Eliminating unnecessary friction from your firm’s tech usage

Pinch sees a lot of accounting and bookkeeping firms that run concurrent systems when they don’t need to, she said, and others that jump on the latest platform that may not necessarily be the best fit, or don’t utilise all available features in their existing apps.

It’s imperative that firm owners “jump in and actually learn a little bit” about the apps they’ve signed up for, “because nine times out of 10, there is probably crossover with the multiple apps that they use”, Emberson said.

When asked what her definition of a high-performing, efficient accounting firm looks like right now, and what it might look like in years to come, she said that as long as firm owners are ensuring that their systems and tools are interconnected, are working well for the workforce, and provide flexibility across the full stack – that is, if friction is being managed – firms will have a greater chance of success.

“If something isn't working for you, it's not going to be absolutely detrimental to your workflow if you stop using that and use something else,” she said, highlighting the importance of homing in on what’s actually going to work, rather than accumulating platforms for the sake of it.

Moreover, she added, having champions within your team that really own the technology or have a good understanding of the capabilities is essential for the benefit of the workforce.

“Like a lot of the apps that you work with, you will have account manager or a success manager or somebody that you can call on as a point of contact to really that really their job is to understand the app, and if you lean on them, your understanding [of how it all works] will just absolutely skyrocket,” Emberson said.

Elsewhere, she suggested that accountants lean into their networks to better appreciate what works and doesn’t work with better utilising the tech stack, and ultimately avoiding points of friction.

Accounting is an “awesome” profession, she said, with communities of professionals who are “absolutely brilliant” in advocating for and supporting fellow practitioners.

To this end, with the proliferation of new technologies and being able to understand how best to make those work for one’s firm, leaning into the accounting and bookkeeping communities to understand how they are flourishing and how to better manage integrated systems, is a necessity, she said.

The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Emily Emberson, click below: