How to Have Productive Conversations with Customers About Recordkeeping

Efficient recordkeeping is one of the fundamentals of excellent business operations. As such, anyone who is responsible for accountancy and offering financial advice to customers can not overexaggerate the importance of discussing effective record keeping with clients.

Accountants and bookkeepers have seen all there is to see in the business world—from one-person operations whose owners store vast volumes of cash under the floorboards to much larger organizations that manage dozens of people using numerous systems and a bevy of Excel spreadsheets.

Even though developments in information technology have made recordkeeping processes more efficient, these processes still rely on input from people, and those people often make choices that end up hampering efficiency in the long run.

For advisers, this means being able to provide guidance not only on the best processes that their clients should regularly perform in their bookkeeping and other administrative tasks but also on the systems that they use to get the job done in order to accomplish these tasks.

Moving hesitant clients from a complicated collection of technology systems into a single cloud-based accounting platform can frequently be worthwhile — for the clients as well as their advisors.

The first step toward more efficient recordkeeping is to question the established norms.

When they engage with clients who store their books on a single platform, accounting firms gain a significant competitive advantage. However, convincing customers to reduce the complexity of their lives can be a surprisingly difficult task.

Paper bank statements, Excel spreadsheets, outdated payroll software, or legacy applications are examples of ways that many small and medium businesses (SMEs) have used for years and continue to be in common use because business owners perceive that they have little incentive to change. They can be intimidated by the concept of platforms that run in the cloud.

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As someone who provides professional services, you may think you do not need public liability insurance. Liability insurance can protect you against claims brought by the public in the event that your accounting business results in the injury of another person or the destruction of property.

As such, if you’re attempting to convince a business owner to switch to more sophisticated accounting systems, it is necessary to present actual examples of how upgrading will benefit their bottom line rather than making generalizations about the subject.

It is no longer necessary for companies to manually enter spending totals into a spreadsheet, download information from antiquated desktop programs, or employ their accountant to go through bank statements and a shoebox full of receipts. All of these tasks can now be accomplished digitally. The strain placed on their company will be reduced.

In a similar vein, the ease with which cloud-based systems facilitate the preparation of quarterly Business Activity Statements (BAS) is an illustration that will ring true for the vast majority of small firms.

The requirement to file BAS returns on a quarterly basis can be a hassle for companies that rely on deductions for expenses to keep their tax obligations down. If the client’s shoebox full of receipts isn’t processed in a timely manner each quarter, the client will lose the opportunity to have the amount of GST that they owe reduced.

The issue can be remedied by utilizing a cloud-based platform that enables “file-and-reconcile as you go.” As the BAS deadline draws closer, there is less fear among customers since they are aware that their bill will be reduced to the greatest extent feasible.

When it comes to efficient record keeping, it’s all about getting the most out of your efforts.

Convincing your customers that they need to adapt their practices to keep up with the times can feel like a lot of work for very little payoff. But when their clients combine their debts, accountants themselves can reap huge financial benefits.

To begin, there is a reduction in the amount of time-consuming data input that accountants are required to perform on behalf of their clients. You’ll have extra time on your hands to either concentrate on expanding your firm or perform high-paying consulting services.

Second, rather than becoming a generalist, you have the opportunity to build in-depth knowledge.

As an accountant, one of the worse things you can do is attempt to use dozens of different pieces of software and dozens of different file formats just because your clients are using all of them. Ideally, you need to invest the time required to persuade your clients to simplify their app stacks and, preferably, transfer them to the same platform.

Your company will then be able to concentrate its efforts on a single platform, which will make it much simpler to instruct employees on how to use that platform. In addition, the superior expertise you get can assist you in procuring new customers.

Using the same tools as your existing customers can simultaneously boost productivity on both ends of the transaction.

That is beneficial to the bottom line of everyone involved. 

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