Evaluate your firm’s needs

After deciding to implement workflow software, the most important thing to do is evaluate your firm’s needs. What’s important to you about a workflow system? What does it need to do?

It’s a good idea to write a list of must-haves—the functionality and requirements that any workflow solution you implement needs to cover. Then a list of nice-to-haves—a usually slightly longer list of features that would be useful, but aren’t deal-breakers.

Many practice management software tools offer very capable workflow systems, helping you improve the efficiency of your entire accounting practice.

What’s your budget?

Choosing the cheapest workflow software can leave you with many avoidable headaches.

Working out how much you’re willing to spend can be a great method to reduce your options from the get-go—do this step in the early stages of your selection process.

Although it’s important to look at the full cost of the implemented system, it’s also critical to consider the benefits as well. How will they offset the initial investment (both effort and money) and annual cost?

If you make the right choice, your accounting workflow software should actually be able to increase your top line and bottom line through cost savings and time saved.

If you make the right choice, your accounting workflow software should actually be able to increase your top line and bottom line through cost savings and time saved.

When defining your budget, it’s also important to consider the trade-offs you’re prepared to make. Is more functionality and a more complex deployment worth having a system that is easier to use?

Talk to your peers

One trick to finding the best accounting workflow software is to ask around. Talk to other people in the industry that you trust or look up to.

Find other firms in similar niches or with similar scopes and ask them about the tools they’re using:

• What did they implement and why?

• Are they satisfied with the solution?

• Is it worth the investment?

Generally, they’ll be happy to share their experiences with you.

Pick your key criteria

Align with your management team on a list of key requirements. It’s important that everyone is on the same page going in. Try deciding on 3-5 key criteria you’ll use to evaluate the available options.

Refer back to your list of must-haves and nice-to-haves and make sure you and your management team agree—they might have a different take on what your firm may or may not need.

You may find it useful to assign each of your identified criteria a weight based on how important it is to your firm. The combined weighting of all criteria should add up to 100.

Prepare and assess possible solutions

The field of available solutions is large. Narrow down the pool as much as possible by choosing only those that fit all or most of your needs. Having clear requirements will make this process easier—this is where your identified criteria from the previous step will come in handy.

Rate each possible solution for their strength in each of the key criteria you defined. If you allocated a weighting to the criteria, you can then calculate a weighted score for each solution by multiplying each criteria score by the criteria rating, and aggregating these together.

You can use this Technology Prioritization Template to assist with this step.

Whatever method you use to evaluate, try to keep a strict time limit when looking at each solution. Don’t spend too much time on one vendor while you’re still narrowing the field. This can cause an over-investment and potentially lead to a poor decision.

Once you’ve got a winner, engage in a trial or ask for a demo. If you have two solutions that are on-par, try them both. Most will offer a free trial period.

See how you like working with each system:

• Which one is easier to use?

• How accessible is the support?

• Are you able to solve simple problems yourself?

The bottom line

Every accounting firm needs a workflow solution that works for them. Your workflow software can bring productivity to your own firm, while increasing your value to your clients.

With that in mind, it’s worth taking the time to pursue the best in class options to make your firm the strongest it can be.

Recommended reading: A buyer’s guide for accounting practice management software