Top tips to boost your bookkeeping efficiency, even in a pandemic

The finance teams of small business have been caught in a ‘Catch 22’ scenario these last 2 years. To survive and thrive in these times means being able to pivot and adjust quickly and often. But to truly thrive, you also need to make time to have systems in place that allow you to gain efficiency and remain productive while doing so. So how do you make time to find those efficiencies and implement them, while maintaining confidence your business is delivering the quality standard of work you promise?

There’s no better way to ensure you’re performing at your best than to use the smart technology tools. Successful bookkeeping businesses have embraced technology during these times. When you’ve implemented the right systems, you will be able to pivot and adjust with ease, have peace of mind your team is across everything that needs to be done and cut down on lost time in messy communication.

Here are our top tips for bookkeepers wanting to ensure they’re ready to pivot and be more efficient, even when challenges arise:

Invest in AI Audit

It’s the menial, non-income producing activities like checking work (and rework) that can be the most time consuming. Finding errors at the final hour is a pain - and missing things is a nightmare. Ensuring data integrity, while ensuring neat process checklists, managing outsourced teams, an increasingly demanding client base – it’s a lot.AI Audit gives you the opportunity to let go of many of those time-consuming checks, and immediately gives you peace of mind that any issues are being brought to your attention. GST status, ABNs and cross-referencing attachments with bills, checking junior employee birthdays and award upgrades – these are all things that can be flagged (rather than you spending hours trawling and checking data) using an AI Audit tool.

XBert has more than 70 sophisticated algorithms that will trawl your data multiple times a day, alerting you to errors, issues and anomalies that arise. Some of our users, like Trina Dando, say having XBert running in the background while they work, is the equivalent of having Part Time employee – minus the margin for human error and rework. While our set of XBert risk alerts is already pretty impressive and time-saving…we have plans for 50 more.

One central system for workflow

Let’s be real, loads of time can be spent cleaning up inefficient work…or simply discovering where your team is at, and what needs doing by when.When you have one centralised workflow tool, with complete visibility across the practice workflow, it removes all time wasted chasing the information you need. With AI Audit alerting you to discrepancies in real time, not only will you know there is an issue right away, you’ll know what it is and have a direct link to fix it. You’ll also know who was responsible and will be able to take appropriate actions and rectify. No more surprises when you start checking work towards end of month. No more panic stations when you realise something isn’t right.

With a Templates system that’s been built for the way bookkeepers work, and one central Dashboard to work from, using XBert Workflows is an excellent way to streamline your workflow and ensure consistent delivery across all your clients - no matter who is working on the file. You can also assign tasks, with a deadline to ensure your staff know exactly what is expected of them. Our simple period reporting selector, with filters for team and processes, allows you to know what you and anyone in your team has to do and by when. All at the click of a button.

Simple, clean communication between you and your clients

More and more business owners are attempting to manage parts of the books themselves. Unfortunately, many aren’t trained professionals - and that can lead to a lot of clean up that you may not be paid to do. We’ve created a simple way to remove messy double handling of information, hefty email trails and time-consuming phone calls. Invite your client into XBert to easily collaborate and obtain timely information.Our White-labelled Client Console is a portal just for you and your client, where you can chat, create and assign tasks, ask questions and even get snapshots and insights into the health of your client’s business.

Work more efficiently outside of XBert, too.

Our browser extension is super clever. Not only will this allow you to access and manage your XBerts and tasks within your accounting software – you can also create and assign tasks while working on ANY website. This will allow you to instruct how things should be done, or ask why something was done, assign it, and it will appear on your client dashboard with a link straight back to the issue.

Always evolving

We listen and implement – our users are a huge part of how we evolve. While XBert is already packed with features, we have an extensive development roadmap and new XBerts and features are released continually based on user feedback. XBert has grown into THE tool to start your day, manage your workload, and end the day knowing your work is accurate and having peace of mind that you’re safeguarding your practice and your clients and helping them succeed.

Find better bookkeeping efficiency and streamline your entire workflow.

XBert is your trusty sidekick, tirelessly checking the data for errors and helping you manage workflow easily.

• Sleep better at night knowing XBert is auditing the data and alerting you to errors and inconsistencies as they arise.
• Work to best practice and increase your bottom line.
• Collaborate easily with your clients and provide the best advice with smart insights.

Sign up for a 30 day obligation-free trial, load up a Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks files and our customer success team will be in touch to show you how XBert will work best, for you!

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