Technology for Effective Accountant Practice Management Software

Practice management is a topic discussed frequently for many industry segments like Accounting, Property Management, Healthcare, Construction and more. A well architected, secure, easy-to-use, affordable all-in-one practice management software like Basil from CoralTree (www.getbasil.app) can transform a business into an efficient and fun environment for employees and clients. 

Key features for accounting firm practice management software

Accounting, tax and bookkeeping services can benefit immensely by implementing an all-in-one accountant practice management software for their operations. Whether they are a one-person firm or have multiple staff members servicing thousands of clients, there are significant benefits to using an accountant practice management software and cost savings that can be realized from a good accountant practice management software.

All-in-one accountant practice management software is a cloud-based environment that integrates many features that a typical accounting and tax services firm will use for their day-to-day operations in servicing their clients. There is no installation required for setting up the software.

A Client Portal is used for organizing, storing and sharing client documents securely in the cloud. Documents can be tagged, categorized, organized for easy retrieval when needed. Documents can be Edited in the cloud directly, for quick updates. An integrated Electronic Signature feature is used for getting documents signed and stored with an audit trail, without the need for moving them back and forth from external e-signature tools. KBA (knowledge-based authentication) is frequently used to identify a signer before they are allowed to access the document. This requirement is mandated by agencies like the IRS for some types of documents.

Tasks, Projects, Workflow and Calendar can transform your operation from a reactive, impromptu style of working to a more proactive, efficient and frictionless system. Integrating these features into the all-in-one accountant practice management software helps reference documents in the Client Portal without the need for moving files from one product to another. Preconfigured task types, task stages and project templates help businesses set up workflow software and get started in the shortest time possible. The status of a task can be viewed on a Kanban task board so task owners are motivated to complete their tasks on time by advancing them through stages. An integrated calendar is used to schedule tasks and events, and staff members can optionally view the schedules of others. A virtual assistant is used to follow-up with task owners until the tasks are completed.

Billing and Invoicing is another important feature of an accountant practice management software. Tasks assigned to staff members can be billed to clients for the number of billable hours spent on a task. Clients can be invoiced through an integrated product like QuickBooks Online, Avalara or direct invoicing. KPI charts in combination with billing history are used to track time cards that are billed and payments collected from clients.

Email and Chat features enable users to communicate securely within the accountant practice management software without the need for using third party tools. Integrating these features also helps users to easily reference documents that are already in the client portal.

The CRM feature helps maintain a list of client contacts in one table, which can be exported to a CSV file when needed. The CRM list includes contacts of client users who are not sharing the client portal, such as their consultants.

Search functionality can find any document, user or item in the entire account within seconds. Notifications can be customized for a user to receive in-app or email notifications for selected events.

Best Management Software for Small Accounting Firms

All the above features need to be highly available, secure and meet high performance requirements that are up to par with the cloud software industry. In the case of Basil, the entire multi-tenanted accountant practice management software suite is hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers with a high degree of security and reliability. Several different AWS services working within the data center virtual private network are utilized to implement the features of Basil. This means that whether one user of Basil is searching for a document or a hundred thousand users are searching for documents simultaneously, the results will be displayed at the same speed, without any degradation. The architecture is highly optimized to deliver the performance at one of the lowest subscription prices in the industry.

Sign up for a Basil account and check out the features of the all-in-practice management software. There is no credit card needed to start the 15 day free trial.