Standardizing your processes doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Here are 5 tips.
No one would blame you for avoiding standardizing your accounting firm’s processes.
It’s an involved process that takes time, planning and patience. And those are hard to come by when you’re running a busy accounting firm, juggling clients, staff and workflows.
But standardizing your processes doesn’t have to be overwhelming. You don’t have to drop everything to tackle it, and you don’t need to revise every single process at once.
A great place to start is with just one process. It might be your most used process, the one that frustrates you the most, or even your most simple. You can perform a quick audit on your internal workflows with the Internal Workflows Audit and Discovery template from the Karbon Template Library to help you choose.
Here are some tips to consider when standardizing your first process:
1. Don’t start from scratch
You’re not the only firm managing tax, bookkeeping or financial advisory. So chances are that someone has already standardized your chosen process, and made it available on Karbon’s Template Library.
There are hundreds of pre-existing workflow and process templates for you to use as-they-are, or as a starting point for you to customize to suit your firm’s needs.
If you already use Karbon, you can upload them directly to your account. If you aren’t using Karbon yet (or use a different tool altogether), you can download them as .xls files.
2. Get out your pen and sticky notes
Visualizing your workflow will make it easier to understand, helping you identify areas for improvement.
Physically draw it out using a whiteboard, paper or sticky notes. Even when you don’t have all the answers, getting it down on paper will help you get a visual overview of your process.
If you’re against using paper altogether, you can use online mind map tools like Miro or
G2.com
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