Lori Hawkins

Name

L&L Bookkeeping

Firm Name

Bookkeeping, payroll expenses, revenue and payments, accounting, set up, and processes

Services

5

Staff Members

Michigan

Location

Hybrid: Mostly Remote

Work Style

What began with helping her entrepreneur husband get cleaner books and clearer insights for smarter business decisions grew into L&L Bookkeeping, LLC in 2018.

Today, the L&L Bookkeeping team assists clients both inside and outside the U.S. with all accounting services except tax returns.

As an outsourced accounting department, they work within their clients’ teams to monitor finances and ensure compliant financial records and quality financial advice.

Managed in an all-in-one practice management tool, the firm has optimized its workflows to meet client deliverables and manage client relationships effectively.  This has earned them enough referrals to keep a running list of businesses waiting to use their services.

I knew that we were going to grow our practice. We always have a waiting list of clients, and I'm not one to just put a bookkeeper in a seat and assign them new clients. I want to get to know our clients and go through the proper process."

Lori Hawkins, President, L&L Bookkeeping

With such strategic clarity, Lori sought an accounting practice management solution that would facilitate growth without sacrificing work quality, client satisfaction, and team morale.

We used another product that didn't have all the features we needed to grow. Tracking work requests and storing client information was very cumbersome. That was the main reason we started to look for another"

Lori Hawkins, President, L&L Bookkeeping

The L&L Bookkeeping Team Needed a Project and Client Management Tool

The L&L team needed the ability to track client communication from their project management tool without switching apps. They wanted a system that centralized everything they needed to complete tasks and collaborate with clients in one place.

For example, going between the workflow tool and Outlook, where they stored client emails, increased their non-billable work, the risk of losing critical client information, and the chances of forgetting where client communication stood.

We needed to get our systems all shored up and make sure that we were ready to grow sustainably. With the system we had before, I wasn't able to create the fantastic templates that Financial Cents allows us to create."

Lori Hawkins, President, L&L Bookkeeping

“We used a lot of emails and pulled client emails into a special folder in our Outlook system. That was difficult because just keeping track of what questions and answers were outstanding was an issue,” Lori added.

How Financial Cents Helps L&L Bookkeeping to Grow Their Operation

While Lori can’t wait to implement the Financial Cents’ email feature, the following Financial Cents features have given L&L Bookkeeping the control it needs to grow sustainably:

  • Centralized Work and Client Information

Projects in Financial Cents do not just have tasks, due dates, and assignees. Every project contains all the information assignees need to complete their tasks. This includes team chat, client chat, documents, client emails, and linkable resources.

For Lori’s team, this means the ability to centralize project-related information inside each client’s work, eliminating the need to log into Outlook several times a day.

Our biggest benefit has been our workflow. We have it more structured. We can put more details and hyperlinks that lead to the other areas we need to log in to. Everything is in one hub, and that is wonderful."

  • Automated Client Data Collection

Financial Cents’ client task feature has simplified client collaboration for the L&L Bookeeping team.

Apart from the ability to request client files and information (with the client task feature), they can easily go into the client portal to track what they need to send or receive from each client, eliminating uncertainty in client data collection.

Moreover, the client portal notification saves them the stress and distraction of surveilling the client portal to see when a client grants them the file or information they requested.

We are now able to send the client requests in our practice management system (Financial Cents), and the client portal notifies us when clients answer our questions or upload the documents we requested."

  • Reassigning Client Work Without a Drop in Work Quality

Financial Cents helps L&L Bookkeeping to provide consistent client service by ensuring workflow continuity.

Whenever an employee serving a client is unavailable for any reason, the new assignee finds the information needed to serve the client in the client project and profile in Financial Cents. This keeps the work quality standard, no matter who in the team is drafted to serve the client.

We are able to cover for each other on vacation. When you have detailed descriptions of how to do projects and tasks, and someone needs to leave on vacation or they're sick, it's not hard for another bookkeeper to pop in and see where they left off, and just go ahead and finish out what needs to be done for the client."

This also helps the team fulfill its promise of being available to clients even when the employee assigned to them is unavailable. Availability, in this case, might not be what you think. Remember that the firm uses an outsourced accounting model?

That means they assign team members to clients. If that team member is unavailable, the client can feel neglected. With Financial Cents, Lori assigns another bookkeeper to that client, knowing full well that the client will receive the same level of quality work.

We're very client-oriented, and we make them know that we will cover each other for vacation, so they're not stuck having to run their own payroll because we're gone. We take care of their needs always, so having all those workflow processes in Financial Cents keeps us ready."

  • Ease of Use and Employee Onboarding

Rated 4.9/5 in ease of use on software review platforms, Financial Cents’ clean, friendly, and intuitive interface makes it easy for the L&L Bookkeeping team to teach new hires how to navigate the product.

Financial Cents has training videos that we can choose for new hires to watch, so that's been very helpful. I had my first new person go through all of that, and I could see their progress. So that was really great. We also have a process to walk them through how we do things in Financial Cents and how the system works for us, and they're able to settle into the product very easily."

While Lori’s words are kind, they are not surprising. Financials Cents’ CEO and CTO have approached every new feature and functionality carefully. Their intentionality in building the product to meet the unique needs of accounting professionals has made listening and engaging with users a critical part of their day-to-day tasks.

  • Responsive Customer Support Team

Lori is no stranger to time-wasting customer support calls. She has found the Financial Cents customer support team really accessible. As great as that is, it took Lori a while to adjust to her new and pleasant reality.

I'm used to being on support calls for hours, and it's just dead time. It's hours I can't get back. But Financial Cents’ customer support has been huge. I know that when I contact them, I'll get an answer."

On one such occasion, Lori mentioned a challenge she was having during the monthly roundtable, where firm owners discuss their workflows and practice management strategies to help everyone grow. The speed with which the Financial Cents CEO, Shahram Zarshenas, implemented her feedback left Lori amazed.

The owners are responding to users, and that is unusual. I've mentioned something in a roundtable, and Shahram Zarshenas (the CEO) just went out and did it, and I was just blown away. I'm on the Financial Cents Facebook group too, and I see how quickly they respond to users."

Lori Hawkins, President, L&L Bookkeeping

What Financial Cents Do For Accounting Firms (In Lori’s Words)

Financial Cents helps you to manage a greater number of clients by providing consistency in the process of getting their transcripts or signing off on different documents, and you get notified when they've completed what you asked, which allows you to move on to the next task."

Lori Hawkins, President, L&L Bookkeeping

How Financial Cents Makes Lori Feel

The Financial Cents team is going above and beyond to get this product to do the things that we are hoping it can do. It's just unusual. It's really refreshing."

Lori Hawkins, President, L&L Bookkeeping
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