How to Automatically Update the Status of Accounting Projects

Best for:

  • Firm owners who need up-to-date project information to communicate with clients.

  • Operations managers or firm owners overwhelmed with manually tracking project status.

  • Accountants and bookkeepers who need real-time project status to plan their workload.

Project status reports are most valuable when readily available to your team.

When your team members have to update their projects each time they complete a task, the tendency to forget increases, creating blind spots in your project management, which leads to last-minute rush, errors, and missed deadlines.

Accounting firms, like Infinite Accounting Solutions, use Financial Cents’ workflow tags to provide timely client updates and manage priorities to meet client expectations.

“We love the tags. If a team member has a tax filing due, we always mark them as a high priority for the month. That helps us to prioritize the tasks and paperwork that’ll help us meet the deadline.”
Stelle Anderson
Owner of Infinite Accounting Solutions

Here’s how to achieve this in your firm👇

A Step-by-Step Guide:

Step 1: Lay the Foundation for Automation

The Tags feature in Financial Cents automatically changes the status of your projects as they move through the workflow stages.

This shows all team members know what’s happening to every project they are interested in, helping them plan their tasks to meet all internal and external deadlines.

The Default Tag

Financial Cents’ default setting automatically adds the “waiting on client info” tag to projects when a client has not sent the file or information you requested.

Other than that, every tag is customizable. You can add, edit, or delete as many tags as you need to improve the flow and visibility of projects in your firm.

Here’s How to Create Tags in Financial Cents:

Step 2: Set Up the Automation

This step automatically marks your projects with their current status, showing you what needs a team member’s action, client information, etc.

This short video shows how to set it up:

Step 3: See It in Action and How It Helps

Real-time project visibility helps your team members know when a project is waiting for their input. Without it, someone might not know their assigned task is due for their action.

In this video, we use a custom tag to show when the business tax preparer should start their task in a project👇

Step 4: Monitor Project Status in Real-Time

You can monitor project status in two ways:

  • Scroll through the dashboard to see every project labeled with its current stages. This gives you a high-level view of projects.
  • Filter the dashboard to drill down to specific projects. This gives you granular visibility into projects:

Here’s how both methods work 👇

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Why Tag Automation Is a Game Changer

Timely and consistent project updates improve transparency, which builds client and strengthens client relationships.

With tag automation, you get the much-needed visibility into your projects to tell clients where their work currently stands at a moment’s notice.

Workflow tags also give you the data to understand your firm’s common workflow challenges so that you can address them and keep your team productive, efficient and profitable.

Stacy Feldman, Chief Operating Officer at Full Send Finance, uses Financial Cents’ workflow tags to track the status of each project.

This has not only helped the firm prevent things from falling through the cracks but has driven the team to record growth of %150 in under one year.

“I like to have a holistic view of all the work we have across the company and their status. Financial Cents allows me to identify which project is behind schedule, why it is behind schedule, and which team member needs support. It gives me a big picture of the company’s overall workload and the resources allocated.”

Stacey Feldman

CPA, Chief Operating Officer at Full Send Finance

How Full Send Finance grew by %150, using Financial Cents all-in-one practice management solution

Give Your Team the Clarity to Consistently Meet Client Deliverables

Financial Cents’ workflow tags auto-applies labels that show the status of your projects, eliminating the need for your team members to update project status individually.

This gives your staff the clarity to deliver accurate work at scale—especially during the busy season.

All you have to do is automate (with a few clicks when creating the project) what tag should be applied at each stage of the project.

You can even set this up in your workflow templates so that all projects created from them will auto-apply these tags.

The result? A workflow dashboard that shows every project with its status so that your team members can zero in on their tasks without losing sight of any other project they’re assigned to.

Use this automation for free today. Click here to start our 14-day Free Trial. Or add your information here to Book a Personalized Demo.

Frequently asked questions

Does the free 14-day trial provide access to all the features?

Yes, you will have access to all the features and features that Financial Cents has to offer during your free trial. Also, you will be able to invite your entire firm to use the solution.

If the accounting software doesn’t have a feature, can you add it?

We offer a very robust accounting workflow software full of all of the features your firm needs to grow with ease. However, if there is something we don’t offer, you can recommend it to our team! We release new features every week and constantly ask our users what we need to build next so we can drive more value for their accounting firm.

So yes, if you have new feature ideas and requests, we will add them to our roadmap and work with you on the best way to develop them.

How does FC prevent work from falling through the cracks?

Financial Cents makes it easy to track the status of client work, see who’s working on what, and know where everything stands within one simple view. Financial Cents also has built-in reminders and notifications to keep your team on top of client work and deadlines.

How does Financial Cents help protect client data?

We focus on serving accounting firms, and because of that, the security of your data is our number one focus. You read about how we keep your data safe here.

What kind of support does Financial Cents offer?

Offering best-in-class customer support is the core of our business. We understand that you are busy and don’t have time to wait for someone to get back to you after a few hours. That is why we promise quick and responsive support with responses within 15 minutes. We offer live chat support directly inside the app so our team can. If we can’t solve your issue via chat, we will jump on the phone or zoom to quickly resolve your issues.

How easily can I add my clients to the software?

Adding your clients is as easy as 1, 2, 3. You can import all your clients and their data within 30 seconds with our QuickBooks Online integration. If you don’t use QuickBooks Online then you can export your client list (via CSV) from your current software and import it into our system in just a few steps.

How does FC help me automate client data collection?

Our system allows you to send your clients automated requests for data needed to complete your work. It will also follow up with them until they complete the request, so you never have to chase down your clients again. This allows you to focus on what matters most—getting your work done on time and growing your firm.

What reports are available in Financial Cents?

We offer several reports that give you insights that help you identify bottlenecks in your process, drive efficiencies, and boost your firm’s profitability. Some of those reports include capacity management, measuring your effective hourly rate, and time tracking reports.

Do you offer unlimited storage?

Yes, we offer unlimited storage for client and firm files. You can easily store all your documents in Financial Cents to keep your firm organized as it grows.

Can time tracking be integrated with QuickBooks Online for Invoicing?

Yes, you can easily integrate your time tracking with QuickBooks Online. It will automatically push all the time tracked in FC to QuickBooks Online so you can easily invoice your clients and manage payroll.

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