Recently updated on March 7th, 2024 at 10:56 am
Retention challenges of CPA firms are nothing new. Every business wants to retain its best employees, clients, users, tools, technology, culture, and a positive working environment. You’ve worked hard and invested countless hours, money, and emotional bandwidth to build your business. But despite your earnest efforts, it can be difficult to retain many of the above assets.
The answer, for many companies, is expanding the boundaries of the workforce and its infrastructure to include an extended and digital workforce. The result? More bandwidth for staff and greater efficiency for CPA firms.
The Benefits of an Extended and Digital Workforce
Using an extended and digital workforce opens up several possibilities, enabling your tax and accounting firm to thrive in a changing economic and business landscape. Here are some of the wins you can expect.
Staff Shortages
Suppose your CPA firm has recently survived a tough economic time. Not only that, but your client list has started growing. You could hire more staff, but what if the economy takes another dip? So you’re forced to give a little more work to your internal staff. Unfortunately, this has been stressing them out.
The solution? Use an extended workforce. You can contract out some work, bring on temporary workers, or outsource accounting and tax services—all of which can help your firm thrive and grow along with customer demand.
Client Retention
As you grow, the amount of time you have to dedicate to current clients shrinks—including some that have been with you for years. You get a few impatient emails, which escalate to aggravated phone calls. What can you do?
With an extended and digital workforce, there’s no need to panic. You can employ accountants outside your firm, giving them certain clients while you retain others, which keeps money coming in and smiles on the faces of your clients.
Constantly Evolving Technology
Once you’ve reigned in your staff shortages and client retention issues using an extended workforce, you realize other firms have been implementing technology that makes their work easier and allows them to better service customers—even to the point of attracting some of the kinds of clients you had been hoping to get.
The good news is digital tools are at your disposal, empowering you to automate more, do less repetitive tasks, and provide a more diverse array of services. For example, you can use accounting data analytics software to provide data-based insights to clients, helping them grow and manage their businesses.
With the help of accounting business intelligence software, you can provide secure accounting in conjunction with financial performance analytics that give your clients a strategic edge, enabling them to identify revenue-generating opportunities. You can also use a performance dashboard to show companies how they can improve their operations using real-time data. With this kind of accounting dashboard, you have access to statistics, graphs, charts, and tangible figures that can inform your accounting advisory services.
It’s not uncommon for companies to ask their accountants for advice. But to keep up with your competition, you shouldn’t wait; reach out to them with accounting advisory services. For example, you can leverage accounting business intelligence software to establish smart KPIs, giving clients metrics they can use to form action plans that boost their revenues and save money.
Uncontrollable Events
Even the best technology can’t prevent natural disasters, environmental changes, or another COVID-19 variant. Let’s say the economy is hit with the effects of a new variant, the Omega strain. Some businesses have to close, and you lose a few clients.
But if you already have an extended workforce, it’s relatively easy to scale down, retaining the employees you had before your expansion.
What a Digital and Extended Workforce Brings to Your CPA Firm
CPA firms can use automation tools as their own customized digital workforce. Furthermore, they can leverage outsourced services to attain agility without sacrificing in-house talent or overburdening them with work.
With a digital workforce, you can automate workflows. Repetitive, time-consuming activities can be automated with automation software, AI, and bots. Workflows such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, payrolls, and accounting reporting can all be performed with best-in-class business intelligence and AI technologies.
With an extended workforce, you can take advantage of outsourced services that are ready to assist you with their outsourcing team. This saves time, operating costs, and can improve your bottom line.
You can also scale your team as needed. Your services are always available, and you get a well-trained and experienced team. In addition, you save time on attracting, hiring, training, and retaining employees. This produces a highly-efficient workforce, enabling you to tackle most of your workload with a digital or extended workforce.
Consequently, you can focus on what you do best: providing clients with top-notch service and advice. A digital and extended workforce frees you up to specialize in accounting advisory services, which add tangible, marketable value to your clients’ businesses.
Let’s Succeed Together
These issues are not limited to the accounting industry. They’re everywhere, and we are in this together. Let’s evolve and grow together using digital and extended workforces to transform and make our businesses future-ready.
If you want to explore how a digital and extended workforce can help your business ride the evolutionary wave while growing and staying lucrative, reach out to PathQuest experts today to book a demo.
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John Bugh is Chief Revenue Officer for PathQuest, responsible for the strategic direction, planning, vision, growth, and performance of the company’s marketing, branding, and revenue streams.
As a seasoned professional with over 35 years of experience in executive sales, marketing, and operational leadership, John has worked to build high-performing leadership-teams that have a demonstrated track record of accelerating growth, increasing revenue, establishing sustainability, and improving profitability.
He is an avid life-long fan of the NY Yankees and loves to snow ski with his family whenever he has the opportunity!
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