Accountants – Is lack of information causing you frustrations?
Are you not getting the information you need from clients at year-end? Frustrated with constant chasing, no response and then long hours to get the work done last minute? You are not alone!
Many of the Accountants we know share the same frustrations and, with the next phase of Making Tax Digital due go ahead in April 2024, you may be concerned about how you are going to get the information you need and keep on top of everything.
At The Bookkeeping Department we have been looking at how best to help reduce these frustrations. This includes;
- Getting client’s into a regular bookkeeping process, at least Doing this means the bookkeeping is being chipped away at as the year progresses and gets clients used to providing the information on a regular basis. It also minimises the chance of a big pile of paperwork turning up the day before the accounts are due. As an accountancy practice, if you don’t want to be doing regular bookkeeping for clients because you prefer to focus on other services, then now could be the time to look at ways this can be done.
- Restating with the clients the timescales that need to be worked to in order to provide them with the help and support they need. Sometimes there has to be a consequence when clients leave it very late – for example, some accountants charge more.
- Making it as easy as possible for clients to provide information – using technology and also communicating with them in a way that they are most likely to respond. It’s not a case of one size fits all. Some people are more responsive to a telephone call, a meeting where they are expected to have everything ready, an email, a whatsapp or Slack message etc. It’s a case of finding the best way to the top of the busy client’s to do list.
- You can provide support and training to your clients to do much of the bookkeeping themselves as they are able to do. This alleviates your internal resource but you need to know that what they provide you with is going to be of good enough quality.
Another option is to seek the support of a third party like ourselves.
We support business owners and accountancy practices with their bookkeeping everyday and have a number of processes, ideas and checks in place which we use to minimise the delay in getting information across to us. And, if we do need to do lots of chasing, it will be off your plate, freeing you up to do other work. Then, when it comes to do the year-end accounts we’ll ensure you have all the information you need in a timely manner. We provide full bookkeeping services as well as providing Xero support and training options for businesses doing their own bookkeeping.
If you’d like to find out about how we support Accountants like yourself and eliminate these frustrations when we look after your clients bookkeeping, please click here.