Accountants, remove these 5 things from your to-do list

October 12, 2022 10:32 AM

It's no secret that accounting is one of the most time-demanding professions. During "busy season," accountants typically work between 50 and 80 hours a week.

While spending hours on end addressing a loaded task list might be working fine for you and getting the job done, processes can always be improved to increase efficiency, save time and improve quality. As the saying goes, "Better to do a little well than a great deal badly." In other words, it is more beneficial to narrow your focus to a few core tasks than try to spread yourself thin and do it all.

Successful accountants don't do everything — but that which they do, they do their best. Here are five things to remove from your to-do list if you want to be a more effective (and less stressed) accountant.

Basic bookkeeping tasks

Like many jobs, accounting comes with some mundane tasks that require little expertise yet can eat away at your time, such as expense tracking, ledger balancing, and card reconciliation. Instead of doing them yourself, these basic bookkeeping tasks can be outsourced to allow you to spend more time on higher-level, strategic matters and business development.

Manual data entry and reporting

It's easy to burn hours entering data. Don't do this manually; save time by automating data entry. Not only will this save you time and money, but it will also reduce human errors and subjectivity. Take a look at your current processes and find an automated data entry software that best fits your needs.

Just like automating data entry, you can likewise automate financial reporting with accounting reporting software. Such software can offer many features that help make data useful and accessible while simplifying your job. Here are a few of those features:

Template libraries are filled with a variety of autopopulated reports, metrics and statements that enable you to quickly display the information you need.
Live text can be added in reports so that the software can pull live data from the companies you select and display them in the reports and sentences within the reports.
Quickly and securely share your reports with team members and clients.
Custom reports, spreadsheets and metric templates with advanced formulas can be saved and stored for future use.

If you aren't already doing so, consider implementing specialized software to make data entry and reporting quick and automated.

Offering free accounting advice

When working with clients, it's not uncommon to get a spontaneous phone call from a client asking for accounting advice, causing you to get sucked into a long conversation that eats away at your time. Accounting is your area of expertise, and you should be paid for it.

If situations like this occur, you don't need to flat out refuse to help. Instead, be upfront about the cost of advisory services before even getting into the conversation. That way, there will be no surprises, and you will get paid for the knowledge and value you contribute to the client.

Multitasking to be more “productive”

Multitasking is a myth! People are physically incapable of thinking about more than one thing at a time, and attempting to do so can actually hinder performance and ability to think. What we think of as multitasking is in reality quickly switching gears and bouncing back and forth among tasks. This makes people less efficient and more likely to make mistakes —something to be avoided at all costs in the accounting world.

Frequent attempts to multitask also make it generally harder to focus, even when trying to work on one thing. So, when making your to-do list, prioritize your day's to-do tasks just one at a time.

Working with bad clients

Don't feel like you need to endure insupportable clients forever. Difficult clients take up your time and often don't result in progress or profitability. Here are a few signs that indicate a "bad" client:

They have unrealistic expectations and get upset when those expectations are not met.
Everything is an "emergency." They give you frequent last-minute requests, making you neglect other important client work.
They treat you disrespectfully or don't respect boundaries you set.
They believe they know better than you and refuse to accept your input.
They make it difficult for you to get paid or don't pay you at all.

Of course, if you can first address and resolve these concerns without cutting any ties, that would be ideal. But if problems persist, even after having candid discussions, the client just might not be the right fit for your services. It's OK to be a little picky and replace the difficult clients with ones that will do better for your business.

Accountants, you can take control of your to-do list and eliminate tedious tasks and work that is taking all your time and energy without positive results. Removing these five things is a good place to start. Doing so will free up your time, reduce your stress, and enable you to focus on the core activities that will help you thrive professionally.