The role of a professional Chartered Accountants’ (CA) firm in the success of a business cannot be overemphasised. Even though such firms are not directly involved in the running of the business, their expertise in accounting, finance and compliance matters can is an indispensable component in a smooth-running, sustainable business that is not bogged down by compliance and related-regulatory issues.
However, the nature of the work undertaken by professional CA firms that deal with numerous clients of various sizes and across various industry sectors presents some challenges that are unique to them. It is a time-bound, deadline-driven domain, where the consequences of missing deadlines can result in financial and reputational damage to their clients. Managing and tracking data, documents, tasks, time spent, invoices, etc. can become a literal nightmare, especially with deadlines looming. While many CA firms still carry the reputation of being ‘traditional’, it is nearly impossible in today’s times to efficiently manage operations without a proven, cloud-based Practice Management Software (PMS) that lets the firm be in total control of their professional practice.
If you are a Chartered Accountant, owning or working at a CA firm, let us reiterate a few basic reasons why you should use a Practice Management Software:
- Efficient Time Management: Scheduling projects, deadlines, meetings, client interactions and keeping track of all important details related to every assignment is vital to manaing time effectively. Partners at several CA firms have repeatedly told us that time management (and timesheet management of their interns/ articleship associates) is one of their key challenges. The adage ‘you can’t improve what you can’t measure’ holds true here too—if one is unable to track time spent accurately, it is bound to result in a lot of wastage and inefficiencies. In a profession where time is literally money, as the revenue model of CA firms is usually tied to ‘billable hours’, every hour not accounted for is lost revenue!
So let the practice management software take over the heavy lifting of helping your firm get fully organized with automation of task management and time management. Save time, improve efficiency and eliminate/minimize delays and mistakes. - Better coordination, clear communication: Collaboration is and the secret to effective collaboration is ease of communication. Practice Management Software that have features and functions for effective collaboration with teams and clients go a long way in preventing issues arising out of inadequate or non-timely communication.
- Handle complex/large assignments: Some assignments can be really complex and challenging. Managing such large or complicated assignments requires a great deal of planning, coordination, workflow organisation, tracking, follow-ups and incorporating changes requested by the client. Make sure you opt for a Practice Management Software that can help you streamline operations with process control and workflow management.
- Client satisfaction: A Partner at a CA firm that we spoke to recently said that clients hate the idea of ‘fines, penalties and interest charges’ and it is critical for a CA firm to ensure that they avoid any non-compliance that can result in such an occurrence. A huge contributor to ensuring that is being totally organized and having appropriate processes and workflows in place. Doing that is wining half the battle for client satisfaction. As anyone in any business will know, client satisfaction is critical to client retention, which in turn can determine whether the practice is successful or not. Afterall, it is a lot more difficult to acquire new customers than to retain old ones.
All in all, a practice management software streamlines all necessary processes required by Chartered Accountants, right from data entry to managing complicated assignments, thus resulting in better productivity and client satisfaction. It frees up time for higher value addition tasks and lets you focus more on strategy, planning and growth. If you are looking to scale your practice profitably, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to do that today without digital automation of all essential tasks and workflows.
Give your firm the best chance of succeeding and growing in the digital era—sign up for a cloud-based and mobile-app based practice management and office automation software that will let you run your firm from anywhere, anytime.
Interested in improving your customer satisfaction, increasing client retention, preventing revenue leakage, maximizing efficiency and effectiveness? Register for a demo of ERPCA, India’s first multi-lingual, mobile-app based practice management software for CA firms, tax consultants, financial services advisory firms and more. Better still, sign up for a 14-day free trial of ERPCA and see for yourself the wonderful features and benefits of this software.
