Remote work: how to increase job satisfaction and your bottom line.

The way we work has changed forever. What’s more, the way we do business has also changed forever. While there will always be a place for in-person meetings and having a shopfront: accounting and bookkeeping doesn’t necessarily have to be one of them.Sadly, not all businesses could pivot to become ‘pandemic-proof’ (or at least still be able to operate in some way, shape or form during unprecedented lockdowns) - but fortunately, accountants and bookkeepers could. The move to online solutions had already begun and so for many, this simply sped up the process. What we know for sure is that remote work is here to stay. Ensuring you can continue to serve your clients, deliver essential services and help them survive challenging times, started out as survival.

As it continues, it’s moving more towards allowing yourself and your staff the flexibility of working from anywhere, in a schedule that suits both the practice and their lifestyle. And that’s when you start to kick some serious goals in job satisfaction and practice productivity - if you do it right.

Here we put together some simple steps you can implement within your accounting firm or bookkeeping practice to ensure both you and your team thrive productivity-wise while working offsite.

Keeping your staff engaged

Having a remote workforce has many benefits. Whether it’s outsourced or offshore staff, or local workforce that’s working from home - it’s an affordable way to scale your business, without the overheads of an office lease. And, no matter what happens when it comes to pandemic restrictions – you can continue to work and run your business. But there are some challenges that present themselves. For example: how do you keep culture alive when you’re all working remotely? And how do you effectively ensure productivity?When it comes to accounting firms, bookkeeping practices and their staff, there are a few key answers here:

• Technology is your friend.
• Automating repetitive manual tasks is key.
• A simple, easy-to-use workflow management solution and collaboration platform is essential.

Technology is your friend

For accountants and bookkeepers in particular, embracing technology solutions for your industry is the key to freeing up billable hours and increasing your revenue potential - no matter the size of your business.From sole trader right through to enterprise, implementing smart technology solutions in the one sure-fire way to create lasting, scalable practices in your business. This starts with AI Audit.

AI Audit to reduce manual bookkeeping checks

Covering everything from GST discrepancies, ABN cross checks with the ABR, duplicates in invoicing and billing, unusual account activity and so much more, XBert’s risk alerts are the gatekeeper for human error helping accountants and bookkeepers eliminate rework, reduce manual tasks and have total confidence in the data.A tiny fraction of what our XBert alerts find:

• Bills in (month) without attachments over $75
• Non-GST account has GST against it
• Payment to supplier not registered for GST
• Business has incorrect GST status
• Incorrect ABN for business
• Large GST activity for contact without ABN
• Employee Leave Entitlements Missing
• Donation against non-DGR entity
• Employee Bank Accounts Same
• Practice employee bank account same as supplier
• TPAR information missing
• Purchase orders in Draft or Awaiting Approval
• Accounts Payable process not followed
• Mutiple ABNs on attachments for supplier bill
• GST registration required
• Month-end journals missing
• Bank statement line missing
• Contact bank account changed
• Unpaid income on cancelled business

This gives you peace of mind around the quality of the data -the ability to flag issues and inconsistencies as they arise and re-train as required. All without spending hours on manual data review - and all while your staff are remote working.

Automating manual, repetitive tasks

Having a checklist in your head is not an effective way to run a business – even if you are a sole trader. By having a standardised system in place, you ensure proper delivery of your services to clients. If you have a team, this empowers them to take control of their workload, while also removing any confusion surrounding company processes and how their work should be completed.By automating these tasks and workflows with a technology tool, not only do you ensure a consistent delivery of service across your clients, you allow for complete visibility across your practice workflow at any given time. Your team will appreciate this too, it’s always simple to know exactly what’s expected of them. No matter where they’re working, they know exactly what needs to be done, how and can complete their work more autonomously.XBert’s Templates, Scheduling and Processes have been created to make standardising processes simple and effective, while being managed all in one simple dashboard.

Tracking workflow and managing your remote working team

To make remote work simple, your management system has to be simple as well. You have to have visibility across workflow to effectively manage and track what’s happening across the business and ensure your clients are being served to standard.What’s not simple is jumping in and out of different products, or chasing complicated Excel spreadsheet checklists. The most effective way to track your workflow and manage your team is via one simple system, built for the way accountants and bookkeepers work.There’s a plethora of these available on the market, so it’s important to do your research and ensure you use the software or program that is best suited for the industry and the way your work. When it comes to bookkeeping, we here at XBert know what we’re doing. Learn more about our workflow management solutions for bookkeepers here.From one simple dashboard, you are able to see exactly what needs to be done, by who and by when, across your entire practice. It’s simple to collaborate and communicate with your team and clients.

Want to be more productive and increase revenue while managing your remote teams?

Start a free trial with XBert today and one of our awesome customer success team will give you a guided tour on how you can do exactly that.