever to send one doc 🙄.
The cost of operating your firm is seriously eating into your profits, and you don’t know what to do.
This is the umpteenth time you’ve missed an important family event because of deadlines.
Your processes and workflows are all over the place…but you’re using every thread you can pull to somehow piece them together.
Running your firm feels like a lonely walk in a dark alley. You wonder how other firms are doing it.
What’s one small change you can make to see a big difference? Join a community!
Whether you want to learn how to do something, laugh away your stress, or make lifelong friends, joining one of the many accounting communities will benefit you.
Here are some of our faves:
#TaxTwitter for sarcasm, humor, and relatable advice.
Realize for efficient value exchange and some of the best event series on the web.
Ask a CPA for bookkeepers looking to better collaborate with CPAs and tax preparers.
AutomationTown for learning Automation and AI.
four15 for firm owners of $1M+ accounting firms.
Logan Graf’s soon-to-be-launched community for small firm owners.
The Workflow Watering Hole for everything around workflows & apps, systems & processes.
The 5 Minute Bookkeeping Community for asking any questions you have about firm building.
Accounting Workflow Club for workflow knowledge exchange and co-working on workflows.
Special feature
October 22 & 23, 2024
100% Virtual and free: WorkflowCon 2024 is 12 days away! 🎉
WorkflowCon is the only event focused on helping accounting firms get their workflows right. Over 1700 accountants and bookkeepers are currently registered. Session tracks include solo, growing firms, large firms, employees and operators, accounting-specific, and bookkeeping-specific.
The theme is FREEDOM TO SCALE and speakers include industry maestros like Brandon Hall, Logan Graf, Kelly Rohrs, Dawn Brolin, Erica Goode, Keila-Hill Trawick, Kellie Parks, Zane Stevens, Chad Davis, Deb Defore, and Nancy McClelland.
We will also be announcing and honouring the industry leaders who have made significant impact in workflow, cloud technology, and automation in the accounting industry on Day 2, at the Accounting Workflow Industry Awards ceremony.
This year’s sponsors include Woodard, CPB Canada, DBA, The CFO Project, Ask a CPA, Roundtable Labs, AFWA, Latino Tax Pros, and Bookkeeping Buds.
You sure don’t want to miss it!
Firm spotl💡ght
Good Steward Financial Company is a virtual bookkeeping firm for non-profits. The team offers full-service bookkeeping and accounting services, payroll, cashflow management, audit, and fractional CFO services to non-profits across the US.
The founder and CEO, Jasmine S. Galloway, is on a mission to ensure nonprofit organizations have the tools and resources needed to thrive and reach financial sustainability.
In this episode of the Accounting Flow podcast, Jasmine talks about why it is important to focus on working on your firm instead of in your firm and how you can do this by standardizing your process and delegating client work
Take a listen below:
Excerpts below:
Jasmine:
One of the main challenges we encountered was managing increased workloads while maintaining quality standards. As our client base grew, we had to ensure that we could meet the demand without compromising the level of service. We addressed this challenge by…Read the full transcript or listen to the podcast.
H🔥t topics
The 2024 Best Firms for Women
Each year, Accounting Today honors the 100 Best Firms to Work For in the U.S. and highlights the 10 Best Firms for Women. These selections are based on insights from female staff through a comprehensive employee survey.
Discover these female-friendly workplaces below and explore what makes them stand out in our feature story, "Freedom of Choice."
Inclusion Criteria: Firms are drawn from Accounting Today's 2024 Best Firms to Work For list. To qualify, they must employ at least 15 women; firms with over 60 employees need at least 25% female representation. Additionally, the female response rate to the survey must be 40% or higher (80% for firms with fewer than 25 women), and firms must achieve an average positive response rate of 80% from their female staff.
Explore the best firms for women
Time Management Researcher Says “Settling” is the Key to Productivity
In the high-pressure world of accounting, many professionals rely on tactics like reducing distractions and obsessively checking off to-do lists. However, Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, argues that these methods often lead to disappointment.
In a recent episode of LinkedIn’s “Everyday Better with Leah Smart” podcast, Burkeman introduces a counterintuitive idea: the value of settling. While settling usually carries a negative connotation, he suggests it can be a smart approach to managing time.
For accountants, this might mean recognizing that things don’t always have to be perfect. Instead of getting lost in minor details, focus on the bigger picture—like building client relationships or mentoring junior staff. “Settling isn’t about accepting less; it’s about understanding that every choice has upsides and downsides,” Burkeman explains.
By embracing practical compromises, you can find greater balance and satisfaction in your work.
Swipe this workflow template
Get this free accounting invoice template to streamline your billing process and improve your cash flow. With pre-filled fields and customizable templates, you can quickly create professional invoices that impress your clients and ensure timely payments.
Meme
FOMO events
October 22 & 23
100% Virtual and free: WorkflowCon 2024 is 12 days away! 🎉
WorkflowCon is the only event focused on helping accounting firms get their workflows right. Over 1700 accountants and bookkeepers are currently registered.
October 28-30
Intuit Connect 2024 at Vegas
Get inspired by influential speakers and expert-led sessions on topics such as QuickBooks tools and services, Mailchimp, firm growth, client advisory, and more.
Noteworthy
Key skills for CPAs in business and industry
CPAs in today’s business landscape are confronted with two interconnected challenges. First, they must manage the integration of automation and technology upgrades within core finance and accounting functions. Second, they face increasing pressure to provide valuable insights into the future direction of the business.
According to Kimberly Ellison-Taylor, CPA, CGMA, these challenges have intensified significantly in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The demands and expectations of our profession have accelerated forward as a result of COVID. The silver lining of that difficult period is that it pushed us to elevate our thinking,” said Ellison-Taylor, who has served as executive director at Oracle, past chair of the AICPA, and board director for several major companies.
Read the full article by Andrew Kenny for the Journal of Accountancy.
The Risks of Not Centralizing Client Data: What Accounting Firms Need to Know
Centralizing client data means consolidating all relevant information—such as financial records, tax documents, contact details, reports, and more—into one accessible location.
This could be a cloud-based platform, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, or specialized accounting software. Instead of having multiple systems where pieces of data are scattered, centralization ensures that everything is stored in one place, making it easier for your entire firm to access and manage client information.
If you’re still relying on fragmented systems, you’re exposing your firm to several serious risks such as data security vulnerabilities, inefficiency, poor productivity, human error, inconsistencies, compliance issues, etc.
How to Unlock Employee Productivity
In today’s business environment, the finance team is the unsung hero behind every successful company. They analyze data, provide critical insights, and guide strategic decisions that keep operations running smoothly. Yet, the increasing demands, complexities, and rapid innovations can challenge even the most capable finance teams to maintain productivity.
Unlocking employee productivity benefits not only the bottom line but also helps attract and retain talent. Employees want to contribute meaningfully to the organization’s goals. By creating efficient processes, implementing smart automation, fostering collaboration, and encouraging continuous learning, businesses can empower their finance teams—and all employees—to focus on high-value work and personal development.
Enhancing productivity in finance and across the organization is about working smarter, not harder. Here are three practical strategies finance leaders can use to drive significant productivity gains:
Read the full article by CPA Practice Advisor
Until next time,
