Accountancy practice management software has come a long way. Today, features like automated billing and reconciliations are easily integrated into the day-to-day practice workflow of Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting UK customers.

Our employees work side by side with our customers to create and manage these solutions – driven by a deep understanding of their needs and addressing the rapid changes in their environment.

However, it’s often hard to look beyond improving performance in day-to-day operations. Amid Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic and other disruptions, accountancy practices and their clients are dealing with an unpredictable economic landscape. Future business planning can appear daunting.

However, technology can support accountancy practices (and their clients) in making informed business decisions, and planning for the future. In the first part of our Accountancy Practice Management for Future-Fit Growth series, we’ll explore how they can use technology to define and easily track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Doing so gives practices closer control of performance tracking, and deeper insights that will inform strategic growth plans.
‍
Saving Time

For several decades, business technology platforms have enabled practices to track performance metrics that they have customised. This highlights areas that qualify for improvement and underpins strategic planning.

Contemporary technology, such as CCH KPI Monitoring, makes setting up KPIs faster and easier for accountancy practices than ever before. This is vital today. The current business landscape demands that firms assess and amend KPIs more frequently, based on fresh market variables. KPIs such as client retention rate and business time-to-recovery have become increasingly prominent performance indicators in the past year. If clunky technology makes KPI management difficult, practices have less time and insight to plan future growth.

Reducing Risk
CCH KPI Monitoring makes it far easier to track KPIs and report on them. This is fundamental in minimising risk. For example, if a KPI is set to track and escalate debt filtered by overdue dates, the ability to easily set alerts and automatically generate reports is critical to practice performance management.

Some practices are manually running monthly reports to measure KPIs. Others are running real-time reporting engines, a key feature of CCH KPI Monitoring. This latter solution allows practices to review essential data at any time – covering both performance management and compliance requirements. They can do so remotely or on-premise.

This means that firms can assess issues before they become problems, and thus act proactively. Real-time reporting is a true asset in building a future-fit practice.

The Proof is in the Practice
A number of Wolters Kluwer customers have been using CCH KPI Monitoring for several years now. Our customers look to us when they need to be right. Ryecroft Glenton has successfully integrated CCH KPI Monitoring with its own system. This consolidates information from several sources, including CCH Central and CCH Practice Management.

“We can use the year end date to trigger a sequence of reminders. Have we asked for the books? Have they been received? If a request to a client has been outstanding for a certain period, the partner will receive an alert via email. For limited companies, we can monitor the corporation tax and Companies House filing deadlines – as well as the different deadlines for pension schemes”

– Ian Smith, partner at Ryecroft Glenton

Corporate events agency who benefited from greener graphics initiative

“Apogee are not just aprinting company, theyconsult with us and go onto deliver a full end to endservice from concept toinstallation. They go aboveand beyond and we lookforward to continuing ourjourney with them”

Corporate events agency who benefited from greener graphics initiative

As the war for talent continues, accounting firms are having to do more with less: less resources, less time, and less budget. This puts increasing pressure on existing teams to become more productive and streamline their processes. However, many firms have missed a trick. As they’ve grown, often their tech has struggled to keep up, leaving employees burdened with unnecessary admin which restricts their efficiency and often leads to burnout.

One key role that’s suffered as a result of tech stagnation, is that of a resource manager.

Resource managers play a pivotal role in a firm, they are responsible for scheduling resources to client bookings which ultimately drives project performance and profitability. Without adequate technology to help resource managers optimally utilise a firm's most valuable (and expensive) resource - their people - client satisfaction and bottom lines will suffer.

So what about automation? New technology with automation is out there and whilst some firms are driving this forward, there is still fear and reluctance from many. The reasons for this are varied, including time and/or budget constraints, as well as some age-old misconceptions that we disagree with - the main one being that it will replace jobs. We challenge this because we understand that automation’s power is in taking the administrative onus away from existing employees, reviving their job, and driving firm performance in the process. We’ve seen firms like Moore Kingston Smith invest in automation and achieve significant firm-wide benefits. In the next section, we explore the reasons to embrace automation in resource management.

3 key reasons automation is reviving not replacing your resource managers
1. Automation elevates your resource management processes by replacing inefficient manual scheduling with streamlined, automated processes

Resource management practices are at the crux of workforce planning strategy. A resource manager’s ability to evolve these practices and adapt to meet the needs of people and clients will ultimately dictate a firm’s business performance. A streamlined, automation-led, process can:
● Provide complete visibility of resources with centralised resourcing
● Optimise resource plans with utilisation metrics
● Maintain consistent quality standards with project controls

Dayshape’s on-demand scheduling automation: let automation do the heavy lifting and simply accept, reject, or adjust the proposed workforce plan.

2. Automation delivers more strategic impact and value by enabling resource managers to be more agile and proactive

Resource management can and should be honed as a strategic discipline. Powered by automation, resource managers are encouraged to drop unnecessary admin and focus on thinking strategically. Automation, in the form of automated warnings and alerts, allows resource managers to:
● Forecast capacity and proactively flag projects at risk
● Pivot resource plans to meet changing demands or resolve clashes
● Mitigate regulatory risks by reducing opportunities for error

3. Automation improves people’s working lives by maximising their potential whilst crucially avoiding burnout

There is a growing need for firms to be more sustainable, people focused, and forward thinking to continue to win business and talent. Effective resource management with skilful resource managers allows a firm to support retention and offer rewarding careers. Automation in resource management can:
● Remove selection bias and accelerate diversity with suitability scoring
● Identify skill shortages and therefore development opportunities with highly configurable reports
● Curb burnout with utilisation metrics

Dayshape’s assisted scheduling automation (suitability scoring): select resources to assign based on how well they match the job, using criteria such as availability, grade, location, and skills.

‍As firms become more strategic with their technology investments, it should be recognised that automation is more than maximising efficiency and productivity, it’s an investment in both people and the future of the firm. With attracting talent a prevailing issue, firms must invest in automation to retain existing employees or risk further capacity issues.

Automation is a long-term strategy which needs ample communication about its benefits to ensure successful adoption and overall return on investment. Rather than an add-on to your existing practices, automation must be designed alongside (and evolve with) a firm’s resource management processes. With three levels of automated scheduling at Dayshape, resource managers can build trust in automation over time. Whether your firm wants more automation or is ready to take its first steps, Dayshape has options to suit. Discover more about our automation by watching our on-demand webinar.

Apr 2023

Introduce business print into your sustainability strategy

When formulating your ESG strategy, business print is a vital area to address – and sustainability, cost-efficiency, and maximum device uptime can all be attained through refurbished print devices.

Why Auditors Should Care About Security and What Is The Gold Standard?

While security is unlikely to be at the forefront of decision-makers at audit firms when adopting new technology tools, it is one of the most critical elements to consider when reviewing which vendor tools to incorporate into audits.

How is AI driving the progress of the accountancy industry?

AI will be crucial for better understanding user intent, automating routine processes, analysing and simplifying large data sets, and streamlining how accountancy firms manage information, according to Ville Somppi, Vice President of Industry Solutions at M-Files

Be the king of customer care this spring

This spring is more than just a sea of tulips and daffodils and longer evenings, it’s also awash with five public holidays as Easter, the May bank holidays and the King’s Coronation herald welcome time-off for much of the nation. But these extra holidays, especially when savvy employees tag them onto longer breaks, can cause serious operational challenges.

Better together: 3 reasons automation is reviving not replacing your resource managers

Corporate events agency who benefited from greener graphics initiative

Corporate events agency who benefited from greener graphics initiative

Corporate events agency who benefited from greener graphics initiative

Corporate events agency who benefited from greener graphics initiative

Introduce business print into your sustainability strategy

Why Auditors Should Care About Security and What Is The Gold Standard?

How is AI driving the progress of the accountancy industry?

Be the king of customer care this spring

Accountants in IT stimulating collaboration

For all general enquiries:

View our Privacy Statement