With busy season behind us, many accounting firms go through an analysis of what went right and what areas in their workflow they need to enhance. One of the recurring issues we hear from our customers is the amount of time wasted chasing down client documents. It’s the single biggest impediment to kicking off your workflow (and face it, no one likes having to nag clients).
The solution to streamlining your workflow and getting clients to send you their source documents in a timely manner is actually very simple. You just need the right tools in place. For example, using an automated fetching service can eliminate the time you spend chasing down client bills and statements, freeing you to maximize the productivity and profitability of your firm.
If you are not familiar with how automated document fetching services work, here’s a general overview:
- The client authorizes the fetching service to connect with their bank, credit card or other online merchant accounts.
- The app then automatically pulls the current and past statements or bills into the service, which can then sync to your accounting system and your firm’s document management system.
- Document fetching apps can also be configured to create the entry into the accounting system using the data from the bill, reducing manual data entry tasks and saving a huge amount of time.
On its own, a document fetching service like Hubdoc, can save you significant time, but the holy grail of productivity and profitability comes with pairing it with a cloud-based document management platform such as SmartVault.
When you connect your client’s accounts to Hubdoc, their statements and recurring bills will be automatically retrieved, which already solves a primary pain point for accountants. This process provides the added benefit of being able to obtain multiple client statements and bills at once, pre-schedule work and load levels, and have a predetermined schedule for when monthly or end-of-year documents will arrive.
The integration of Hubdoc with SmartVault lets you establish a client folder in SmartVault as the destination folder, so bills, receipts and statements are pushed directly into SmartVault once Hubdoc retrieves them. From there, entries can be created in your accounting system (QuickBooks, Xero, etc.) and the source file is then related to the specific entry for audit purposes, and stored permanently in SmartVault. Additional features in SmartVault like alerts let you know when files have been uploaded, and integrated eSignature functionality supports new client onboarding. All of these tools help you to build more efficiencies into your client accounting workflow.
Hubdoc and SmartVault both tick the security box, too, with bank-level encryption (256-bit AES) and connections (256-bit SSL). SmartVault also supports compliance with industry regulations associated with FINRA, HIPAA, SEC, GLBA and GDPR.
If busy season has left your firm running ragged trying to get client source documents in time to make deadlines, commit to ending the madness with a more automated, more efficient workflow. It’s one of the fastest ways to reclaim your time (and your sanity)