General · 5 min read
5 Things Clients Expect From Their Accountants
Clienter Team
“Customers are the king in the market” - a saying which holds true even to date. They are the key to the success of any business. Like any other business line, even an accountant needs to know what his client wants or expects, but is it easy to resonate with the client’s expectations? Read more here as this is what this article is all about
- Timely communication
One should know that your client relies on you to handle their accounts and finance as they are themselves engrossed with a lot of other things which need their attention. They need easy accessibility to you, when it comes to any needs in this area. One of the major concerns the client faces from an accountant is the time he takes to respond to the concern they have. You know you are highly valued when your concerns are addressed shortly if not instant, and in turn which would create more value for the service the accountant is offering. Clienter can assure this aspect that timely responses with instant accessibility to the accountants, being one of the key features.
- Suggesting easier ways to streamline processes
An accountant need not always stick to the traditional practices that the firm has been following. They can always suggest easier ways to save on time, efforts and resources that would be wasted otherwise. Undoubtedly, the work of an accountant can be a tedious process if one does not keep a tab of how it can be streamlined in the best way. He can always suggest more automations, cloud solutions like Sage, Quickbooks, Zoho Books, and even provide proper training to the personnel involved in the processes.
The client would get better quality reports, data-driven decisions, precise figures and a better system in place, which anyone seeks from a service. Clienter has integrated AI with the workflows automating most of the work an accountant would be involved in and saving a lot of resources for your client.
- Proactive and not Reactive
What does being proactive mean? A recent study in America said that 54% of the consumers would stop using a brand or a service after one bad experience. Being proactive simply means to control a situation before it happens or goes out of hand. This can build up your reputation and it will reduce the customer churn (reduction in customer base due to inconveniences, poor service and so on) to very minimal. Staying proactive when it comes to handling your client is the efficient way to deal with any issues.
- Common sharepoint for anything
Imagine how much time it would take to share all the documents, inputs, data physically when you request to your client. With the advancement in technology, you can easily at the tip of a few clicks make sure that the requirement reaches to the client and receive the same, within a short span of time. As an accountant, one must make sure to make it as seamless as possible for the client in this aspect. You can use tools like Sharepoint, Google Drive, Dropbox and so on for real-time sharing and access throughout. You can develop an online checklist to keep a track of the requirements you had put forth to the client and get a response from them, once they have shared. This would again help in streamlining the workflow of the processes involved in your service. Clienter has found a solution for all these concerns. Through Clienter, all requests from the accountant can instantly reach the client through Magic Links tracked with an integrated checklist, and the client can respond with ease irrespective of the interface he uses at his convenience.
- Data -> Confidentiality, Security, Quality
You are one of the key personnels who has access to the crucial data of your client. Maintaining a database without letting data leaks and unauthorised access to the data is important considering the spike in data breaches. Securing the infrastructure, setting up two factor authentications, keeping strong credentials, IP whitelisting are some measures that can be taken as an Accountant to ensure the safety of your client’s data. Read more on Boosting Your Cybersecurity here. Along with these, the quality of the data and the reports that you present to the client is the most important element of data-handling. Providing valuable insights to the client that can help drive their decisions is what will make your firm stand out, by building their trust in you and your service. Numerous tools and software are available today that help in establishing this in the most efficient way and as an accountant, you need to reassure your client that the data is safe in your hands.
An accountant plays a crucial role in any business and the extent of his reach cannot be trivialised. He should easen up the processes for a founder and imbibe these traits listed in his service, assuring the quality and trust in his service as an accountant.
