What software can I use for automating our Operations department?

Further question details

We are a growing accounting firm that is focused on providing our clients with the best bookkeeping and tax experience possible, we are paperless, tech-savvy and we think outside the box. We operate with a start-up mentality where we constantly adapt to our clients and move very quickly.

We’d love to automate our Operations management, what are your suggestions? The responsibilities that we want to automate are:

• Provide day to day dynamic leadership to remote/virtual accounting teams across the world, including supervising the firm’s entire accounting operations, accounting activities, and client facing communications
• Coordinate client work between the Onboarding, Bookkeeping and Tax departments
• Directs various departments and collaborate with various teams in the continuous identification and implementation of best practices; review, refinement, development and implementation of processes and procedures to achieve efficiency gains.
• Responsible for interacting with key clients by solving and coordinating challenging issues
• Lead the onboarding process for new clients
• Create and ensure that the monthly calendar, checklists and project management software are all up to date and that the due dates for all deliverables are met
• Act as the first point of contact for emergency situations during open hours of operation
• Manage the workflow and efficiency of various departments
• Ability to be highly productive with limited oversight on a day-to-day basis
• Build a high performing accounting and admin team through the Hiring and screening of new employees, including conducting interviews, the onboarding and training process as well as the ongoing management process
• Provide coaching and leadership team of accounting associates to develop and implement strategies to achieve and exceed performance goals (Service Level, Service Efficiency, Quality Assurance).
• Develop a staff training program and conduct training and performance reviews
• Ensures appropriate staffing levels are available at all times
• Complete performance reviews for direct reports.
• Track and monitor internal operational and performance metrics revolving around accuracy, timeliness, & efficiency, proactively identify areas of opportunity and/or concern to senior leadership and providing recommendations to improve.
• Set goals and milestones for external service and customer satisfaction, analyzing performance metrics to determine optimal policies, and providing guidance and supervision to the entire team.
• Develop and maintain tight internal controls over all aspects of this business
• Evaluate operational risk factors, and work to mitigate them through improved processes and procedures
• Develop, implement and standardize optimal accounting practices across all clients
• Identify and implement technology that will enhance the firm’s operations
• Develop, implement and review corrective actions when necessary to address quality and timeliness issues
• Lead the documentation and implementation of defined standard operating procedures.
• Identification of growth opportunities, revenue optimization, and cost containment.

 

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Answer

In speaking more about the current tools you’re using, we can see the needs for a smooth workflow from onboarding a new client through to customer service, manager visibility and ensure customers stay engaged and happy through the process.

In terms of project management software for accountants, I’d recommend that you check out Teamwork Projects as it is the reusable checklist software you need to manage ongoing accounting and bookkeeping tasks whilst maintaining the visibility you need as a manager. You’ll be using the Email-in feature and will be having tasks set up with dependencies based on the department doing the work.

Your Teamwork platform will be connected up to Help Scout for customer support and for automated emails to your accounting clients. You’ll be using their knowledge base feature to cut down on customer support and provide quick answers to new customers.

You’ll be using Help Scout and their manually-triggered workflows to run a stand-alone inbox for hiring. Using tags to shortlist candidates, you’ll be able to move people through the process and direct successful candidates to a booking link in Acuity Scheduling that is set up just for hiring.

For customer onboarding, you’ll be using Typeform for their customer experience and will be matching this up with Right Signature document signature software so that the forms that need signatures can be delivered to your inbox and auto-forwarded to the specific project file storage.

For checking in on staff culture and satisfaction (plus performance reviews), you’ll be using Know Your Company and having the data flow through to your internal reporting tool.

Finally, for a CRM, you’ll be using OnePageCRM so you can manage your sales pipeline and ensure your accounting sales are tracked and reported to management.