Top Tech Tools for Accounting Firms in 2022

Tim Sines

Modern accounting technology has skyrocketed productivity rates.  

91% of accountants say that technology helps them focus on their clients and be more productive. And it’s not just powerful accounting software like QuickBooks—some of the best tech tools out there are in project management, time and billing, document management, and more.   

2022 tech offers game-changing accounting firm software that creates extra time in the work day so your employees can get even more done and automated systems that assign tasks to your team, so everyone’s on the same page. Your clients benefit as well with increasingly convenient and timely accounting services.   

If your accounting firm’s tech stack was made before our current millennium, it’s time to consider these tech upgrades. 

Time and billing software 

Tracking your expenses is essential to keep your accounting firm profitable. Time and billing software helps you manage both your time tracking and invoicing. While these tools help you with the all-important task of getting paid, they can also give you valuable insight into which tasks take up the most time.  

Time tracking 

With robust time tracking software, you can run multiple timers at once for all the different types of work you do. Timers can stop and start based on which projects you are working on, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting to stop it when you take a break. Plus, with helpful mobile apps, you can track time from anywhere—if you have to take a client-related phone call at your son’s soccer game, you can track it. 

Billing 

With billing software, you can send bills in the most convenient ways for your clients. With manual billing, you can edit items one at a time in an invoice and tailor it to meet your client’s needs. Or, you can choose batch invoicing, which allows you to create, edit, and send invoices to multiple clients at once.   

Predictability is essential for billing. Send your bills like clockwork with recurring invoices automatically on the same date every month, or let your clients pay in advance on retainer. (If a client pays in advance, they never have to worry about accidentally paying late.)  

Project management tools 

When your accounting firm performs the same manual task over and over, or everyone has to be in an hour-long morning meeting just discussing updates, it eats up time and wastes the day. Project management software helps streamline tasks and projects with dashboards. 

Every person relevant to a project can check the dashboard for the project’s status. Assign tasks to team members with any pertinent information or documents attached. This way, everyone knows what they have to do—no meeting required. Plus, you can implement email notifications to tell your employees when a status has been changed or when a task has been assigned in the dashboard, so everyone’s always in the loop. 

Document management software 

Paper files are easy to misplace and take up excessive office space. (Plus, with remote work still a popular option, no one wants to trek back to the office to access a file!)  

Document management software allows you to view and edit documents from anywhere, whether working on your desktop, smartphone, or home tablet. Moreover, you can use advanced functionalities to set up document templates, so you don’t have to start from scratch every time. 

A word to the wise: Client data must be protected, so it’s important to use document management software that offers granular permissions. This feature ensures that only people who work with the client directly have access.  

E-signatures and file-sharing 

Client collaboration tools like e-signatures and file-sharing make it easy to collect necessary documents and signatures quickly. Clients can securely sign documents from their computer or smartphone and send them back to you via email, so documents are returned within hours instead of days. 

But you can’t just use any signature to make it legally binding. You must use e-signature software that follows legal guidelines: 

  • The signer’s identity can be confirmed using a digital marker, like an IP address 
  • The parameters of the transaction are communicated and the signer undeniably intended to undergo the method of signing 
  • The signature associated with the document is verifiable and has evidentiary documentation 

Reporting and analytics 

Accounting firm software like reporting and analytics uses the data from your practice management software to show you which clients are the most profitable. Plus, you can compare trends within your firm year after year to see where your employees shine and where they need to improve. 

Calendars and email 

Outlook and Google are two of the most popular email and calendaring tools, so you want practice management software that integrates with the one your firm uses.  

Integrating your calendar and practice management software lets you seamlessly schedule meetings, assign tasks, and send files. Plus, you can set reminders for yourself in Google or Outlook and Mango, so you’ll never be late to a meeting or miss a deadline again. 

Mango streamlines your tech stack 

There are a ton of different accounting firm practice management software options out there,  and you want your tech stack to work together without a struggle. When you have to switch between two different types of software that don’t integrate, important data gets lost.  

But Mango Practice Management includes all these helpful features and integrations into popular software like Quickbooks and email and calendaring tools like Google. So everything you need to manage your firm can be found in one place.  

If you’re tired of your outdated tech, schedule a demo with Mango so we can show you how to step into the future of accounting. 

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