• Clarity around your firm’s what, why, and how. Ensures your entire team—at all levels—is on the same page about your firm's vision and mission, what your goals are, and who you’re serving, to guarantee that everyone is working in-sync to represent and fulfill each of those statements.

• Allows you to scale your firm (and grows with you). A robust BOS should house scalable operations to ensure smooth growth. When all processes are well-defined and developed along with the right technology, your firm will be set up for painless growth.

• Increased consistency. Because your BOS details the what, when, why and how of your firm’s day-to-day operations, your team will have a set of parameters and direction to work within, meaning they’re delivering client services consistently and in-line with the BOS.

• Increased firm efficiency. A BOS leaves little to the imagination, so your team doesn't need to waste time trying to remember how to perform a certain task, or where to find a particular document. Plus, the operating processes in your BOS should be the standardized and optimized way to perform them at your firm, so your team should be operating at the highest efficiency at any given time.

• Increased customer satisfaction. When your team has the tools and direction to perform their job well, client satisfaction increases.

• Improved employee engagement. A BOS helps to better-align staff with your firm’s strategy, which increases their accountability, engagement and alignment with your firm’s vision.

• Reduced cost and increased profitability. The combination of the above benefits result in decreased client churn, increased staff retention, improved productivity and efficiency, which ultimately boosts your top line.

Don’t cut corners

A BOS is only as effective as the effort put in. If your firm’s BOS outlines everything perfectly, but only provides the high-level information regarding your standard operating procedures, you’ve only done 80% of the work, and you simply won’t reap the rewards.

For example, if your BOS outlines that every month, your retainer clients require a month-end reconciliation, but doesn’t actually outline how that happens, who is responsible and what tools are required, your team is all but left in the dark.

They now need to spend time and effort searching for those answers.

It’s only when your BOS documents all your processes that you’ll receive the full benefits of increased efficiency, scalability, accountability and consistency.

You can’t wing success

The bottom line is: you can’t expect your accounting business to grow the way you want—or as fast as you want—without thinking about and formalizing a business operating procedure.