How to Increase Productivity in Your Firm by Centralizing Work Info and Documents

Best for firm owners who want to:

  • Firm owners and managers dealing with disorganized files and client communication.

  • Accounting, bookkeeping, and tax teams struggling with information silos and missed deadlines.

  • Accounting firm owners looking to reduce the time spent on administrative, non-billable work.

Information silos are most common when an accounting team uses multiple tools to manage the different aspects of their firm—like documents, client emails, and workflows.

This can be the reason your staff:

  • Search through email chains for client messages.
  • Waste time finding the latest document version.
  • Struggle to see the most up-to-date information on client projects.

Financial Cents’ all-in-one practice management features provide a central base for your client data, work information, and team updates, making it easy for team members to find all project resources in one or two clicks.

“Financial Cents has enabled us to consolidate our work (information) and communications. We have everything in a single space, which is fabulous for visibility and accountability.”
Kellie Parks
Owner, Calmwaters Cloud Accounting

Here’s how to achieve the same in your firm 👇

Step-by-Step Guide:

Step 1: Centralize Client Communication with Client Chat

Accounting firms like yours use Financial Cents’ built-in Client Chat and email integration to keep all client communications in one place.

Here’s how they do it: 👇

Step 2: Organize Client and Project Files in One Place

Financial Cents lets you store documents inside the project and within the client’s profile. Both locations serve slightly different purposes but have the same effects—clarity and findability.

See how they work here 👇

Step 3: Improve Team Collaboration with Shared Workspaces

This step helps you keep all work-related conversations on the work or inside the client’s profile, giving every assignee perspective on what others have said and done on the project for reference.

This short video shows how:

Without these collaborative features, your team would have to depend on:

  • Internal Emails: emails are prone to attacks and email collaboration exposes your team members to non-work-related emails that could distract them from work.
  • Slack Messages: Slack’s numerous collaboration channels can be overwhelming to navigate. This can result in information overload, leading to important client work slipping through the cracks.

Step 4: Monitor Work Progress in Real Time

At the end of the day, you want to be sure your team members are making progress on the work that drives revenue and growth. This step helps you make sure of that.

See how accounting firms stay on top of project status and help their teams hit their deadlines in Financial Cents. 👇

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Why Centralizing Work Information is a Game Changer

Centralizing work information and documents is crucial in that it:

  • Eliminates scattered emails and missing files: If your firm relies on individual, disconnected email exchanges between your clients and team members, files and information will be lost in those inboxes.

    Practice management software like Financial Cents pulls these emails into your workflow tool for all team members to access in a dedicated folder.

    Combined with the client chat feature (which enables your client to communicate and exchange files with your team in the client portal), every team member can access client information and documents from anywhere and at any time.
  • Reduces time spent searching for client communication: Effective communication is continuous, but if your team can’t see what was last said to a client without drilling through email chains and calling on their colleagues, it’ll be difficult to build on previous conversations.

    Your team will waste time unnecessarily, and the delay in response will frustrate your clients.

    By keeping an audit trail of client conversations in email and the client portal, Financial Cents, and other similar tools, centralize your client communication, enabling anyone in your team to provide client updates where necessary at a moment’s notice.
“I love Financial Cents’ client email feature. It shows me what other assignees have been discussing (when I come in as a collaborator). It helps me reduce micromanaging and ensure quality service.”
Angela Main Roberts
CEO of Main Accounting Services

Read full case study

  • Enhances team collaboration and accountability: Centralization provides access to the same set of information (and versions of documents). This keeps all team members on the same page, facilitating quality and consistent client experiences.
  • Ensures staff can onboard quickly and work efficiently: A central information and communication system can be the difference between a smooth client onboarding and one where clients will have to provide the same documents and answers over and over again.

    A tool that shows your staff what has been said and done for a client will help them know how to take the onboarding process to the next level more quickly. This results in faster client onboarding and satisfaction.
“I was one of those people who could have a stack of document folders and pretty much know what was in each stack. It got to the point that I couldn’t remember which stack things were in.
I would dig through them to look for certain pieces of paper or files. That is why I started using Financial Cents to track information and due dates so I don’t miss deadlines.”
Kathy Nash
Founder of Nash Financial Solutions, LLC

Put Work Info and Docs at Your Team’s Fingertips with Financial Cents

Financial Cents stores your work resources in one place to aid productivity at scale, using features like:

  • Document Management System: client documents are organized into folders for ease of access. This feature includes the Canadian Data Storage solution that keeps firms in Canada compliant with relevant data privacy and residency regulations.
  • Client Management System: the complete record of each client, including their contact details, secure vault (for sensitive info like usernames, passwords, credit card, etc.), billing information, and custom fields (like EIN, SSN, birthdays).
  • Workflow Dashboard: all projects in your firm together with their status, assignees, and due dates to know where each client’s work stands at a glance.

    This comprehensive view of your clients makes their files, information, and projects accessible and actionable. This gives your team more time to focus on delivering better results and building stronger client relationships.

    Using separate applications for these functions leads to data duplication, retrieval challenges, and a waste of productive hours.

Click here to start saving time today with our 14-day free trial today.

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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