Keys To Building A Tech Stack For Cloud Accounting Firms
I was invited to be on The Appy Hour earlier this week.
It was so fun to be hanging out with two of my dear APIAs*, Heather Satterly and Liz Scott. They are bright, forward thinking, collaborating women. I love being in their presence!
The topic was my app stack: how I choose it and what it does for me.
I had an Doc outline of what we were going to discuss, and I copied my thoughts into the chat as we were going through the webbie. This morning I realized it would be of value to share that outline here on my blog.
It’s point form, it’s somewhat messy, it’s incomplete in the scope of choosing your tech stack - but “done is better than perfect”!
How to get started on choosing your app stack
Stop overthinking
It’s not about whether your friends and colleagues are excited about something; it’s about whether the tech:
Solves a problem you have
Improves a process you have
Won’t distract you more than it will provide benefits
Will move you forward
Will be fun - you know, like a Streamdeck
Core systems
We need tech for these buckets:
To communicate
Internally and with clients
To schedule our time and work
To gather and vet information
To share
Internally and with clients
To create and manage recurring, project and out-of-scope work
To get work done - service delivery, like say, actual accounting ;-}
Here is my tech stack I shared in The Appy Hour Webbie.
Internal Tech Stack
I am a Googler
Everyone has technology that makes them feel like a dumb-dumb, you are not alone - for me, that is Microsoft :-}
Acuity - Automagical scheduling
It doesn’t matter what scheduler you choose, they are all pretty great and adopting one may be the one of the biggest efficiency win in your biz
Decide what goes behind a paywall
Typeform - Form building
Discovery form for bookkeeping prospects, re-engagement survey, app partner evaluations
17Hats - Onboarding
I could use 17Hats for much more - it’s super robust, but I love Acuity and Typeform for the enhanced features that most all-in-ones just don’t have, and Financial Cents manages our client work tightly
That’s me, though, and it’s really not necessary for people to be so deep in all the feature nuances (the “stop overthinking” thing and all)
Once the discovery form in Typeform and the Acuity discovery call are completed - if a prospect is a fit - a 17Hats onboarding workflow is kicked off
We further vet the prospect with deeper intake forms, and quote/contract for a file review
Onboarding info gathering forms are shipped
Once contracted for a file review they are moved into Financial Cents for that workflow and then we use Financial Cents for the file review workflow and all ongoing client work
Financial Cents - Practice management
All client work is managed through here
FC is building out rapidly on so many fronts, that much of our onboarding processes are moving here
Document gathering (that magical customizable upload button) in-app now - Zapier and signatures are coming
Workflows, tasks, resources managed with my co-worker
We set up custom, automated recurring work projects
Workflows, tasks, resources managed with our clients
Send your clients task lists and reminders on recurring schedules - automagical nagging :-}
Communications with my co-worker and our clients
We were using Slack internally, but we have moved most discussions to Financial Cents
We have a combination of FC chat and email with clients
20% off Financial Cents for 3 months when you use this link with code TWWH.
Accounting tech stack
QBO - Accounting program
I love all the GLs, but I have a micro firm so we can only support one GL or our processes and workflows would be unmanageable
Dext - Document management
OCRs the information from uploaded docs and I can push to QBO
Source documents are uploaded here - AP and AR
It manages expense reports for us
It files docs away and it downloads all docs automatically to client-controlled folders
It’s our “collaboration filing cabinet in the sky”
Plooto - Payment processing
AP: Pay vendors
AR: Get paid
My MRR* client fees are pulled from here automatically, along with OOS work and the hot-mess projects fees ad hoc
Rewind - QBO backup
It runs quietly in the background making sure our (or our clients’) work is covered (it’s saving us from our silly selves!)
It is an integral part of our Peace of Mind and Security Policy stack
It’s the first app I attach to a client file - especially the remediation ones!
Rewind is key for us in many ways
We take on the remediation files, so we need a backup of the original state of the file
We need to have a point in time on the work we are doing - not that remediation files are messy while you are cleaning them up or anything…
We play with apps to improve our client outcomes
Having Rewind means we can add apps and if the integration goes sideways, we can restore to a point in time or transactionally
Our clients work in their files, Marissa and I work in files - we are all humans who occasionally slip up - we can fix the oops with Rewind
RightTool - QBO un-uger
This is actually a Chrome extension, and it is ah-mazing!
It creates the Quickbooks Desktop efficiency we crave in the Quickbooks Online we love!
“Hotel California” of audit loop when drilling into a transaction is busted
Create transactions on the fly
Opens new tabs
Reconciled on the face of transactions (yay!)
COA - filter by type (yay!)
Books Review - mark all as done
Download the RT extension - Signup for a RT PRO account - 20% off for 12 months/Coupon code: CALMWATERS20X12
Vendor partnerships
I use an app evaluation form (built in Typeform, of course). Here is a summary list of what is asked on my form*:
Why they started
Problems solved
Owners' background and involvement
Security
On any app stores
App stores have very rigorous acceptance criteria
Where data is stored
What are the data storage redundancy policies
2FA processes
Authenticator or sent
Inactivity logout time settings
Proprietary code or built on a website
Integrations
Direct or integrator (Make/Zapier)
1-way or 2-way
Open API
Sustainability of the business
I ask some Qs around user base and funding
Is the app live
How long in biz or when going live
Available countries
Corporate values
Mission and value statement
Pricing structure
Support channels
Marketing channels
Lift this list!
Create your own Sheet* or Doc of some sort so you can track the criteria that matters to you.
You can access most of this information on their site or ask for whitepapers. It is unlikely that the vendors will fill out a form*** for everyone who wants to use their app, but they should have this information available for you.
Vet! Your! Apps!
You can buy a version of my vetting form:-}
It is a pared down version of the one I use in my app advocacy work***, perfect for accounting pros to use. Even if your app partner doesn’t fill in the form, you can. Then dump the results into a single spreadsheet for a single source of truth on your app stack viability.
On my site is the Typeform version. If you need the Google one, shoot me a note directly.
I mentioned that this was my summary for The Appy Hour Webbie - my talking points to help keep me on track on Tuesday.
So I don’t have a big wrap up statement for here, except to say:
Vet your app partners mindfully - especially if they will house client data
Choose only what you need to further your business model and effciency
Craft data redundancy processes
Enjoy the ride of running cloud based business!
Featured Template
~~~
Featured Template ~~~
15% off discount code: BLOG
We should never be adding applications to our tech stack or our clients’ stack without vetting them 1st.
You need a process to make sure you need the app and that the app meets your criteria to use.
This form vets for general information:
How long the app has been around
Who runs its
Why it came into existence
What problems it solves
What countries is it available in
Who are the competitors
Then it covers security
2FA
Inactivity logout
Where data is stored
And how about integrations
Native
Integrator apps
You may not be able to get your existing or potential apps to complete this form, but you can search their FAQs, use this form to vet and have the results load into a spreadsheet database. You then have a single source of the details of the apps you use.
Join Your Peers Here
Realize Meetup - Courtship, Engagement & Marriage - Discovery & the first date.
March 7th - 1:00 - 2:00 PM Eastern
Swiping Right - Client Courtship, Engagement & Marriage
A six-part series, in Jason Staats’s Realize Community, on building a streamlined, kick-ass engagement process.
This month we are working on discovery & the first date.
How do you decide who you will meet with? How can we keep the misfits out before we even talk to them?
Join me for a monthly masterclass on the lifecycle of a client engagement. From discovery & booking, clear through to re-engagement (and dis-engagement), learn what dating a client looks like in 2023 in a series I’ve developed just for Realize.
Throughout the masterclass series, we will cover crafting your ideal client profile, the discovery process, file review & quoting, information gathering, contracting, tech implementation and education.
This is a Realize Community event series. You must be a member to participate.
I highly recommend you join Jason Staats's amazing group - you will love it there!
Simply yours, Kellie :-}
::Shameless Call To Action::
I sell bookkeeping templates, standard operating process handbooks and client guides.
15% off discount code: BLOG
*APIA - Accounting Professionals I Admire
*Here is a view-only link to a comprehensive spreadsheet - crafted by me - of applications, their features and problems they solve.
* I work with app partners as a part of my business model, that’s why I have created this form. I am not putting my name behind something I represent to my accounting peeps, without a thorough knowledge that they are legit!
*MRR - Monthly recurring revenue
