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9 Key Monthly Bookkeeping Checklist Items (Free Template)

By jetpack workflow | Updated on Mar 25, 2024 | 7 minutes
monthly bookkeeping checklist

It’s no secret: running a successful accounting firm is a lot of work. You need to make client calls, pay bills, and of course, do the work for each client. Just keeping up month-to-month is challenging.

With so many tasks competing for your attention, it can be especially difficult to maintain your quality of work. And for your staff performing bookkeeping, consistency is another goal that can be hard to reach. 

Without a well-documented bookkeeping process, your firm may not be meeting its full potential in terms of profitability and growth. Staff may spend more time on each client, double checking which tasks are missing. This inefficiency has a knack for snowballing as your team members play catch-up with any missed assignments.

Besides investing in useful accounting software, you can use a monthly bookkeeping checklist to ensure nothing falls through the cracks. Your team will breeze through their assignments and quickly see what’s completed. Let’s look at some tasks you can add to your monthly bookkeeping checklist that will ensure your firm is more profitable and ready for scalable growth.

 

9 Key Monthly Bookkeeping Tasks to Include in Your Checklist

If you’re new to bookkeeping checklists, this is a great place to start your journey towards being more efficient. If you already have a checklist going, then you’ll surely find some gems to add to it below. Here are the most important monthly bookkeeping tasks to add to your bookkeeping checklist.

 

#1: Review Your Cash Position

Although it seems pretty obvious, this task is often overlooked, which can cause unnecessary complications or emergencies if there is no available cash to spend. You want to review how much cash you need on a month-to-month basis and make at least that much available. If you have any cash-intensive plans in the coming month, you should make allowances for that as well.

 

#2: Update Your Bookkeeping Software

A big part of not letting anything slip through the cracks is updating your bookkeeping software. It can only help you as much as you keep it updated with all possible aspects of your monthly finances. A solution like Jetpack Workflow will generate more accurate reports with more useful information.

Ensure that everything that needs to be recorded, uploaded, and categorized is properly squared away, and you haven’t missed anything over the past month. If other people are contributing to the software, confirm that they’ve also done their part to the fullest.

 

#3: Review Customer and Vendor Invoices

As soon as you receive payments from customers, record them immediately in your bookkeeping software. This task keeps you from making the mistake of contacting customers who have already paid you for the same invoice. It also helps you keep track of the payments you’ve received.

Your vendors only trust you as much as you are forthcoming with your payments. Hence, check all your vendor invoices and check if you’ve missed any payments. If you’re past the deadline on any invoices, make it a priority to settle it before the new month kicks off.

This is also a good time to inspect your upcoming invoices to confirm that you’ve received the value you’re paying for before making payment. Don’t forget to file the payments once you make them.

 

#4: Review Aged Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable Reports

Next, If you have any past due invoices, there is no better time to send them a reminder. On the other hand, confirm that you’ve settled all your vendor invoices or reach out to them if need be. These reports will let you know if there are any invoicing errors, incorrect transactions, or duplicate invoices you should account for.

 

#5: Reconcile Credit Card and Bank Accounts

Once you’ve reviewed, paid, and recorded both customer and vendor invoice payments, you are ready to check your credit card accounts and bank statements for accuracy. By the end of this task, your actual cash position will become clearer, and you’ll have spotted any suspicious activity, double charges, or failed transactions that might have gone unnoticed over the past month.

If your balances don’t match, you might have incorrectly entered some transactions, added the wrong ending balance or ending dates, forgot to enter some receipts, or even missed some expenses and transactions.

Depending on when a check is deposited, it may not reflect in your account till the following day. If you have deposits in transit or outstanding checks, let your account reflect it so it all balances.  

If you still can’t reconcile the error, but it is only a small amount, you might want to ignore it and label it a reconciliation error so you can proceed.

 

#6: Calculate and Record Sales Tax

Suppose your small business is located in any of the 45 states that collect statewide sales tax or in the District of Columbia.

In that case, you are responsible for calculating, collecting, and paying sales tax. Although you can make quarterly payments for sales tax , calculating it on a monthly basis makes it much less cumbersome. You may also be subject to sales tax levied by your county district, but the same approach works for this type as well.

Please note that if you don’t collect sales tax or fail to pay it, you may be penalized with interests, or your property may be seized, both of which will affect your credit score. Adding tax filings to your monthly activities removes all that risk.

 
what to include on bookkeeping checklist
 

#7: Review Open Client and Vendor Deposit Report

An open vendor deposit is money your business has sent to a vendor, but the vendor hasn’t sent you a vendor invoice to use that money. The open vendor deposit reports show which orders are yet to be filled.

Ask your vendor to fill that order and send an invoice for the purchase order so you can move the money from your asset account into COGS (Cost of Goods Sold).

You may find that you’ve received retainer deposits that you’ve not applied to a  client invoice, or you may only have used a part of the deposit. An open client deposit report will point this out so you can calculate your revenue with more accuracy and better manage the client’s funds.

 

#8: Review Forecasted Cash Flow

Small business owners need to have cash flow goals, but they have to be achievable. Also, there is nothing wrong with adjusting those goals to meet the current business climate.

If you run a seasonal business, cash flow goals are even more important so you can thrive during and after peak business periods. You may need to review your forecasts if your financial statements exceed or don’t meet your budget. If you don’t have a budget, comparing your current income to previous months can be a good way to prepare for the future.

 

#9: Review Your Inventory

Check your inventory status on a month-to-month basis to avoid being caught off guard by a shortage in supplies. If you’re in a peak period or just completed one, you might want to review your inventory more often to ensure things go smoothly.

 

Free Template – Monthly Bookkeeping Checklist

Want to be at the top of your bookkeeping game all year long and equip your employees with the right tools? It’s really not that difficult with a checklist template. You can download 32 workflow templates here for free – it includes a bookkeeping checklist template that will make accounting easier for you going forward.

 

Best Places to Keep Your Monthly Bookkeeping Checklist

Here are some of the most common places to keep your bookkeeping checklist…

 

#1: Write it down

 

Pros

  • Free to create
  • Easily transportable
 

Cons

  • Difficult to edit
  • Can get lost
  • Very difficult to share
 

#2: Google doc or spreadsheet

 

Pros

  • Free to create
  • Easy to share and collaborate
 

Cons

  • Too easy to ignore
  • No additional bookkeeping features
  • No templates
  • No integrations
 

#3: Jetpack Workflow

 

Pros

  • Dedicated bookkeeping software
  • Multiple useful templates
  • Daily reminders
  • Easier to collaborate
  • Detailed reports
  • Customer service
  • Many other bookkeeping features for SMBs
  • Unlimited integrations for a seamless transition
 

Cons

  • Not free, but affordable

Learn more about Jetpack Workflow here.

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How to Use “Leveraged Accounting Advisory” to Build a 4-Day Work Week

By jetpack workflow | Updated on Dec 27, 2023 | 9 minutes

Podcast

Summary

  • What Amanda Does and How
  • Steps to Leveraged Accounting Advisory
  • KPIs and Your Team
  • Different Levels of Leverage Advisory
  • Communicating the Value of Leverage Advisory
  • Your Leverage Advisory Journey

Additional Resources

Meet Amanda C. Watts

Amanda C. Watts is the founder of Oomph Global, which is a company that helps practice owners embrace a new way of running their practice by using modern marketing to attract better prospects, understand the science and the art of sales to convert higher value prospects, and implement a new delivery model to scale their practices. Since 2009, Amanda has helped over 3000 practice owners in 23 countries. She is a keynote speaker, an Amazon bestselling author, creator of world-class training courses, and super passionate about making a difference.

What Amanda Does and How

For starters, Amanda is passionate about helping firm owners who have too many clients and not enough revenue. While she isn’t an accountant herself, she loves the accounting industry, specifically marketing, sales, systemizing, scaling, and accounting practice. Her ideal client, then, is someone who really wants to change from having a “monster practice,” as she calls it, to having a “freedom practice,” which is a practice that allows the practice owner the freedom and peace of mind to take part in the coveted four-day work week.

When it comes to staff-client ratios, there is no golden ratio. “The first thing we do when we work with clients is ask, ‘What kind of practice do you want?’” Often the considerations are having a traditional, compliance-based practice or a firm that focuses on leveraged advisory services. Amanda is passionate about the second option, here.

“I teach my accountants how to serve 300 to 400 clients as a team of them on their own and an admin person.”

What Amanda is saying here is that she teaches a team of two how to make $10,000 per client. This is why leveraged accounting advisory is so crucial. It makes it incredibly easy to grow your firm once you get your head around it. It frees up your time, allows you to work with clients on a one-to-many basis, and enables you to turn a tidy profit. Can you achieve this by simply doing compliance work? Absolutely, but that’s done by having a well-oiled machine that allows you as firm owner to step back from the weeds and see the big picture. “The problem with most firms is that they’ve been run by someone who’s said, ‘I can’t stand working for the Big Four. I can do this better. I’m going to set up my own firm.’ And all they end up doing is having a J.O.B. — Just Over Broke, that is.”

Steps to Leveraged Advisory

Put briefly, the steps to beginning leveraged advisory services involve three things: growth, people, and systems.

  1. Done by 10:30— “Something I learned from one of my mentors is called ‘Done by 10:30.’ This is where two to three times a week, you set yourself three 50 minute timers, and in those 50 minutes, you do things that grow the practice or you make a hire or look at systemizing something.” This time management strategy allows you to use the rest of your day looking after your team.
  2. Daily team member meetings— Use the bulk of your day looking after your team members, not micromanaging but looking after them. Have meetings with your key leaders, department managers, and team leads on a daily basis to see how you can better support them.
  3. Call on key accounts— After you’ve done all of that. You can call on some key accounts to ensure that you’re continuing to build relationships with your clients. 

“At the end of the day, it’s your job to keep the machine running as smoothly as possible.”

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KPIs and Your Team

But what are the key performance indicators that will help you measure your journey toward leveraged advisory? Amanda says the first metric to look at is how many hours the CEO is working. Part of analyzing that metric is doing a CDS review— Cut, Delegate, and Systemize. What can you cut? What can you delegate? And what can you systemize? “We can’t actually do KPIs until we see the mess the practice is in.”

Once you have properly analyzed the practice and delegated what’s necessary, those you have delegated to will have KPIs to hit. However, despite the importance of KPIs, your biggest asset is your team. So, realistically, your team’s happiness should be your primary KPI. “When we have our monthly team meeting, at the end of it, I say, ‘On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy are you?’ I’ll always say something like, ‘Right now, I’m feeling a 4 or 5 for this reason.’” This, Amanda says, gives your people the opportunity to be honest and not feel pressured to give out a high number and gives you the opportunity to determine what is lacking that would get them to a 10. Look after your team and retain them, because that will enable you to focus on building the firm you really want.

Different Levels of Leverage Advisory

First off, Amanda recommends not saying that you’re an advisor, because people don’t understand what that is. Instead, sell the transformation you’re offering, sell the fact that you’re a consultant. Additionally, understand that you’re not competing with other accountants. You’re competing with other business coaches and consultants.

There are different levels of advisory. “The ones you’ve been told are very profitable are, in fact, the least profitable.” Specifically, Amanda talked about compliance. While it is possible to turn a nice profit off of compliance—around 40% profit margin, you have to systemize it pretty intensely. 

“Accountants have been sold the Holy Grail of ADVISORY.” Advisory is great because it transforms a client’s business and life. However, there is a downside. You are time limited, especially if you don’t do it right, which means you are often overworked.

Leveraged advisory is different from standard advisory. In this model, 80% of the work you do is done in a one-to-many scenario. Here are four tactics to make it work. 

  1. Take the frequently asked questions that you get from clients, make video responses or walkthroughs, and compile them into an FAQ library. Then, have your admin person take care of distributing those videos as needed. 

  1. The second tactic is like it: office hours. Amanda noted that one of her clients offers office hours every two weeks via an open Zoom call at a certain time. She says that office hours have freed up 10 hours per week for her client, enabling them to have a four-day work week!

  1. The third tactic is setting up a mastermind group. Accountants rarely run their own mastermind groups, even though it’s a great money-maker with little pressure involved. A mastermind is when you get a group of people together, have someone facilitate group discussion, and have the people in the group help one another with their challenges. So, if you’re nervous about beginning advisory services, start a mastermind. Through the mastermind process, you’ll often be credited with the solution despite not having given the answers.

  1. Lastly, you can create an online advisory service, create videos and systems, and invite others to sign up for it. This is much harder work than it may seem.

Communicating the Value of Leveraged Advisory Services

So, how do you communicate the value of leveraged advisory services to potential clients? The key points to hit on are: make money, save money, reduce stress, and reduce time. If you can help a potential client do even one of those, you have something saleable. After you’ve identified what that is, you need to create your own methodology to accompany that goal. “What is it that you can work on for 12–36 months that will help a business move the needle?”

For example: pricing! You may think you can’t advise businesses on pricing, but you definitely can. You can see what their services cost, which services are making money, and which services are costing the client money. Advise around this! You can make or save companies tons of money this way.

Here’s the big point! You have studied accounting, passed various exams, and practiced for years. Business owners need your expertise. Amanda says, “A business owner may see $100K in the bank and not realize $80K of it is going to the tax man!” You know so much more than you give yourself credit for!

Your Leveraged Advisory Journey

So, you’re interested in doing leveraged advisory work. Do you jump right into the one-to-many approach to it? That depends. Amanda says that if you have already been doing similar work—outsourced CFO work—then go for it! If you’ve never done work like this before, though, she recommends starting one-on-one with a client, building your confidence, and then expanding out.

Conclusion

We covered a ton of great information in the podcast, so if you’re after more detailed information, be sure to check out the full episode! If you want to learn more about Amanda, her company, and leveraged advisory, you can connect with her on LinkedIn or through her website!

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The 7 Best Financial Cents Alternatives to Manage Workflows

By jetpack workflow | Updated on Dec 27, 2023 | 8 minutes
financial cents alternatives

Financial Cents is an accounting practice management software designed to scale your firm with ease.

It does this by tracking work, collaborating with your team remotely, automating client data, and storing everything in one place. This software is for accountants, bookkeepers, and CPAs looking for a centralized platform to collaborate and manage projects and staff.

All of this is accomplished with its ease of use and features. Some features include workflow management that maps out services and processes, client management, and invoicing and time tracking that integrates billing.

While the features and ease of use are some of the software’s strengths, accounting professionals may be frustrated with the lack of integrations and report generation capabilities.

So, if you’re looking for more robust accounting firm management tools or a tool to replace Financial Cents, here are some of the best alternative recommendations to consider.

Shortcomings of Financial Cents

According to some users, there are issues with integrations and specific features. Here are some of those issues:

  • The lack of integrations is an issue with many users. It only integrates with Quickbooks. There are no other integrations, not even with Zapier.
  • The report options are limited.
  • Planning future work is limited, in particular the capacity views and schedule views.
  • It can be hard to balance the workload. It’s difficult to quickly reassign work or move due dates.

The Top 7 Financial Cents Alternatives

With Financial Cents’ shortcomings, let’s take a look at some other options. At a glance, many accounting practice management solutions seem similar, but taking a closer look at product reviews shows the meaningful details software buyers should know.

Jetpack Workflow

  • What is it: Jetpack Workflow is a cloud-based workflow management software option designed for accounting firms, but useful for small businesses in a variety of industries.
  • Top features: Jetpack Workflow includes pre-made templates, capacity planning tools, automated deadlines, and detailed reporting, helping both clients and firms have a great experience.
  • Who it’s for: Jetpack Workflow is for the financial sector and other small to mid-sized businesses looking for workflow management software to keep track of projects and streamline repetitive processes in client work. The capacity management feature is also critical for firms in the midst of growth and taking on new clients.
  • Pricing: There are two unlimited plans. Both have the same features, except the Scale Plan comes with new capacity management and scheduling features. The Organize Plan runs $36 per user a month billed annually. The Scale Plan runs $39 per user a month billed annually.
  • Final word: When evaluated based on ease of set up, ease of use, features, customer service, price, and integrations, Jetpack Workflow excels on all counts. Users report its flexibility along with the ability to customize a major advantage and a big time saver, and rate it as an excellent product. Onboarding is easy with helpful instructions.
https://youtu.be/TCs31RYWfzo

Karbon

  • What is it: Karbon is a work management software that streamlines the transfer of information by providing visibility across local and remote teams.
  • Top features: With Karbon, you can automate client data, generate recurring tasks, and store reports, spreadsheets, and documents in the same place as your workflow processes.
  • Who it’s for: This cloud-based workflow collaboration tool presents itself as a hub for medium and large businesses and is ideal for teams who need to collaborate from different departments and locations.
  • Pricing: There are three pricing options. The Team Plan runs $59 a month per user if paid annually or $75 a month per user if paid monthly. The Business Plan runs $79 a month per user if paid annually or $99 a month per user if paid monthly. The Enterprise Plan is custom pricing.
  • Final word: While the features and amount of integrations are some of the software’s strengths, firms may be frustrated with the interface, complicated setup fees, and other hidden costs.

Canopy

  • What is it: Canopy is a cloud-based practice management solution for accounting firms. It is built to streamline processes and help financial professionals focus on creating connections with clients.
  • Top features: Some of their top features include workflow, document management, time and billing, payments, and CRM with a client portal.
  • Who it’s for: Canopy is for medium-sized accounting firms looking for a comprehensive practice management solution.
  • Pricing: Canopy offers five plans based on modular pricing. There’s a Client Management Plan with a $199 implementation fee plus $2.50/client per year with a minimum of 200 clients. The Time & Billing Module runs $24/user per month while the next plan up, The Workflow Module, runs $30/user per month. The Tax Resolution Module runs $33/user per month, and the Document Management Module runs $40/user per month.
  • Final word: Canopy’s strength is in the time and billing feature and the client communication tool and client dashboard that bridges the gap between the company and the client. According to users, the weakness is the software can get pricey and is not ideal for project management.

Aero Workflow

  • What is it: Aero Workflow combines processes, procedures, and tasks to be all in one place. That way, you can quickly assess what is on the roadmap for your team.
  • Top features: Aero’s top features include step-by-step checklists, time and project tracking, and one-time as well as recurring task scheduling.
  • Who it’s for: Aero Workflow is for small to mid-sized accounting professionals looking to consolidate processes and procedures in one platform.
  • Pricing: Aero offers three different plans. The Sole Proprietor Plan runs $39 a month at an annual plan rate or $47 paid monthly. The Small Firm Plan runs $79 a month if paid annually or $95 if paid monthly. The Large Firm Plan runs $149 a month is paid annually or $170 if paid monthly. The number of users increases with each plan, but all integrations and unlimited clients are included in every plan.
  • Final word: Aero Workflow is a to-do list for your firm but lacks some of the more robust features offered by some of the other alternatives.

CS Professional Suite

  • What is it: CS Professional Suite is cloud-based and manages workflow processes in accounting firms.
  • Top features: The software is known for having a time and billing tool, project management capabilities, and dashboards to give a wider view of the workload.
  • Who it’s for: CS Professional Suite is built for firms and related businesses of many stages of growth with a need for an operations, payroll, documentation, and project management solution.
  • Pricing: Contact Thomson Reuters for pricing.
  • Final word: CS Professional Suite is a valuable tool for accounting project management. According to users, its strength lies in the billing and time tool feature but has an outdated design.

ClickUp

  • What is it: ClickUp is a project management tool designed to plan, organize, and collaborate but isn’t built just for accounting firms.
  • Top features: The tool has a decent amount of features, including assignment management, multiple project management methodologies, and a workload chart.
  • Who it’s for: ClickUp is for all industries who are looking for a project management tool to keep all projects under a single app.
  • Pricing: ClickUp has a Free Forever Plan for free personal use, an Unlimited Plan for small teams for $5 per member a month, a Business Plan for mid-sized teams for $9 per member a month, a Business Plus Plan for multiple teams for $19 per member a month, and an Enterprise Plan that you will have to contact the company for monthly plan pricing.
  • Final word: ClickUp requires a little more effort to implement for an accounting or bookkeeping firm, and the setup is a little more complicated. Its strength is found in its broader range of features, such as the marketing tools, while the interface is acceptable, and the company has limited contact methods.

Monday.com

  • What is it: Monday.com is a project management tool designed to help teams do their best work, on time.
  • Top features: Its top features include HR features, customization, built-in analytics, task management, and marketing.
  • Who it’s for: Monday.com is for various industries looking for an open platform so that managers can build custom solutions for their teams’ needs. It solves one of the top key pain points, the lack of customization ability, that you may find in other tools.
  • Pricing: Monday.com has five pricing plans. These include an Individual Plan that is free, a Basic Plan that is $8 per team member a month, a Standard Plan that is $10 per seat a month, a Pro Plan that is $16 per seat a month, and an Enterprise Plan that you will have to contact the company for pricing.
  • Final word: Monday is a tool that can be used as a workflow hub for various industries. It ranks high when it comes to integrations but lacks an essential feature: the client profile.

 

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Talent Challenges? Stop Recruiting And Do This Instead!

By jetpack workflow | Updated on Dec 27, 2023 | 8 minutes

Podcast

Summary

  • The State of the Job Market
  • What’s Needed
  • 5 Skills Modern Accounting Professionals and Firms Need
  • How to Become the Employer of Choice
  • Building a Future-focused Firm
  • Working the Jobs Market Pipeline

Additional Resources

Meet Rob Brown

Rob Brown is co-founder of the Accounting Influencers Roundtable (AIR) mastermind group and co-hosts the popular accounting and fintech podcast: Accounting Influencers. Rob is a renowned MC, facilitator, and chair of virtual and in-person panels, conferences, and events globally for the accounting and fintech profession. 

Through the pandemic, he chaired 24 virtual panels with leaders of global accounting networks and alliances to discuss the key issues and challenges. Rob is retained by several associations and vendors to chair their events and provide high-level interview content for their communities. He is the bestselling author of Build Your Reputation and his TEDx talk ‘The Personal Brand of You’ has been viewed 300K times on YouTube.

The State of the Job Market

“In the UK, we are at our highest level ever of job vacancies.” According to Forbes, Rob says, hiring right now is one of the hardest things to do. 54% of companies globally are reporting talent shortages. In the US, nearly 69% of employers are struggling to fill positions. So, what’s the issue? The bulk of the laborforce today is composed of Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Zers.

“These people think differently. They want different things from a job. They want different things from an employer.” Rob notes that if you want to be the “employer of choice,” you have to start giving prospects what they want—not what you wanted when you entered the workforce or what you think they want. “That’s the mindset shift that accounting firm leaders need to be making.”

Firm owners and industry leaders need to make this shift because the nature of the job market has shifted. Rob recounts that back in the day CPAs would be “chained to a desk to earn their stripes” and then after many years they’d be promoted. That was their career path. Now, Rob says, people are asking employers what they are going to do for them and how they can help accelerate their career path. People are no longer interested in serving their time to earn their stripes, so leading with that as part of your recruitment strategy would be leading with the wrong foot.

What’s Needed?

“More people are leaving the field of accounting than are coming in.” Rob, again citing a Forbes article, notes that Baby Boomers retired in higher numbers than ever before in 2019–2020. In the third quarter of 2020, nearly 30 million Baby Boomers were forced to retire for one reason or another. That leaves an unimaginably large gap in the laborforce. The question is: Can we fill that gap?

In the UK, the replacement rate is insufficient to fill the gap, but this really isn’t a problem in Rob’s mind due to technology and automation. “Nowadays, you can do an audit in a click of a button that would have taken an accountant hours to do.” Does this mean we don’t need accountants anymore? Absolutely not. Accountants are invaluable to business owners. They help navigate a post-pandemic world defined by VUCA—volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.

What’s needed are skilled accountants that are agile, have commercial awareness, have business experience, and can talk to customers. The issue boils down to this: If you want to be the kind of firm that attracts top talent, you have to invest in advisory conversations, technology, mentorship, hybridization, etc. “If you want top talent, be worthy of top talent.” In order to do that, firms have a responsibility to be attractive and to develop their people.

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In order to be top talent and top-talent-worthy, you need the skills to back it up. Rob says these five skills are what’s needed to take you and your firm to the appropriate level.

  1. Technical Skills—You’ve got to have the right knowledge and expertise to be a good CPA.
  2. Technological Skills—This doesn’t require being a tech geek. It just requires a certain level of proficiency with the applications, programs, and systems you’ll be using.
  3. People Skills—With technology being what it is today, being a good CPA is no longer enough. You have to develop strong soft skills in order to succeed.
  4. Commercial Awareness—Commercial acumen, business sense if you will.
  5. Selling Skills—The best CPAs generate revenue for their firms. All leaders and influencers need to be able to sell their ideas.

For Rob, these are the five skills accountants need to get on and the ones accounting firms need to be training and mentoring their people in. Podcast host David Cristello recommends creating a spreadsheet or an evaluation sheet to see whether or not you are below expectations, meeting expectations, or exceeding expectations in these areas. Evaluate yourself and create a roadmap for your improvement. By engaging in self-improvement through mentoring or coaching, you are preparing a pipeline for you to feed your people into for their improvement as well.

Rob built off of that by asking if it was the prospect’s responsibility to create a roadmap for their career or is it the employer’s job to show them all of the options and ways they can grow in their career at their firm. “The employer of choice should have some kind of roadmap or process to say ‘This is a really exciting career for you, and here are the possibilities.’”

How to Become the Employer of Choice

“The Millennials and the generations coming below them buy into vision, a narrative, a story.” Giving prospects the old line of “We do compliance work and keep our clients out of jail…” Rob says “That’s not sexy. That’s not telling a story, building a brand, or casting a vision. You’ve got to have something more.” The bulk of the laborforce wants to know your Why. Why does your firm exist? That’s what they’ll buy into. Talk to prospects about the journey you’re on, the clients you’re serving, the results you’re getting, and the difference you’re making. That will get them sucked in. They want jobs that will stimulate and enrich them. “You have to start building the firm of the future in order to attract the talent of the future, because that’s your succession plan. You don’t get that right, and you’ll have a huge gap in your firm.”

Building a Future-focused Firm

Maybe you’re sitting there thinking, “I don’t have these structures or systems in place. I haven’t invested in technology or advisory conversations like I want to.” Start now, and it all starts with creating a great vision. 

Part of that process involves evaluating who your clients and prospective clients are. Business owners are getting younger and younger. Are you properly catering to their needs? If you don’t attract younger talent who can relate to younger clients, you’re going to have a massive mismatch in those conversations. The biggest challenge in this is keeping up with an ever-evolving landscape. The lingo and methodologies are always changing, so you either have to learn quickly or make way for those who already understand.

Additionally, you certainly need to always be upskilling yourself, and Rob says one of the best ways to learn all of this is by running a side hustle, to do it yourself! Invest in crypto, make mistakes, and learn!

Working the Jobs Market Pipeline

But, even if you’ve built a top-talent-worthy firm, how do you draw people in? How do you recruit people in this job market? “It is a frighteningly competitive market.” Rob notes that firms are starting recruitment efforts at the high school level, offering to sponsor students’ studies in order to secure people. Some are starting even younger in middle school, just priming students for work. The competition is fierce.

Rob recommends two things for firms that can’t seem to get people in the doors. 

  1. Outsourcing—Look for gig workers, overseas outfits, whatever works best for you. If you can’t do all of the things we’ve talked about up unto this point because your firm is loaded down with repetitive tasks, look at the contractor pool, look at the onshoring/offshoring opportunities, look at the freelance economy so you can get some breathing room and tackle the important stuff.
  2. Train your people—Tell your people about their career path, their roadmap within your company and help them achieve and progress. Provide them with training and mentorship to help them grow. “Rather than looking for a specific person to fill a specific role, look at your existing talent pool and say ‘Who can we invest in?’”

Conclusion

We covered a ton of great information in the podcast, so if you’re after more detailed information, be sure to check out the full episode! If you want to learn more about Rob and the work he’s doing over at Accounting Influencers, you can connect with him on LinkedIn, through his podcast, or by visiting Accounting Influencer’s website.

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The 7 Best Karbon Alternatives to Manage Your Workflows

By jetpack workflow | Updated on Dec 27, 2023 | 8 minutes
karbon alternatives

Karbon is a project management software that streamlines the transfer of information by providing visibility across local and remote teams. This cloud-based workflow collaboration tool presents itself as a hub for medium and large businesses and is ideal for teams who need to collaborate together from different departments and locations.

All of this successfully plays out between the features and integrations. The features include automatic client data collection, a recurring task generation feature, and document storage that puts documents in the same place as the workflow process. There are ten direct integrations and a decent amount of Zaps in Zapier.

While the features and integrations are some of the software’s strengths, firms may be frustrated with the interface, setup fees, and other hidden costs.

So, if you’re looking for other options or to replace Karbon, read on and see some of the best alternatives with the same functionality.

Shortcomings of Karbon

According to some users, there are some issues with the interface and the fees. The following are some of those issues:

  • User reviews complain of the software’s clunky interface.
  • There are three implementation packages to choose from to get you up and running. While the one package with general onboarding training is free, the two others come with a hefty fee. Assisted Onboarding with personalized training to suit your firm runs around $2,000 and the Full Service Implementation with one-on-one training runs around $4,000.
  • If you go beyond the client limit or want to change a project series, there are additional costs, and some users find they aren’t disclosed up front.
  • You have to pay for customer support.

The Top 7 Karbon Alternatives

With Karbon’s shortcomings in mind, let’s look at the alternatives to see what they offer.

Jetpack Workflow

  • What is it: Jetpack Workflow is a cloud-based workflow management solution for accounting firms but can be used in other small businesses as well.
  • Top features: With Jetpack Workflow you can create work templates in seconds, automate critical deadlines, view all of your work in one place, stay on track, and keep tabs on your firm’s progress.
  • Who it’s for: Jetpack Workflow is for accountants, CPA firms, bookkeepers, and even other small to mid-sized businesses looking for workflow management software to keep track of projects and repetitive processes.
  • Pricing: There are two unlimited plans. Both have the same features except the Scale Plan comes with new capacity management and scheduling features. The Organize Plan runs $36 per user a month billed annually. The Scale Plan runs $39 per user a month billed annually, which is a reasonable cost given its features and the competitors’ options.
  • Final word: Jetpack Workflow’s strength is in standardizing, tracking, and automating processes so team members can complete more work in less time. The software comes fully customized to meet the unique needs of your company. Jetpack Workflow also excels in all seven criteria used in this evaluation: ease of set up, ease of use, features, customer service, price, and integrations.

Canopy

  • What is it: Canopy is a cloud-based practice management solution for accounting firms. It streamlines your firm and creates a connection with your clients.
  • Top features: Some of their top features include project management tools, document tools, CRM, integrated time & billing, and a client portal.
  • Who it’s for: Canopy is for mid-sized accounting firms who are looking for a comprehensive practice management solution to organize their workload, team, and clients.
  • Pricing: Canopy offers five plans based on modular pricing. There’s a Client Management Plan with a $199 implementation fee plus $2.50/client per year with a minimum of 200 clients. The Time & Billing Module runs $24/user per month while the next plan up, The Workflow Module, runs $30/user per month. The Tax Resolution Module runs $33/user per month, and the Document Management Module runs $40/user per month.
  • Final word: Canopy’s strength is in the time and billing feature with the client portal bridging the gap between the company and the client. Customer support, workflows, and task management doesn’t rate as high, so if you’re looking for a project management solution, this may not be the answer.

Aero Workflow

  • What is it: Aero Workflow integrates processes and procedures into your tasks resulting in a clear view of what needs to be done and how to do it.
  • Top features: As a project management system, Aero’s top features include time & project tracking, one-time & recurring task scheduling, and a training hub for your business.
  • Who it’s for: Aero Workflow is for small to medium-sized accounting firms looking for a simple way to combine processes and procedures with tasks so that everything is in one place and the staff knows exactly what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and how to do it.
  • Pricing: Aero offers three different plans. The Sole Proprietor Plan runs $39 a month if paid annually or $47 paid monthly. The Small Firm Plan runs $79 a month if paid annually or $95 if paid monthly. The Large Firm Plan runs $149 a month is paid annually or $170 if paid monthly. The number of users increases with each plan, but all integrations and unlimited clients are included in every plan.
  • Final word: Aero Workflow takes it one step beyond being a to-do list for your firm but it doesn’t have the functionality some of the other options do.

Financial Cents

  • What is it: Financial Cents combines accounting firms processes, workload, and invoicing tools into a single platform.
  • Top features: Top features include workflow management, invoicing & time tracking, and client management.
  • Who it’s for: Financial Cents is for accountants, CPAs, and bookkeepers looking for client management, document management, project management, staff management, and workflow management to monitor projects so that the team isn’t getting overloaded or underperforming.
  • Pricing: Financial Cents has a Monthly Plan for $29 a month per user and an Annual Plan for $23 a month per user.
  • Final word: While Financial Cents consists of firm processes, workload, and invoicing tools as key features, it lacks in the reporting and integration capabilities.

CS Professional Suite

  • What is it: CS Professional Suite provides products and services to manage workflow processes in accounting firms.
  • Top features: Some of their top features include a built-in time & billing tool, project reporting, and customizable dashboards.
  • Who it’s for: CS Professional Suite is for cloud-based and on-premise accounting firms of all sizes looking for a project management tool to manage taxes, auditing, operations, payroll, documents, and workflow.
  • Pricing: Contact Thomson Reuters for pricing.
  • Final word: CS Professional Suite is mainly a billing and time tool with a design that is old and clunky according to users.

ClickUp

  • What is it: ClickUp is an app to plan, organize, and collaborate but isn’t specific to accounting. It is generally a workflow, project management, and task tool designed for team collaboration.
  • Top features: Some of its top features include marketing features, multiple PM methodologies, and a workload chart.
  • Who it’s for: ClickUp is for teams of all industries and sizes who are looking for a project management tool to keep all projects under a single app.
  • Pricing: ClickUp has a Free Forever Plan for personal use that is free, an Unlimited Plan for small teams for $5 per member a month, a Business Plan for mid-sized teams for $9 per member a month, a Business Plus Plan for multiple teams for $19 per member a month, and an Enterprise Plan that you will have to contact the company for pricing.
  • Final word: ClickUp requires a little more effort to set it up for an accounting firm, the set up is a bit difficult, the interface is just okay, and the company has limited chat resources. Since it is not accounting specific, it provides broader features such as marketing tools.

Monday.com

  • What is it: Monday.com is a platform that can build, run, and scale your workflow.
  • Top features: Its top features include customization, over 200 use cases, task management, and more.
  • Who it’s for: Monday.com is for any project, business, or team size looking for an open platform so that HR managers can build custom solutions for their teams’ needs.
  • Pricing: Monday.com has 5 pricing tiers. These include an Individual Plan that is free, a Basic Plan that is $8 per seat a month, a Standard Plan that is $10 per seat a month, a Pro Plan that is $16 per seat a month, and an Enterprise Plan that you will have to contact the company for pricing.
  • Final word: Monday.com is another tool that can be used as an accounting workflow hub but isn’t marketed specifically for accounting. With all the features, Monday.com is missing a client profile feature for accounting firms. This software’s strength is in its integrations: there are countless ways to fit Monday.com into your existing systems.

 

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Compare Jetpack Workflow vs Aero Workflow vs Karbon [2024]

By jetpack workflow | Updated on Feb 28, 2024 | 8 minutes
karbon vs aero workflow

Workflow software programs allow organizations to run more efficiently, which results in completing tasks in less time. This type of software keeps all tasks, projects, and team members organized so that everything and everyone stays on track.

So, which accounting management software has the best workflow capabilities? There are many tools that will digitize your workflow. To digitize or automate your workflow, you need to find the workflow management software tailor made for your type of business.

From the time you onboard clients to when you send out monthly invoices for work completed, and every step between, you need a software stack that helps you and your team make an impact and gain efficiency.

So for those of you who are looking for the perfect accounting or bookkeeping project management tool, this article compares Karbon, Aero Workflow, and Jetpack Workflow to help you make an informed decision.

What do Aero Workflow, Jetpack Workflow, and Karbon Do?

Aero Workflow, Jetpack Workflow, and Karbon will organize and manage your data and tasks so that all projects and services are processed and completed in an efficient and timely manner. Gaining more visibility into processes helps everyone in your firm work more efficiently.

Workflow software, in general, automates the sequence of tasks that your firm does regularly. Effective workflow software does this by having an approval process, client management, document management, due date tracking, project management, staff management, time tracking, and workflow management features.

Let’s take a closer look at the 3 software systems most commonly used by accounting firms to see how they measure up against each other. 

3 Project Management Tools for Accounting Practices

Karbon mainly focuses on automation and attempts to make clients an active part of the workflow process, even handing over some of the tasks to their accounting clients so firms can just focus on delivering the service.

This is mainly done through a communication tool such as a client portal where clients can access their own information, sign important documents, submit information, and make payments.

Aero Workflow attempts to transform your accounting firm by defining your services, organizing those services, and then tracking those services.

Defining the services consists of creating & storing procedures, creating task templates, and storing them in the library. In organizing those services, you can schedule recurring tasks, schedule one-time tasks, and then organize with projects and resources.

When it comes to tracking, you can track your success, track work in progress, track time, and track performance.

Jetpack Workflow acts as the center of activity for your accounting firm. Everything related to workflow revolves around this hub. You can quickly organize your checklist in one place, ensure that you never miss critical deadlines, and keep track of what teams are working on.

jetpack workflow alternatives

 

A Quick Overview of Each Tool

Karbon

Karbon’s cloud-based collaborative work management platform helps teams and departments inside large organizations or client service businesses. It’s built for business tasks such as accounting, finance, and back-office support. It’s a platform designed for team collaboration: it provides a central place to communicate and collaborate by combining email, discussions, tasks, and workflows.

Aero Workflow

Aero Workflow is a cloud-based system that takes your processes and procedures and integrates them into your tasks. Email, one-time projects, client emergencies, and recurring tasks are all integrated into one list. This gives you and your staff a clear picture of what needs to be done and how to do it. The result is a more efficient, profitable, and scalable firm.

Jetpack Workflow

Jetpack Workflow is a cloud-based platform that focuses on accounting professionals such as staff accountants, CPA firms, and bookkeepers. However, any professional service can benefit from this workflow software: it’s a good standalone workflow app.

Jetpack software grows with your firm. You can organize your checklists with their free template library, automate critical deadlines with their custom scheduling functions, view all of your work in one place with filters, stay on track with your ‘My Work’ page to see what’s next, and see what your team is working on.

The Differences Between Karbon, Aero Workflow, and Jetpack Workflow

Now that you have an overview of each tool, let’s look at some of their fundamental differences.

Features

Karbon – Karbon’s key features include automatic client data collection, recurring task generation for regular monthly/quarterly/annual tasks, and document storage for reports, spreadsheets, and other documents to be in the same place as your workflow process.

Aero Workflow – Aero Workflow’s features consist of time & project tracking to keep track of hours and the time, the ability to schedule one-time and recurring tasks for those unique and repeating tasks, and a training hub to create and store processes.

Jetpack Workflow – Jetpack Workflow keeps every workflow process in one location, similar to Aero Workflow and Karbon. It also offers pre-made templates specific to the accounting process, capacity planning tools to allocate your team and resources in real-time, and detailed reporting to help you see the scope of work over your entire client base.

Integrations

Karbon – Karbon consists of 10 direct integrations and a decent amount of “Zaps” in Zapier.

Aero Workflow consists of 5 direct integrations: Quickbooks Online, TSheets, Office 365, G-Suite, and Canon. Aero is also connected to Zapier with dozens of ‘Zaps.’

Jetpack Workflow – Jetpack integrates and connects all of the current tools and includes those on Zapier, making workflow automation easy.

Ease of Use

Karbon – Karbon has an above-average interface, but some issues exist with the calendar and email integrations. Some users think the task list is overwhelming.

Aero Workflow – Aero consists of webinars, demo videos, and a knowledge base, so it has a decent amount of resources, but some users seem to feel that the interface is a bit clunky.

Jetpack Workflow – Jetpack offers regular webinars, training sessions, a knowledge base, and a support team to help navigate the system. The accounting-specific templates simplify the process of documenting services and processes. The reporting gives you a quick update on where everything stands so that nothing slips through the cracks.

Price

Karbon – Karbon charges per user, based on the team or business plan. The Team Plan is $59/user per month if paid annually. The Business Plan runs $79/user per month if paid annually. The price difference is in the additional features. There’s also an Enterprise Plan that is offered at custom pricing for teams of 20 to 20,000.

Aero Workflow – Aero offers three different plans. 1-5 users runs $108 a month if paid annually or $135 paid monthly. 6-25 users runs $200 a month if paid annually or $250 if paid monthly. 26-50 users runs $295 a month is paid annually or $365 if paid monthly. 

Jetpack Workflow – Jetpack Workflow offers two simple unlimited plans. Both have workflow features, but the Scale Plan includes capacity management and scheduling features so that you can run all aspects of your business. The Organize Plan runs $45/user per month and the Scale Plan runs $49/user per month if you choose the yearly plan. If you prefer to pay monthly, then the Organize Plan runs $56/user per month and the Scale Plan runs $63/user per month.

Customer Service

Karbon – Karbon has extensive resources, a fast response time, and various contact methods such as chat and email but no phone support.

Aero Workflow – Aero has a lot of helpful resources such as webinars, a knowledge base, and even ‘white glove’ help. As far as their response time goes, they point you to one of their resources before connecting you with a real person. Their live chat is available during business hours, but there is no phone number or email readily available.

Jetpack Workflow -Jetpack has more than 30 templates for accounting-specific processes in their resource stash, along with tutorial videos and webinars. They have a fast response time if you run into any issues, and they have many ways of staying in touch, such as via phone, chat, or inbox.

Wrapping Up

So what’s the best accounting practice management software for your firm? Jetpack Workflow is designed for smaller accounting and bookkeeping firms, while Aero Workflow caters to small to mid-sized businesses and Karbon to enterprises.

Karbon is a work management system that focuses on the automation process with their automatic client data collection. Their software also includes a recurring task generation feature and document storage. While their features are one of their strengths, they lack the approval workflow feature that the other two have.

Aero Workflow is a project management platform that includes time & project tracking, scheduling tasks, and creating and storing processes. They try taking the to-do list one step further by creating a clear view of the firm’s work and what needs attention for the day.

Jetpack Workflow is the hub that everything else revolves around. It offers an array of comprehensive features such as pre-made templates that help you quickly create a seamless workflow, capacity planning tools for allocation in real-time, and a dashboard with reporting, so you know where every aspect of the business stands. It also has the simplest of all the pricing plans.

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