Table of contents
What happens when you run out of fuel? You stop. But that doesn’t have to be the case for accounting firms running low on talent.
Accounting is not immune to this talent strain. The AICPA noted that “approximately 75% of its members [would] be eligible to retire by 2020.” Meanwhile, the number of accounting graduates has decreased steadily. These trends and continuing turnover from the Great Resignation show why accounting firms rank "finding qualified staff" as a top concern.*
Yet, the demand for accounting firm services remains strong. Firms focused on capitalizing on growth opportunities have to navigate through the challenge. Increasing salaries and enhancing benefits are the leading tactics to attract talent. There’s another one firms should consider: technology.
Watch out for productivity roadblocks
Accounting firms don’t have to sacrifice growth even with talent acquisition struggles. Efficiency is paramount for helping employees work to a comfortable capacity without burning out. The goal is to create room for your team to bypass inefficient work processes and invite high-value contributions. Inefficient processes are one of the most common culprits to productivity. Technology, with innovations such as automation and AI, can overcome inefficiencies. However, you have to know where your inefficiencies lie before implementing technology.
What causes inefficiency and how can technology help accounting firms bypass it? First, you have to find what’s inefficient for your firm.
The symptoms of inefficiency
No surprises here, but some of the most inefficient processes rely on paper and create a lack of communication. The two concepts intertwine, as it can often be challenging to signal progress and support transparency when knowledge is locked into paper.
In fact, even with some types of technology you may run into similar roadblocks. After all, processing and sharing data across (for example) spreadsheets, documents, emails, and multiple systems can bar accessibility, transparency, and efficiency. But more on that later.
If you want to conquer inefficient processes, start by identifying their symptoms. Here are some of the most common results of inefficiency:
- Low customer satisfaction due to factors such as missed deadlines, a lack of transparency, or inconsistent work product
- Employee frustration related to things like spending too much time on tedious or duplicative work, difficulty finding data, or wrestling with out-of-date or unintegrated technologies.
These symptoms will inevitably lead you to processes that can improve with technology.
Inefficiency in action
Consider this scenario: An accountant is working with a client on their expense management reports. Typically, this includes reviewing expense reports, requesting missing receipts or further information on the transaction, coding and more. On paper, this process would take excessive time for a sizable expense report. It’d be difficult to exchange information, track progress, and reimburse employees in a timely manner. And it would increase the time it takes to close the books.
A patchwork of technology in the form of email, spreadsheets, and documents has helped speed up the expense management process. However, because this tends to be linked to separate user accounts and the technologies are not always integrated, it obscures transparency. And it still requires heavy lifting when it comes to collaboration.
You have talented employees focused on administrative, time-consuming tasks in both examples. It’s frustrating for your employees (stuck in scut work) and your clients (waiting for results and advice.)
Technology has the power to supercharge productivity simply by assisting inefficient processes.
Amplifying talent with technology
Now, let’s introduce the next level of technology to the expense management process. BILL Spend & Expense relies on automation, AI, and integrations. It takes over low-risk, repetitive tasks like workflow, data entry, and even day-to-day communications in the form of standard notifications. It helps ensure systems are sharing information so that data is real-time and accurate.
More importantly, it can enable a proactive approach for cash outflow. Expenses are precoded to budgets before a cent is spent. Each employee can have their own corporate credit card or virtual card. When they use the card, the transaction maps to the appropriate budget. Employees aren’t spending personal money on business transactions. The “management” portion of expense management isn’t focused on reimbursement. Instead, the technology automates precoded expense reports and accountants can review them. This approach, powered by technology, can return time to accountants and employees.
Even more importantly, this technology-powered proactive process can elevate the quality of captured data and help enforce budgets. It can enable accountants to access real-time spend and data and use that for greater insight into clients’ financial performance. And with all the necessary data captured, closing the books can be more straightforward.
Steve Chaney, the Managing Partner of Chaney & Associates, used BILL Spend & Expense technology to help streamline expense management processes for his employees. He described the results: “On the frustration scale of 1 to 10, managing and tracking our clients’ credit card activity was a 15. Since BILL Spend & Expense, that’s now a 1.”
Freed from administrative work, accountants and staff can now elevate their contributions to clients. They’re no longer spending time gathering receipts or emailing back and forth. Instead, they have information to help build stronger relationships and advise on bigger-picture initiatives like cash flow and growth.
Next steps
The talent shortage will likely continue for the remainder of the year—or even longer. However, technology can bridge the gap for resources. With it, accounting professionals can maximize productivity by eliminating inefficiencies and focusing on meaningful contributions.
How can you jumpstart productivity? Start with looking at your expense management processes and learn more about how BILL Spend & Expense can help your firm automate manual processes.
