In the wake of new technology, running an accounting firm can be a serious challenge. Huge changes in this technology, such as the use of blockchain, acritical intelligence, and automation, are altering the way that people approach building and maintaining a business. This will specifically have a change on accountants, who will now have to contend with changed client demands, as more client will be pushing for automation within their accounting services such as audits and tax preparation. In reality, this is great opportunity for your accounting firm to get ahead of the game, allowing accountants to work with computers as opposed to allowing themselves to get outpaced.
One area where this is crucial is the creation and negotiation of contracts. Creating contracts with other firms or individuals is key to the survival of an accounting firm. It turns out, that the technology that threatens to disrupt accounting firms can actually be harnessed by them within their own firms. With that in mind, here’s how accounting firms can use contract lifecycle management to make themselves more efficient and indispensable to their clients.
Save Time on Creating and Fulfilling Contracts
Contract lifecycle management is a complex process that involves automating and managing every stage of a contract for increased efficiently. This includes standardizing your contracts based on the types of agreements that you typically negotiate, versus creating a wholly new document every time you gain a new client. In terms of accounting firms, creating boilerplate contracts that cover standard services such as audits and tax preparation and saving these as modifiable templates can go a long way in helping you gain more clients at a faster clip.
Additionally, contract lifecycle management makes it much easier to fulfill the terms of contracts. Through this process, the terms can be automatically tracked, and your legal team can easily pull agreements if they need to do so. You can also track the terms of the contract as well, and make sure that all payments come in to you in a timely manner, whether they are NET 30 or another form of payment entirely. For accounting firms, this is crucial, as many accounting firms have issues collecting payment from clients, particularly individuals who are counting on tax refunds to foot their accounting bills.
Of course, there are still many challenges that accounting firms face in the modern era. However, contract lifecycle management is one automated process that accounting firms can and should embrace. Doing so will help them stay ahead of current market trends and utilize technology for their own purposes, instead of becoming irrelevant because of it. More and more, accounting firms need to learn to innovate and work alongside technology to continue to attract clients. Contract lifecycle management is a crucial component in this, as it allow accounting firms to focus on their clients and their core services without getting muddled in the details of contracts and losing clients as a result. Ultimately, contract lifecycle management, as well as other technological innovations, should be embraced by accounting firms in order to ensure that they innovate along with society and still serve a crucial role to individuals and businesses alike.
