Turning the table on your time restraints

 It’s frustrating when you don’t know what to do next.

It’s even more frustrating when you know what you want to do next but don’t have the time to do it.

The frustration of not being able to get off the hamster wheel for long enough to take back  control of your task list or your firm is endemic within the accounting profession.

Technology was supposed to fix this by taking away the mundane, speeding up processes, automating actions and freeing up partner and team time for more creative, value added and leisure activities.

Without question, technology is achieving the actions  but the outcome of more time is yet to crystalise in too many cases. From a firm leader and manager perspective, firms seem to be busier than ever, still doing the same compliance and client support tasks they’ve always done, just with more tech in the process.

Part of the problem is that the addition of new technology requires time to onboard, train and educate. The challenge of getting team members and clients to embrace technology and understand the need for change feels like it has been delegated by the tech world to the accounting firms and I believe there is much more that leading Fintechs can do to support accounting firms in this. If software needs so much time to educate its users then is it really delivering?

Accountants can’t just wait for tech companies to become better suppliers though. The tech they provide has value and benefit for accounting firms. Rather than reject further investment or shy away from change because partners don’t have the time to invest, especially in client education, managers can look at the time already allocated in the office schedules and workflows and see how the firm can make more effective use of it.

“I don’t have any more time” is a common reason given for not actioning the steps needed to take  firms forward and it is the reality, but accountants can do better with the time that they already have. To do this it is necessary to question how effectively time is currently utilised.

There are two big opportunities here.

The first relates to workflow.  Hours are already allocated in capacity planning for every client but, rather than filling these by following last year’s path, the firm should challenge the established approach:

Can the firm put the time already allocated to a client to better use?

o  Are the priorities right?

o  Is the approach to the tasks smart enough?

o  Are there more effective ways to manage the client?

o  Are there more effective ways to get the work done?

o  Does the firm make enough profit on these tasks to make them worthwhile?

o  What needs to change at the client’s end to make this work better?

Time is wasted on every client, it’s just a matter of how much. Taking that wasted time and using it instead to challenge the status quo from a production perspective uses no more time but leads to better outcomes.

The second relates to the time in communicating with clients and, especially,  meeting time. Again, rather than following the traditional conversations, firms should re-think the approach to client meetings :

Can the firm make better use of the time already allocated for a client meeting?

o  Is the conversation about the most important things?

o  Does it cover topics that the client will engage with?

o  Is the conversation honest and direct enough?

o  Does the accountant listen and respond to client-raised issues?

o  Does the accountant focus on the client, not just the client’s business?

o  Does the firm truly fulfil the role of trusted advisor and show enough genuine interest and care?

Once the firm’s leadership and management recognises that the challenge is about using existing resources effectively then it changes how they assess the value of technology. I am gradually seeing more tech come to market that is designed to enable accounting firms to make more effective use of the client relationships and services they already have rather than try to take them down new pathways.

Doing better with existing time and existing clients is a starting point for growth.

For instance:

@Kamozo gives a firm the client analysis to help  answer those workflow questions, creating more effective decision making on existing client relationships and services

@AllInPlace puts the focus on the client, not just the client’s business, creating more powerful conversations from existing meetings

@Xylo analyses the meetings and provides the follow up, across both workflow and wider value added meetings to create a more proactive stance with existing clients.

This is the software that I look out for these days. What can make  existing processes and relationships more effective? By looking for these solutions, rather than ‘new’ services, firms can take existing time and pivot it more effectively.



I’m looking forward to 2025 with the expectation that this approach to software adoption is going to grow. Are we on the cusp of finally having more time!