Survey Says: Bookkeeping Profession on the Rise per Bill.com

I recently sat down with Bill.com to help discuss their State of Bookkeeping Practices Survey 2016. The survey results are now published; it was exciting to see the optimism in the industry—most of us anticipate our practices growing in the next couple of years.

Source: Bill.com, State of Bookkeeping Practices Survey 2016

While these results were impressive, I was a bit dismayed at our industry’s progress in workflow, although not that surprised. You see, 65% of respondents still spend time at their client’s offices. I suspected the percentage was pretty high, based on the conversations I have when I’m out doing QuickBooks Online training.

Source: Bill.com, State of Bookkeeping Practices Survey 2016

That means, they get in the car, drive to the client’s office, spend time there, before heading back to their own office (where I can assure you, they are much more productive, and can do almost everything remotely that they do on site.). I’m exhausted just typing this, and hope they’re including that drive time in their billing. Let me remind you folks, it is hard to work while driving! (And never text while driving!).

Even crazier, 80% still manually enter payment transactions into accounting software and 68% enter issued invoices into accounting software.

#confused

And what really boggles my mind, 85% said they vary their workflows depending on each client!

Source: Bill.com, State of Bookkeeping Practices Survey 2016 Infographic

Seriously. What the what? If you don’t streamline your workflow, you open the door to more labor-intensive processes and the potential for fraud and errors!

As I told Bill.com, it’s like making 100 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches 100 different ways for 100 different people.

If I could wave my magic wand, I’d have bookkeepers and accountants improve their workflow by:

1. GET ONLINE! I’ve been preaching this since 2010, and we’re getting there—the Bill.com survey found that 51% of respondants use multiple cloud solutions.
2. Create a workflow that will assign tasks for both the firm and the client.
3. Establish a timeline. To keep your process moving, you need timely inputs and approvals.
4. Go paperless. Do whatever you have to do to avoid paper.

Since I moved to an almost entirely remote practice in late 2008, I’ve done everything I can to streamline my practice—that means cutting down on trips to client offices, standardizing processes and seeking out, then taking advantage of technology to minimize data entry and speed things up. In fact, I only travel to a couple client’s office once a month, and that’s because I really need to interact once in awhile with real people. My cats and the characters of Law & Order don’t really count…

This is not only about good business. This is about having better work/life integration. I work hard to make my life what I want it to be—meaning: a great business, but time with my two kids, my husband and time for me.

Here’s my call to action (and shameless self promotion):

• If, like 85% of Bill.com respondents, you have a different workflow for each client….
• If, like 65% of Bill.com responents, you are still spending time at your clients’ offices each month….
• If, like 80% of Bill.com respondents, you are manually entering data…

Then, consider the StacyK Academy (SKA). Starting July 16, we’ll address all of these problems, and more. We’ll help you find your groove, get better clients, improve your workflow, find the right apps to simplify your life and increase your revenue.

In the spirit of sharing data, I’ll share the results from our most recent StacyK Academy survey.

Nearly 20% of respondents have more money, 20% have better work/life balance and 20% have quicker processes. Nearly 40% have other stuff going on, but didn’t tell me what that is!

In my own practice, I’ve seen great results since implementing the workflow I now teach in the StacyK Academy:

Drop me a line if you’re interested in the next session of the StacyK Academy. And don’t forget to download the Bill.com survey report. If you’re more of a picture person, here’s a link to the infographic. I’m sure you’ll find it as interesting as I did.

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