Across all industries, businesses will run into necessary yet time-consuming repetitive tasks. The same is true for those in the accounting industry. So, what can you do to ease the burden? Well, thankfully there is an answer—automation. Research shows that at about 60% of jobs, about 30% of the activities completed can be automated. Industry trends show that accountants are already adopting automation into their workflow. According to the CaseWare 2022 State of Accounting Firms Trends Report, 51% of those surveyed use automation software regularly to minimize time spent on routine tasks.
Automating your business allows you to offload manual and repeatable tasks through technology with defined conditions and rules for each process. Let’s take a look at a few tangible benefits automation can bring to your accounting firm.
A CPA.com report on business model trends for accounting advisory services found that automation has been tied to firms favorably billing higher fees for their service.
“Automation can create new opportunities for accounting firms to charge higher rates—if their clients understand the value that technology and automation bring to their services. Automation technology enables accounting firms to better deliver on their experience and expertise, focus on servicing accounts, and provide strategic guidance and insight to their clients,” the report stated.
Accounting firms that utilize automation are about 3.5 times more likely to successfully raise prices when they remain transparent with clients about the benefits of automation, according to the research.
Implementing automation technology at your accounting firm allows staff members to shift the burden of administrative tasks to a software solution instead. This not only frees up their time for more important work, it also ensures the integrity of the task is maintained as human error can be eliminated from these automated processes. Automation can help you effectively increase the value you’re bringing to clients.
Those who identified as “highly automated” in the CPA.com study also consistently reported undergoing challenges less strongly than those who don’t take as much advantage of automation.
Automation can lead to firm-wide increases in productivity and a decrease in errors. There are many processes that can be automated at your accounting firm, such as sending reminders, task updates, and tracking progress on assignments—this could ultimately help your firm cut back on time spent completing these manual tasks.
Additionally, removing the burden of these manual tasks from your staff and putting it onto your software system allows employees to focus on higher-value work, which in turn can increase productivity.
Integrating automation into your accounting firm’s workflow can improve organization, decrease errors and optimize efforts of talented staff across the firm. The robust capabilities of workflow automation are also extremely effective as a holistic practice management solution, working across the firm to ensure information is retained and the user experience is simplified.
