Time is money. And thanks to technological advances in the form of practice management and workflow automation tools, tax and accounting firm staff are saving more time than ever. That’s allowing accountants to shift their focus away from mundane data entry tasks and take on the role of trusted business advisor.
This tech-fueled growth in advisory services is good news for clients, who are hungrier than ever for expert advice, outsourced business processes, financial strategy, and virtual CFO services.
In fact, 85% of respondents in the Wolters Kluwer 2022 Accounting Industry Survey reported an increased demand for advisory services. That demand has been driven by the need to guide clients through complex pandemic-related relief programs and provide consultation to help navigate economic uncertainties.
Finding the time to provide clients with guidance and advice
While clients are asking for these advisory services, many firms are running into a common issue – the lack of staffing and capacity to offer these services.
In the survey, a majority of firms said technology has enhanced their ability to add new services (62%) and offer more services per client (68%) by allowing them to complete tax compliance and auditing work more efficiently. With that newfound time, staff can take client relationships beyond basic compliance and provide more consultative advice.
Firms are leveraging technology to help them create the capacity they need to provide proactive advisory services by taking steps to:
- Standardize, optimize, and automate processes, providing staff with the time to work with clients on higher-value advisory service engagements
- Offload routine data entry and transactional tasks to experienced tax professionals, helping to stabilize (and normalize) staff bandwidth
- Reduce the most time-consuming part of tax advisory services — identifying clients impacted by changing state and federal legislation (or changing life events) — with technology tools that leverage advanced technologies
Learn how to identify the technologies your firm needs to create capacity for advisory services
In our webinar, “How to Choose the Technology that Will Help You Create Capacity for Advisory Services,” Jason Kadow, CEO of KMA Accountants and Advisors, along with Wolters Kluwers’ Ray Barlow and Mark McAndrew, share the technologies they adopted to help their firms grow.
Watch it to learn more about how Jason’s firm uses technology in their client advisory practice, including how they:
- Assessed their existing capacity constraints
- Identified opportunities for staff to gain back time
- Found a path to sustainable growth with existing staff at peak productivity
If you want to learn how to tap into technology to grow your firm, download the “How to Choose the Technology that Will Help You Create Capacity for Advisory Services” webinar by clicking here.
