Accountants are in the business of finding and fixing mistakes—but we are humans, and all humans will make mistakes at some time or other. The good news is that many tools have been developed to help accounting practices minimize errors, reduce internal stress and keep their clients happy. Below are the top 3 mistakes accounting firms make which can easily be prevented by due date monitoring software for CPAs.
Manual Data Entry Mistakes
Some of the most common accounting mistakes are simple “typos”— keys that were accidentally pressed incorrectly. Indeed, manual accounting is so tedious and time-consuming that data entry mistakes are practically unavoidable. Even though data entry mistakes only take one careless second to make, they can have huge ramifications for your business. If a customer is charged the wrong amount for a transaction, or the wrong customer is charged, fixing the mistake is embarrassing and time-consuming at best, and could cost you a client at worst.
For all these reasons, due date monitoring software for accountants is a great security measure. CPA due date monitoring software tracks time entries digitally, reducing the chance for employee error. It then automatically converts time entries into invoices, again with no manual data processing required. This simple automation helps eliminate stress and worry, and frees you and your employees from the tedium of plugging in numbers!
Ignorance of Financial Status
It’s important for business owners to always be aware of the financial health of their businesses. And although you would think that accountants do a better job of this than most, the phrase “the chef always eats last” applies strongly here. That is to say, CPAs are often so busy helping their clients stay abreast of their finances that they neglect their own accounts. Due date monitoring software for accountants helps make things easier by compiling profitability reports that compares your expenses with your profits. You can use reporting and analytics software to analyze your firm’s biggest challenges and opportunities, and use what you learn to make informed, data-driven decisions.
Loss of Financial Records
Accountants know better than anyone why it’s important to always save financial records in a secure location. (On the off-chance that you’re not an accountant, allow us to elaborate: it’s because the IRS can audit your return for up to three years from your filing date, and if it suspects you’ve underreported your gross income by 25% or more, it has up to six years to challenge your return). That’s why it’s incredible (to us, at least) that so many accounting firms still rely on paper spreadsheets and filing cabinets to store crucial client information. You don’t need us to tell you that if a manual form is misplaced, burned, ruined in a flood, or destroyed by a vengeful intern, then that document is lost forever, and the folks at the IRS are typically not very understanding.
The good news is that due date management software for accountants prevents all these scenarios from happening by saving all uploaded information in a secure, encrypted server. No matter what happens to your office or your computer hardware, the data you entered will be safe and secure until someone with appropriate access credentials removes it. Cloud-based storage solutions can store an unlimited amount of data for months or years on end.
Decrease Stress and Boost Your Profits with ImagineTime’s Due Date Management Software for CPAs
ImagineTime’s simple, intuitive tax due date calendar was designed by accountants, for accountants to make a tough job as easy as possible. ImagineTime and our client portal for CPAs, ImagineShare, can keep track of multiyear deadlines, payments, extensions, and filings; record time entries and convert them into invoices; and give users a host of other features and benefits. If you would like to request a demo to view our due date monitoring software in action, simply fill out our easy form, and one of our representatives will contact you as soon as possible!
