Top Project Management Tips for Accountants & CPA Firms

Written by Clay Lehman

The Benefits, Challenges, & Best Tools Needed for Successful Task Management

It probably goes without saying, but here we go. If you want to succeed in any project, in anything really, you must be organized, manage your time, and communicate well with others. When it comes to accounting, it becomes all the more vital.

Why is Project Management so Important?

Many organizations have business needs that only accountants can address. Nowadays, accounting work has evolved from simple bookkeeping to managing various business projects and tasks. These projects could take weeks to several months or even a few years to complete and are taken on by accountants. To make these projects succeed, accountants need to develop project and work management skills, which come with many benefits and are considered a core competency for today’s accounting professionals.

7 Benefits of Successful Project Management in Accounting

  1. Improved Financial Results

Project management can help your accounting firm achieve better financial results because it allows your accounting professionals to make the most out of their resources and gain a competitive advantage over other firms. 

  1.  Increased Client and Staff Satisfaction

Want to achieve a higher level of client and staff satisfaction? Of course, you do! With project management, you allow your accounting firm to produce higher quality work that meets the client’s requirements. In addition, your accounting firm staff will be able to finish their projects on time, keeping them happy and productive.

  1. Reduced Costs

Everyone loves saving money. Through project management, you can produce more efficient results and reduce your costs. This is because project management allows your accounting firm to do things more wisely and efficiently. For example, you can assign your best resources and skilled workers to carry out complex projects in the most timely manner, accomplishing responsibilities more quickly and effectively than before.

 

  1. Effective Resource Allocation

Better administer your resources with the help of project management. Determine which projects you address first, then determine how many resources you need to complete the project. This type of project management system allows your accounting firm to feel more in control as they schedule the resources required for each project, eliminating unknown surprises. 

 

  1. Improved Marketing Strategy

Project management allows your CPA firm to develop a better and more effective marketing strategy. This is because your accounting firm can determine which projects are most important and prioritize them accordingly. With an improved marketing strategy, your accounting firm will generate better and more consistent leads, leading to more sales and sign-ups altogether.

 

  1. Improved Organizational Performance

Since project management can increase an accounting firm’s financial results and client and staff satisfaction, it can also improve your organization’s performance. As your CPA firm performs better in meeting the business needs of its clients on time, your accounting firm will secure more clients confidently, increasing the business value. For more tips on how to help your accounting firm stay organized, see here.

 

  1. Grow Employee Learning, Development, and Communication

Project management is a team-building exercise where everyone plays an important role. As your accounting firm adopts project management, you enhance the learning and development of your accounting firm’s staff, improving their skills, their confidence, and their communication with one another. As they flatten the learning curve, finding the best ways to communicate through task management effectively, they begin to bond as a team, creating compassion for each other’s workloads and needs. Learn about the importance of team bonding and how it can benefit your business here.

 

We now understand the many benefits of project management and how it’s an essential part of business today. Now let’s discuss some challenges and how to overcome them so that you and your team can stay prepared on the road to success.  

5 Challenges of Accounting Project Management & How to Deal

As a project manager, you have the pressure of staying on top of everything. From juggling multiple tasks at the same time, managing everyone’s expectations to solving various problems, and staying on top of your own schedule, a project manager’s life isn’t the easiest. The same can be said for your fellow accountants, who struggle to stay above water and stay positive as new tasks flow through.

 

Whether you’re the project manager of your CPA firm or the accountant implementing the manager’s directives, it’s crucial to identify and solve challenges together. 

Challenge #1: Uncertainty with the Progress of a Project

One of the main challenges in project management is progress uncertainty. If you are unable to get a real-time picture of the project status, it’s going to be hard for you to determine the project’s future and potential success. The main problem with this is that even if you know a project is not how you want it to be, the actions to take in order to resolve issues or make it better becomes highly unclear.

 

How To Overcome? Find the right project management solution and software to help you and your team manage tasks and track the progress of any project productively.

Challenge #2: Conflicts in Schedule of the Project Members

Working with different team members is always fun, but meeting up with each one of them to compile their tasks and put them in the schedule is a significant challenge. In addition, it’s hard to give clarity to members on the project’s plan of what needs to be done in order to ensure the project is on track.

 

How To Overcome? The best way to overcome this obstacle is to find workflow management routing software to help your accounting firm in project scheduling. This tool will not only help you and our team manage your resources more effectively, but it will also help put everyone on the same page when it comes to scheduling the project. 

Challenge #3: Team Communication Problems

Effective communication is one of the most critical aspects of project management, and, in addition, it can also be one of the most difficult parts to manage.

 

How To Overcome? The first thing you should do is make sure your team members share the same project goal and are well aware of the team’s expectations and their personal assigned tasks. See here for more ways to better your team’s communication skills. 

Challenge #4: Project Scope Growing Uncontrollably

This is one of the most common challenges in the project management industry. In the initial stages of any project, it’s easy to manage the scope, but as the project progresses and you add more features, you will feel that there is no way you can manage the project and, at the same time, stay within budget.

 

How To Overcome? Ensure that you and your team members clearly understand what you want to achieve with the project and that the scope fits in the project’s budget every time.

Challenge #5: Blurred Expectations

Blurred expectations can come from a variety of places, such as your client, your team, or even you. A major challenge with blurred expectations comes from the fact that your client may not want to acknowledge that their expectations are different. And even if you recognize the issue and try to fix the problem, you may not be able to do so effectively or on time.

 

How To Overcome? The best way to resolve blurred expectations is to confirm the expectations, clarify any assumptions and simplify the requirements of all parties involved before jumping into any project. Not only will this clarification help you manage expectations and simplify the team’s task management process, but it will also help improve the firm’s overall communication.

 

We’ve now covered the benefits and challenges of project management. Now let’s talk shop!

What’s the Best Project Management Software for Your Accounting System?

The answer is simple… Firm360.

 

Firm360 gives you an intuitive platform that serves as the solution to all your project management needs. It’s an accounting management software that streamlines your practice and helps your CPA team get more work done in as little time as possible.

 

Through Firm360’s project management, you will be able to track tax returns, monthly bookkeeping, payroll, and other projects for your firm’s clients. Our cloud-based system has many benefits allowing easy access from anywhere, keeping everyone involved (including those who work remotely) highly organized and on the same page.

 

Not only do we offer the best project management system for accounting firms, but Firm360 also offers more tools and features designed to help you and your team succeed. From Advanced Reporting to Client Documentation, Timing and Billing, we’ve got you and your CPA firm covered with Firm360.

 

Want a free demo to learn more? You’ve got it! We are so excited to meet you and ready to help you succeed.

 

Book a Free Demo Today!