Oscar Abraham, CPA

Firm

Payroll, tax, and bookkeeping.

Firm type

12

Number of Employees

2012

Year Founded

New York and New jersey

Location

2021

Financial Cents Start Date

Hybrid

Working Style

Financial Cents helps us to organize the firm. Everyone just knows what to do right away."

Mark Abraham, Founder, Oscar Abraham CPA

Oscar Abraham CPA is an accounting firm that provides tax, bookkeeping, and payroll services to business owners, corporate executives and independent professionals in the New York and New Jersey area.

The firm was founded in 2012 by Mark Abraham, who ran it as a solo practice in its first few years.

But as his clients grew, Mark needed to add more staff members to the workflow management solution he was using at the time. He wanted to be able to automate his team’s flow of work to maximize efficiency.

But the tool he used required him to pay through the nose for it.

Their Goals

  • Get a workflow software that lets him add more staff members at the same price.
  • Switch to a workflow tool that enables his team to hand work over to others seamlessly.
  • Implement a project management system that improves team collaboration.

Challenges

  • Previous Workflow Tool Was Too Expensive for a Growing Team

Before Financial Cents, Mark used a workflow management tool that allowed a single user for the price his budget could afford.

Adding staff members required him to pay for each feature that each staff member would use, which was too expensive for his firm’s profitability.

Mark said,

We left our previous workflow software because we wanted to go from a single user to multiple users. Running on a single user was getting too difficult, and the price to add more staff members and features was exorbitant. So, as soon as I realized I needed more than one user, I went shopping."

  • Experiencing Database Failure

The team’s first workflow tool was designed solely for desktops. So when the database failed Mark at a critical time (during tax season), he lost his confidence in the product and couldn’t help but leave even though the product’s support team resolved the issue.

The software was strictly desktop and we had a database failure in the middle of tax season. They helped us fix it, but the incident got me scared."

  • Problems Managing Task Dependencies

Mark’s team also struggled to maximize the workflows in their previous project management system in terms of handing work off between team members. They resorted to rescheduling tasks and that was too time-consuming to sustain.

The workflow was much more difficult. Handling tasks over from one person to the next was just not working. So we had to reschedule."

The Benefits

  • Team Members Have Greater Visibility into Projects and Tasks

Getting work done depends on your ability to see what you need to do, and with Financial Cents, Mark has been able to organize his team’s flow of work.

Mark said,

The division of projects and tasks helps everyone know what they are up to right away."

That is because Financial Cents breaks down projects and tasks for each team member (like a to-do list). Instead of struggling to understand what is most urgent, everyone can see what’s due today, next week, and the week after. This allows them to focus on making every hour count for clients and the firm.

  • Real-time Collaboration on Client Projects

Mark’s team collaborates in Financial Cents by adding comments to the tasks. If any team member has additional information on a client’s work, they can add it as a comment for other team members to see and respond to it. This helps the team to work in the right context.

The notes on the tasks in our workflow help us to communicate very easily across the firm. We can drill down on tasks to add relevant comments"

Mark

Similarly, the team uses the Notes feature to add notes to clients’ profiles, helping relevant team members stay in the loop of what the client needs from them (and vice versa) instead of storing this information in private notebooks, sticky notes, or email inboxes.

Mark explained that if a client calls to give additional information, anyone on the team can look at the client’s project and see the information the assignee needs to complete it if the assignees are unavailable.

Collaboration is a big part of the workflow in Financial Cents. If a client needs to give additional information, someone else knows what to ask the client for because it's right there on the work."

  • Improved Concentration with Email Integration

Financial Cents email integration has given Mark’s team members more flexibility with email notifications. According to Mark, each team member can now choose as many or as few emails as they want to receive to prevent information overload and keep them functioning at their maximum.

In his words,

Different staff members use the email function differently. Financial Cents gives them a lot of flexibility in how many emails to get. Everyone customizes their email information to work more efficiently."

Result

Mark’s desire to empower his team with a workflow tool that enables them to do their best work has seen him try different accounting workflow tools in the last few years.

However, he has stayed with Financial Cents since 2021 because it has brought his team order in place of chaos, and allows him to add as many team members as possible at the same monthly or yearly price.

Their ability to store all client information in a client’s profile makes it easier for the team to find up-to-date client information to work more accurately.

Moreover, the Task Dependency feature automates work hand-off between assignees, solving the team’s long-term struggle with effectively handing work off.

Financial Cents give us clear-headedness. Everyone's in a better mood when everything is very clear. The full benefit translates to a more pleasant day where you sit down and know what you are supposed to be doing."

Mark Abraham, Founder Oscar Abraham, CPA
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