Five Tips To Get Your Accounting Firm Organized In 2017

As the new year rolls around it is important to capitalize on the opportunity to improve not just your personal life, but your business and professional life. Setting new years resolutions is one good way to map out your future goals for both yourself and your accounting business. One of the best ways to accomplish everything on your list is to get organized. After all, the more organized your business is. the more productive it is.

1. Out With The Old

The best way to start with organizing in your accounting business is to go through your old files and office. Too much clutter can weigh you down and severely slow down the efficacy of your work. As the new year rolls around its important to sift through what is outdated and what you need to keep. A number of electronic programs can help your wade through duplicate or irrelevant files to get rid of what you don’t need anymore. This also extends down to outdated electronics, if you’ve been holding on to old computers or phone systems thinking that you might get around to fixing them someday, now is a good time to let them go. Working with a managed internet technology provider can help you decide what you can let go of in order to transform your business to be more on the cutting edge. When your workspaces, both physical and electronic, are neat and orderly you’ll save precious time in productivity and present a much more professional face to clients.

2. Paper To Plastic (Or Electronic)

Reducing your paper output with more organized electronic data keeping is both a smart environment move and an improvement in storage and record keeping. The IRS accepts electronic copies of receipts and nearly every business is equipped to handle electronic receipts, so your business should no longer rely upon paper slips to do business. Various receipt management software or scanners exist to help you get through the paper trail. You can use these programs to export data anywhere, including your expense reports and accounting software and applications, reducing a lot of work and effort on your staff’s part.

3. Soar Through The Clouds

Cloud computing offers a multitude of options to refine, scale and organize your business. If you haven’t moved over to the cloud yet, you should be. Using cloud-based capabilities and tools to both share and save documents allows you and your team to access them anywhere, whether in the office, during client meetings, or from home. Cloud-based technology like Google Doc, lets you store up to 15 GB for free and encourages client and colleagues collaboration. Other more heavy duty software allows greater capability and can even assist with cleaning up your personal and business file storage and reduce the time you spend sending emails back and forth internally.

4. Take Note

Ensuring that you’re using productive note taking software is another great technological new year’s resolution. The ability to record notes, goals and ideas is key to the growth of your business. Whether you prefer scribbling down on a digital tablet, voice recording or notation on your smartphone, incorporating the right kind of software that best works for you to take notes with is crucial to putting it to use consistently.

5. Process To Progression

Chances are you have some sort of system in place for processing invoices, taking payments, recording expenses and managing projects. Though the new year is a good time to examine how you do things and look for ways to make these tasks easier with the range of new applications and software on the market. There is now an app for almost everything, especially if it means easing your administrative tasks. Speak to an managed service provider or do your research to see what elements of your business can be improved by implementing more digital solutions.

Written by Carl Fransen

posted on January 3, 2017

Carl Fransen

My passion is to make my mark on the world in a positive and lasting way. I want to set an example for my son that his father can compete with integrity in today’s world, be very successful, and leave the world a better place for him.

Combining my technical/business-based education with a long career steadily progressing up the corporate ladder, I decided to build a company that held true to my values. So, I founded and designed the next generation of IT support firm: CTECH Consulting Group Inc. We are a completely automated, cloud-based IT company designed to compete against any other IT firm without the overhead. We promote a lifestyle to all our staff where they can work anywhere, at any time, access any information on any device that is relevant to their job, and collaborate with anyone they want to.