“BILL has been a massive value-add for us, creating efficiencies across the board to save time and streamline the audit process for clients. In turn, this allows our accountants to deepen their client relationships and value.”

Shannon Blevins, a Principal at KWC Certified Public Accountants with over 20 years of financial analysis and tax preparation expertise, explains how BILL alleviated stresses of the audit process and now helps to eliminate mundane tasks in her CAS practice and frees up time to add even more value.

Tell us about your firm.

KWC Certified Public Accountants was founded in 1983 with a commitment to providing exceptional quality and personal service in a timely manner. Now with more than 90 employees, we’re one of the largest CPA firms in Northern Virginia, serving clients in professional services, government contracting, non-profits, real estate, construction and healthcare. We specialize in providing CPA, tax preparation, audit, accounting and business advisory services for privately held companies, individuals, estates, trusts, tax-exempt organizations and employee benefit plans.

What were the main challenges you faced before using BILL?

I began my career as an auditor when there were no automation programs or digital platforms, so I would physically show up at client headquarters for audits and begin shuffling through piles of paper. Early on in my career, many of my clients were small businesses with accounting staffs who were often stretched thin, did not always have a clear division of labor, and sometimes accidentally let things fall through the cracks. Shifting through papers and asking for documents that seemed impossible to track down was the norm.

Then, about seven years ago, we started seeing BILL and other digital accounting services pop up. What began as a product only a few clients used quickly became something nobody could live without. KWC CPA and our clients immediately realized that BILL was going to be key to our sanity. Management concerns started dissipating, the division of responsibilities improved, and securing approvals became easier because of BILL’s quick approval processes and detailed paper trail.

How does using BILL help your business and clients? 

When I was an auditor, I quickly learned that sometimes asking for one piece of paper opens an unexpected can of worms. Between old bills, long-forgotten invoices and employee turnover, one neglected or accidentally misfiled invoice has the potential to create unexpected problems in the event of an audit. This is particularly true for small businesses and nonprofits, where the finance department might only be one person who is stretched very thin. Until very recently, many of my clients were overly reliant on paper, which is easily misplaced or lost. BILL quickly and easily creates a virtual paper trail with a detailed record of the invoice available instantly, including approval processes, payment history, and more. For every invoice, there is a wealth of information that tracks the information through each step of the approval process all the way through to payment, removing the need for and headaches caused by physical paper records.

For my CAS clients currently using BILL, it has simplified nearly all day-to-day processes and drastically simplified mundane tasks, freeing up more time for advising clients. BILL’s seamless record keeping and powerful analytics means that we can provide my CAS clients real-time insight. Additionally, during audit season BILL simplifies the process for both clients and auditors with its detailed virtual paper trail for every invoice, removing headaches and improving efficiency for all clients. In short, BILL simplifies the entire year-round financial process for our firm’s audit and CAS clients. BILL’s automation creates a single version of the truth, tracking everything from invoice creation to payment and making tax and audit season a breeze.

How does BILL help your business and clients embrace and optimize hybrid work environments?

BILL made the transition to hybrid work seamless. The digital changes we began to see almost a decade ago accelerated during the pandemic, with the growing need and continued desire of many to work from home. BILL has helped ease the transition to a hybrid work environment by allowing everyone to participate in projects regardless of where or when they are working. While previously budding auditors traveled in-person to client offices, the past few years have pushed clients and accountants alike to embrace electronic systems and realize potential opportunities for flexibility, thereby improving productivity and maximizing time in the process. For example, BILL’s digital approval processes allows for greater flexibility in working arrangements, easing the transition to work from home for accounting professionals.

There are notable benefits on the CAS side as well. The implementation of BILL across our clients over the past two years has increased our visibility into our clients’ businesses, allowing us to spot trends or issues faster and provide targeted solutions. When clients lacked historical data or certainty about the way forward, BILL’s powerful analytics helped us to provide our clients with strategic advice when they needed it most.

Based on your experience as an auditor and now a CAS leader, what advice would you give to fellow accounting professionals about automation?

No matter how you are serving your clients, BILL can provide a golden opportunity to improve your workload and clients’ bills by cutting the time spent chasing paper, managing taxes and reducing cleanup work. If your team has ever had to inform a client of a “surprise” found in the middle of an audit, or are running into issues uncovering material deficiencies in internal controls, it's time for a change. By using BILL, accounting professionals are empowered to streamline complex processes, allowing them to expand their service offerings in less time and with more coherent data.

At the end of the day, offering valuable insights beyond audit information or a completed tax form is key to stand out from the competition. The next time you’re in the stress of busy season or trying to get a sense of your client’s cash flow through paper invoices, remember that there is a better way!