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Building a modern connected practice: The app ecosystem

Building a modern connected practice: The app ecosystem

A modern connected practice is a new industry buzzword, which essentially refers to accounting firms that use automated tools to add efficiency to their daily work, leaving them more time to adopt a business advisory role. 

By: QuickBooks Australia | 11 April 2019 | 1 min read
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With technological improvements, accountants no longer have to divide their time between tiresome manual data entry, instead they can streamline these tasks with affordable and easy-to-use software.

A modern connected practice is the future of the accounting profession, says Jean-Philippe Lemoussu, developer advocate at Intuit QuickBooks Australia.

With the aid of technology, accountants are automating transaction processing and compliance, and focusing a majority of their time on value adding tasks.

Accountants now have time to develop more rewarding and personal relationships with their clients. They are mapping their growth strategies, offering them tailored investment advice and opening them up to new funding opportunities.    

Besides allowing them to increase human contact with their clients, automation is also enabling accountants to secure new income streams.

“At the moment we are experiencing a white-collar revolution, which is similar to the industrial revolution of the 1800s when we transitioned to new manufacturing practices,” Mr Lemoussu says.

“We are now using software to make accounting practices more efficient, allowing accountants more time to generate more revenue, to talk more with their customers, and be more successful.”

Intuit’s QuickBooks has forged relationships with ‘add-on’ partners, putting automation in reach of small accounting practices.  

The team at Intuit recognised the need to partner with other companies to provide their clients with more individualistic accounting operations. QuickBooks add-ons now number over 600 and enable businesses to save money, automate information processing, secure data sharing and much more.

Building an app ecosystem

Mr Lemoussu, an expert in the app ecosystem, shares his personal pick of the top 10 apps for accounting firms that are looking to transition from a compliance only practice to one focused on building meaningful business partnerships.

LodgeiT: This add-on is a multi-functional compliance platform with the tools needed to handle Australian tax lodgement. When used in combination with QuickBooks, LodgeiT allows accountants to prepare, approve, map and lodge tax forms in one sitting. Essentially, accountants can earn hours back on tax prep with the tool to prepare financial reports and lodge seamlessly with the ATO.

Expense Check: The Expense Check app is an insurance service that automatically and continuously matches your business with the right level of cover. Unlike having to spend time researching, selecting and buying a one-size-fits-all policy, Expense Check syncs with your accounting tools to bring in data to tailor the perfect insurance product for your business and adapt as your business changes.

Receipt Bank: Receipt Bank is the world’s favourite paperless bookkeeping platform, connecting accountants, bookkeepers and small businesses. This app allows you to get your financial data into your preferred accounting program with no chasing, no paper and no data entry. Receipt Bank’s automatic OCR technology reads your receipts and invoices with the highest accuracy of any cloud app. It also allows you to snap your receipts with its handy mobile app and store them securely online, so you can find what you need instantly.

TSheets Time Tracking: This add-on simplifies payroll and invoicing with timesheets powered by QuickBooks. It allows your employees to track time from any location, using any device. Time data automatically syncs to your QuickBooks account in real time. From there, you can edit, review and approve employee timesheets for payroll, job costing, billing or invoicing – all without ever leaving QuickBooks. Any changes you make are automatically synced with TSheets, so your employee time data is always accurate.

Fathom: Fathom is a financial analysis and management reporting tool that helps you to assess business performance, monitor trends and identify improvement opportunities. Fathom enables you to measure and monitor the financial and non-financial metrics that matter most to your business. Whether you call it business intelligence, performance management, or analytics... the goal of Fathom is the same: to help you understand what’s happening in your business and how to take action when needed.

Practice Ignition: This add-on facilitates digital client onboarding and payment collection. Practice Ignition automatically creates invoices inside your preferred online software based on the payment schedule listed in your proposal. It automatically will raise and reconcile the invoice, as well as send that invoice to the client automatically, every single month. If you have monthly billing cycles with your clients or you do a lot of project work. Practice Ignition can help simplify the entire process.

Wrap-up

Technology provides accounting practices with a competitive edge in a new world of accounting, where advisory is central. By using these low-cost, high-value tools, accountants are able to forge long-term, meaningful relationships with their clients. 

Embracing add-on software is also key for attracting younger clients who are very reliant on modern technology in their day-to-day lives, says Mr Lemoussu.

“If an accountant was to ask me to print all my receipts, I would walk away. That tells me that the accounting practice is probably not the one I should work with,” Mr Lemoussu explains.

He, however, adds that the switch to full automation doesn’t have to be instantaneous, with companies like Intuit eager to help accountants every step of the way. 

 

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