How accountants can liberate their workday from mundane admin 

Our recent research uncovered that one in four accountants cite a lack of time as a key barrier to implementing their business strategy and more value-added services. 

These responses are troubling – to be a successful firm, accountants undoubtedly need time, time and more time.  

The expertise, guidance and insights accountants provide clients are critical. But value-added advisory type services that are fundamental to growth can only be offered when the necessary time and headspace are available.  

Why is time a challenge for accountants?   

What’s draining accountants’ time? Essentially, it’s day-to-day inefficiencies – admin-heavy processes that require frequent manual intervention and are pulling focus away from value-added activities.  

Process inefficiencies  

For example, typing in receipts one by one or bank statements line after line can be soul-destroying and often a huge mountain to climb, especially if working towards a tight deadline.  

Scenarios such as a key employee calling in sick, leaving you to manage their workload, but you have no idea where the job they are working on is or how much they have done are also commonplace and an enormous time-drain. 

Tech inefficiencies  

A lack of software integration in the tech stack means that accountants are forced to jump between their various applications, consuming more time and creating an added risk of human error.  

With clients using their preferred software, you often end up with a long list of different log-ins for different clients and have to constantly log in and out, taking up a lot of valuable time that you don’t have. This is not the smart way to spend time. 

The bottom line 

Higher value advisory services such as assisting with business loan applications, tax planning and ‘what if’ scenarios, all fall to the side-line.  

How can technology help accountants get time back?   

While many accountants began to digitise their firms to cope with the pandemic, little technological change has been adopted since then. 

Due to the rapid rise in cloud-native firms starting up, traditional accountancy firms must embrace a similar digital-first approach. Without added focus on digital, traditional accountants will undoubtedly struggle to keep up with cloud-native firms, whose processes focus on working smarter and automating mundane and inefficient tasks. 

Although, I understand the struggle – there is so much software on the market to choose from that it can often be intimidating.  

For those looking to make a change and regain freedom in their workday, I’d advise you to seek software with two factors: cloud technology and software integration. 

The benefits of cloud technology    

Cloud technology, created specifically for accountants, plays a fundamental role in enhancing efficiency and affordability while also providing ease of use. 

Outside of being able to operate from any location, with cloud technology, firms can work smarter by automating their mundane tasks while also benefiting from the available real-time data, which can inform and support key decisions. 

These features provide crucial efficiencies that free up accountants to focus on higher-value advisory services. 

Taking it to the next level with software integration  

While the cloud is a fantastic first step in streamlining processes, more can be done, specifically with integration. 

Having multiple pieces of software means accountants must constantly jump between apps which is a massive time drain and places you at risk of more human error. 

But with cloud integration, you can connect all your software, providing a single location to manage processes and clients while also reducing the time needed to manage your tech stack. 

Become time-rich with IRIS Elements   

We’ve identified the industry’s need for more time. 

To empower accountants, our team have created IRIS Elements, offering an all-in-one link to the cloud that helps firms streamline their processes. 

There has never been a better time to be an ACCOUNTANT!