How MBS Accountancy uses Karbon Practice Intelligence to manage capacity

The value of a modern accountant isn’t just at tax time. MBS Accountancy are hands-on all year round, setting their clients up to succeed. But what is it exactly that sets them apart from other firms?

CEO and President, Cassidy Jakovickas, credits accurate data insights, aspirational clients, and intelligent technology use.  

A Karbon user since 2021, MBS has been leveraging Karbon Practice Intelligence, a powerful analytics feature that tracks and analyzes data from their services, helping them to make informed decisions about capacity planning, continuous improvement, and growth opportunities.

With every day and for every client, MBS are proving the immense value of regular advisory and planning services.

Attracting the right clients and serving them well

A common complaint Cassidy hears from new clients is that their old accountant “just didn’t respond.” That’s why proactive communication is a point of pride at MBS. Nurturing strong client relationships is good for business.

"Our deep relationships with our clients lets us maintain a quick turnaround time on most client communications," says Cassidy.

To maintain this level of service, MBS supports many different sectors, but they specialize in working with two particular types of clients:

1. Nonprofits

“It is really hard to find an accountant who truly understands nonprofit accounting: the grants, the budgets, and the reporting to the board,” Cassidy explains.

Finding and retaining in-house accountants can be a challenge for nonprofits, who may not be able to compete with the prestige or employee packages that for-profit businesses can offer. The result can be a drain on time and resources, and workflow disruptions that these organizations can’t afford to have.

“So we built a really strong team to consistently deliver to nonprofits,” says Cassidy. “Stability is what a nonprofit needs more than anything, especially because they have so much reporting.” 

As reporting and compliance becomes more complex, the expertise of a trusted financial advisor gives nonprofits much-needed assurance that they are protected from risk. Plus, by offering a tailored service, MBS is able to support the unique needs of each nonprofit, creating real impact for their clients and the communities they serve.

Cassidy and Riccardo from the MBS Accountancy team

2. Growth-focused businesses

The other focus area for MBS are businesses with between $1-10 million in revenue, but with books that aren’t giving them the insights they need.

“Maybe they’ve had a family member handling the accounting or a bookkeeper that’s worked for them for 30 years, but generally the books are not in great shape,” says Cassidy. “They can’t use their accounting to make decisions; they often struggle with turnover and they struggle with predictability.”

Getting businesses organized in preparation for expansion, cleaning up data, and making the insights actionable is the MBS modus operandi.

“Growth requires capital. You either need an investment from outside investors, or you go to the bank and need clean financials,” says Cassidy. “You have to be able to explain where you're going on your business journey.

“That's where we really thrive. We help clients grow because we can help them get financing.”

But their clients aren’t the only ones that need the systems and processes in place to capture and understand their financial and business data. For its own business reporting and analytics, MBS uses Karbon Practice Intelligence.

Karbon Practice Intelligence (KPI) and powerful data

Before using KPI, MBS extracted information from Karbon and processed it in Excel—a process that was both cumbersome and time-consuming.

« We were spending quite a bit of time pulling information out of Karbon and using Excel to get what we needed. When we calculated the time it was taking us to get what we needed, it made sense to invest in KPI. »

Using the Resource Planning Dashboard to understand capacity

Now, Cassidy and his team are on a mission for perfect resource and capacity planning, using the Resource Planning Dashboard in KPI. 

To do so, they assign a time and budget to all tasks, including in-house administration. It might take some effort at first, but the result is an intentional practice with complete visibility over the team’s capacity at any given moment. 

This makes it easier and faster for Cassidy to track and manage workflow across the team, identifying who is available for new clients, who is at risk of burnout, and where bottlenecks are occurring. It’s also useful for calculating metrics like effective hourly rates and utilization rates. 

Resource Planning Dashboard in Karbon

Using KPI data to improve accountability and productivity

For years, Cassidy kept the firm’s financials close to his chest. But since using KPI, he has found that eliminating silos and sharing that data with his managers helps improve accountability, responsibility, and productivity. 

“I've totally opened up the books to the managers. They see the P&L every month, the balance sheet, and the collections. And because we have QuickBooks and Karbon set up to be able to report on each department, the managers have a ton of ownership for the overall success of their department, which contributes to the success of the company. 

“That wouldn’t be possible without KPI because it's giving us the details we need,” says Cassidy. “That's been a really huge positive change.” 

Taking their own advice for the future

Cassidy takes a similar approach to his firm success as he does to his clients’. 

“We're highly focused on growth in the next three years… We want to get up to four million [in revenue] to be able to double the size of our team.” 

He’s not only eager to employ more people, but Cassidy’s excited about rewarding his staff who’ve been there with him through thick and thin.

“With growth comes more opportunities for team members that have really stuck with us. They have an opportunity to take on more responsibility, learn more challenging skills, and make more money,” he says.  

Whatever the long-term future holds for MBS Accountancy, their approach to technology, growth, and client support raises the bar every single day for the accounting industry.

Key results

• Complete visibility over capacity and resourcing

• Improved accountability and productivity from managers

• Simplified their day-to-day operations, with all firm reporting completed in one location