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It stands to reason that small business owners would rather spend their time focused on their businesses, and not accounting work. In fact, according to a survey by SCORE, 40 percent of small business owners said dealing with bookkeeping and taxes are the single worst parts of owning a company. Compounding the problem is that the more clients are involved in bookkeeping (without any accounting knowledge), the more mistakes accountants are left cleaning up.

These problems are the easily foreseeable results of using popular DIY accounting software like QuickBooks – solutions that were created primarily for the needs of small businesses, not for professional use. And when accountants are stuck in this sort of reactive position in client accounting, that's a lose-lose for both them and their clients.

But historically, most accountants felt they didn't have a choice. Virtually all of the accounting systems on the market today are DIY systems. Even most cloud-based accounting systems are created primarily for small businesses, and are based on the DIY model. Here's the amazing part: Despite knowing that most small businesses don’t like performing accounting tasks, most accounting system software providers continue to push DIY accounting systems to small businesses.

Want to end this cycle and regain control over your accounting engagements? Here's how to get started.

Make the most of the cloud

The only way to make accounting highly profitable for you, and make your services more relevant to your clients, is to put you – the accountant - back in the driver’s seat. That’s what we call an Accountant-Centric approach.

A professional system based on this Accountant-Centric approach provides everything you need for your professional work — write-up, trial balance, preparation of fully customizable financial statements, and analytics, along with a general ledger system that includes banking, accounts receivable, accounts payable, job costing and inventory. It's a fully unified cloud-based system for both professionals and clients. The Accountant-Centric approach is the brainchild of AccountantsWorld, and our cloud-based professional accounting system Accounting Power is based on this Accountant-Centric approach.

With an advanced solution like Accounting Power, accountants can customize their services for each individual client, based on their needs and preferences.

For clients who’d like to offload all their accounting work to you, your firm can now deliver complete accounting services, including bill payments, bookkeeping, monitoring cash flow, and preparing financial statements. The Workflow Manager included in Accounting Power helps your staff perform at peak efficiency, and lets you oversee the entire accounting practice from a single dashboard. And no one has to print a single check - all bills are paid with a mouse click using innovative digital checks. The only thing your clients have to do is either scan or take a snapshot of invoices to be paid using their smartphones.

For clients who prefer some involvement, accountants can set up the system to give their clients access to specific functions they can perform comfortably without making errors. For example, clients who crave some involvement may only want to use Accounting Power to write checks and enter deposits. Accountants can tailor the program to let them perform those functions quickly. Clients who want another level of involvement may want the ability to handle account receivables and account payables. Accountants can personalize the solution to meet the needs of both the hands-off and engaged client.

Whatever level of involvement you and your clients agree upon, your time is now freed up to focus on providing value, such as identifying growth opportunities or flagging discrepancies or threats to the client’s business.

Deliver more value to clients beyond bookkeeping and taxes

Accountants can continue to demonstrate their value to their clients by offering a more diverse and strategic set of services. The AICPA and other industry experts agree that the next major growth opportunity for accounting firms - large or small - is in offering Client Accounting Services (CAS). With Accountant-Centric collaborative solutions, accountants can analyze the whole picture of a client’s finances to offer real-time strategic advice, and provide significantly deeper value beyond preparing simple financials and doing taxes.

The more high-value services that an accountant can offer their client, the stronger their client relationships will be, which can boost retention and create a strong referral network for the accounting firm amongst existing clients.

DIY accounting systems may have been the norm for the past several years, but cloud-based professional accounting systems like Accounting Power have shifted the balance of power back to accountants and created an opportunity for small businesses to get back to doing what they love most - running their businesses, and not dealing with the headaches of bookkeeping, taxes and payroll. Cloud solutions benefit both accountants and their clients, and empower accountants to offer more strategic value to their clients’ businesses.

See how Accounting Power can help your firm can regain control of client accounting.