Tax season is the busiest time of year for accountants and bookkeepers. During this time, there's a consistent flow of client meetings which, in turn, provides a solid revenue stream for the first few months of the year. This then begs the question: How are firms handling the decrease in revenue once tax season ends?
More services equals more revenue
How exactly does an organization maintain growth throughout the year? How can it continue improving year after year? One common answer is to bring on more clients. For some firms, this isn't a practical solution. A better alternative to bringing on more clients is to instead offer additional services to existing ones. This allows accounting professionals to increase productivity and develop better relationships with the clients that already assist.
There's a benefit for small business owners as well. Their concerns lie across all aspects of their organizations, not just financial reporting. These business owners are busy with employees, customers, inventory, sales numbers, and more. As such, their priorities shift rapidly each day, so many business owners don't have the time to handle the nuances of taxes and bookkeeping. Chances are high your clients are interested in outsourcing more of their accounting and bookkeeping work.
Services firms can provide
Employee salaries are a significant factor of a company's expenses and tax liabilities. Therefore, it makes sense for accounting firms to take this burden from their client's HR departments and work on payroll themselves. While some consider calculating paychecks a lot of effort for little benefit, accounting software makes the process easy and profitable.
Still, bookkeepers and accountants don't have to stick to reviewing time cards and raises. They're also well equipped to act as consultants for their clients. Their professional experiences make them uniquely suited to handling the financial needs of small businesses. For instance, new owners might not know the ins and outs of seeking out a business loan. Accounting professionals can help these individuals determine their financial needs, assess their current situation, and present a request to their bank.
Many firms are reluctant to provide more for their clients simply because of the additional time required. If these firms were to focus on organizing and condensing their workflow for maximum efficiency, they'd be pleasantly surprised at the amount of time they actually have. With many of today's financial management and business intelligence software solutions making maintaining and updating records simple and nearly free of human errors, the solutions are out there for accounting professionals to easily add additional services to their portfolio.