Workflow for Accountants & CPA Firms Presented by Jetpack Workflow

Defining WorkflowIt’s critical to think through how your firm will define workflow.

For example, is it taking a holistic approach at everything that moves through the office?

Or will you be focused solely on client work?

It’s also critical to reflect on past experiences building out workflow and systems.

What’s gone well?

What hasn’t gone well… and why?

Laying out these foundation questions can give you a jumpstart on launching a sustainable, workflow solution for your firm.

Mapping it Out

Your next step is to lay out the current process.

After all, whether you’ve consciously create a workflow system or not, there is a process for how work is completed inside your firm or practice.

Start by thinking through the most time intensive, or profitable, or most problematic job or workflow in your firm.

Next list out all the steps (and the person who typically completes them, on a piece of paper, word document, or anything to help you visualize the current process (whiteboard, post it notes, etc)

Mapping it Out (Part 2)

Example of what the process would look like:

Personal Tax Returns

1. Sally sends an email to all clients requesting their information 2. After receiving it, she scans it and sends an email to Jane3. Jane then updates her excel spreadsheet, so she knows she can

begin working on it. 4. Jane completes the return, marks it in excel, and emails Bob5. Bob does the 1st review of the return. 6. If accepted, he then emails Jane and tells her to invoice the client

and mail/file the return. 7. Jane accepts, sends final invoice, and sends out the paperwork

Technology Checklist

After you’ve gone through the workflow process, you’ll then want to look at what a potential “ideal” workflow application would look like.

Needs to be cloud based Ability to sort and track hundreds of clients Able to assign team members work Easy way to see which work needs reviewed Ability to add custom recurrences Time tracking capabilities And so on

Putting together a simple checklist will dramatically improve the odds of finding, or selecting, the best workflow software for your firm.

Your End Vision

After outlining your checklist and current workflow, the next step is defining what “success” looks like.

Are you looking to cut down unbillable time from X to Y?

Are you look to complete all returns before a specific date?

Or have your team work only so many hours per week?

Or even for you to be able to have more free time (read: any free time) during busy season?

Bringing Your Team on board

Now that you have a great foundation, the final step would be communicating the workflow roadmap (ie implementing a new system) to your team. You can get their feedback on the current process (after all, they could provide great insight into bottlenecks!), as well as communicating WHY you’ve decided to prioritize workflow.

Chances are, they will appreciate your concern of work/life balance, focusing more on client work, and building a stronger, more efficient practice.

As long as your team sees it’s a move to better life balance, and not a way to add more work to their plate, you’ll set yourself up to implement a great, sustainable, workflow solution.

Bonus: Inside Look

Create custom work views

Setup custom work views so you know exactly what you need to be working on.

Easily setup recurring client work

Track, sort, filter, and search for relevant client jobs.

Quickly Identify profitable clients

Finding work that is profitable, and perhaps more importantly, unprofitable, is important to understanding your practice. Having a simple dashboard or view to this information could be vital for your firm.

Email notifications to keep you on track

Quick see what is falling through the cracks, which client, team member, or category of work is falling through the cracks.

Can you quickly review work?

Using our preloaded filters, simply use the “needs review” function to see work that needs your attention.

Is it proven?

Jetpack Workflow has tracked over 85,000 jobs and tasks, and works with professionals from all over the world.

Is it secure?

Jetpack Workflow uses top of the line encryption (SSL Certified), as well as manages multiples backups every day.

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