The Ultimate Guide to Workflow Management Software for Accountants

Is your firm suffering from missed deadlines? 

What about dissatisfied clients, confused employees, or frequent miscommunications? 

If so, there’s likely a common culprit: Workflow management challenges. 

The key to overcoming these struggles is to implement accounting workflow and project management software. These types of solutions will streamline team collaboration and revolutionize project management for your firm.

Ready to boost your firm’s productivity while consistently delivering high-quality work? Then read this complete guide to implementing workflow software. 

We’ll tell you everything you need to know about the technology – and explain why Jetpack Workflow offers the best accounting project management software on the market. 

What is Accounting Practice Management Software?

Accounting practice management software – also called accounting workflow software – is a cloud-based solution that helps accounting firms streamline and optimize their work-related processes. 

A decent piece of project management software will assist in every major aspect of a firm’s operations, including:

• Storing client contact information
• Onboarding new clients
• Managing projects
• Assigning tasks
• Tracking progress on client work

Many workflow management tools also integrate with other software solutions – making them great additions to a firm’s overall tech stack. 

Key Features of Accounting Workflow Management Software

The best accounting workflow solutions are designed specifically for the accounting profession. 

That’s why they come with features that were optimized for accountants, including:

• Workflow templates
• Time tracking
• Recurring task automation
• Project progress reports
• Team collaboration tools
• Custom labels for individual projects

Together, these features make completing accounting projects a whole lot simpler – even when people from across the firm are contributing. 

How Accounting Project Management Software Benefits Accounting Firms 

Accounting practice management software does a lot more than just make your life easier – although that is a major benefit. Ultimately, these tools should have a transformative effect on the way your firm conducts its business.

Let’s look at some of the potential benefits for your firm. 

Efficient Team Collaboration

Organization is essential for collaboration – and workflow management solutions keep a firm’s projects neat and tidy. Team members can easily see who’s working on what while tracking each project’s progress in real time. 

And with automated workflows, projects move seamlessly from one stakeholder to another. That eliminates the need for a constant back-and-forth about every task.

Before long, the efficiency gains produced by using accounting workflow software will be showing up in your business analytics. 

Improved Client Relationships

There are 2 main ways that project management software will improve your firm’s relationship with its clients. For one thing, staff will have constant access to client data and contact information – making it easier for them to reach out when client communication becomes necessary.

Then there’s the simple fact that, when your workflows are organized, your firm produces better work and consistently meets deadlines. And that’s what really boosts client satisfaction. 

Increased Workflow Visibility

As a team leader, you want to know where projects stand – but contacting team members individually is inefficient. Project management tools give you a bird’s-eye view of all the work happening at your firm. 

Imagine, for example, that a key client asks about a certain project. You won’t have to go digging for answers. You can just check your workflow software solution, which should show who’s working on the project and how much progress they’ve made. 

This added visibility goes a long way towards unlocking your project management capabilities.

Stress-Free Firm Management 

Chaotic workflows are stressful for everyone involved – especially the managers. Your employees aren’t sure what to do, your clients are desperate for progress reports, and you can’t even find the information you need. Hello, burnout.

An enterprise workflow solution eliminates all these stress-inducing uncertainties. You’ll know exactly how each project is going, and you can watch it all happen from above – a master of your accounting domain.

Built-In Scalability 

The best workflow management solutions are designed to accommodate growth. Maybe your firm doubles in size, or perhaps you decide to go fully remote. None of that will interfere with the automated workflow software – and the tool should make the process of scaling a whole lot easier.

Imagine onboarding new employees with a project management tool in place. You don’t have to explain a million convoluted processes. You can just introduce them to the tool, and let them learn the ropes from there. 

Integrations: Using Workflow Management Software Alongside Other Solutions

Here’s another reason to use accounting workflow and project management software: It integrates seamlessly with the other tools. 

Consider leveraging these tech solutions alongside accounting workflow management software:

• Accounting and Bookkeeping Software. Tools like Xero and QuickBooks assist with the actual management of client ledgers.
• Proposal Creation Tools. Poposify, PandaDoc, and Qwilr provide templates for professional, stylish proposals. (Also, check out this free proposal template from Jetpack Workflow.)
• CRM Solutions. Many businesses turn to providers like HubSpot, Pipedrive, and Insightly to manage customer relationships – but for CPA firms, using workflow tools for CRM often makes more sense. 
• Payroll Software. If you offer payroll services, you can use Gusto or QuickBooks Payroll alongside workflow management software to eliminate manual inputs (making life a lot easier for accountants at your firm). 
• Document Management Tools. Google Drive is great for sharing documents – and it combines nicely with workflow management software to enable stress-free digital collaboration. 

By combining project management software with other tech tools, you give your teammates all the resources they need to efficiently complete tasks.

Choosing the Right Accounting Workflow Software

Your firm needs a project management tool that’s specifically designed for accountants and bookkeepers. Generic tools are great – but they won’t give you the accounting-specific workflow templates that bookkeepers need.

So which accounting workflow management solution should you choose? Let’s dig into the details to find out.

Jetpack Workflow: The Best Accounting Workflow and Project Management Software

Jetpack Workflow stands out as the best accounting workflow software on the market. It’s used by over 6,000 accountants and bookkeepers – and for good reason. 

Jetpack Workflow comes with almost every tool you could want in a project management solution, including customizable templates, progress monitoring, and recurring task automation. 

Setup is also designed to be as easy as possible – with 4 complimentary onboarding sessions included.  

Jetpack Workflow vs Karbon

Jetpack Workflow is a better option than Karbon because it’s much more reasonably priced. There’s only one Jetpack Workflow plan, jam-packed with features, and it costs just $30/user/month (when billed annually). 

Karbon’s cheapest plan costs $59/user/month (and it doesn’t even come with all the features). 

Jetpack Workflow vs Financial Cents

Jetpack Workflow and Financial Cents each offer a similar set of features – but Jetpack Workflow stands out for its laser-focus on workflow management. 

For example, Jetpack Workflow gives you dozens of accounting workflow templates. 

Next Step: Implementing Practice Management Software 

Is your firm ready to optimize its workflows – and improve client relationships in the process? Then it’s time to implement a workflow management solution.