Business Perspective: CPACHARGE
How CPAs can effectively work from home
| October 2020 Footnote
Editor's note: Updated September 30, 2020
The ability to successfully run your practice remotely is becoming an increasingly critical skill for accounting professionals. While many have taken to remote work like ducks to water, others are a bit more hesitant. If you’re among the latter group, don’t worry. We’ve put together a few of our best practices for successfully working from home.
Keep a structured schedule
One of the most important aspects of successful remote work is sticking to a daily routine and structured schedule as much as possible. Following a typical morning routine helps differentiate personal time from work time and shift your mind into “work mode” so you can focus on your tasks.
It’s normal to find it difficult to transition out of work mode when your workday ends. This is because when you’re working in your office, you have an end of day ritual that signals to your brain the workday is over — e.g., packing up your things, getting in the car and driving home. However, when you’re working remotely, you don’t have that ritual, which makes it easy for you to just continue working well past the time you normally would.
To prevent burnout while working from home, you need to give yourself a reasonable and firm stopping point. Consider relegating your work to one particular room so you have the option to turn off your computer and physically leave your work in that room once your day is done.
Use productivity and connectivity tools
Today’s modern productivity and communication tools were designed to let professionals easily share all aspects of their work with colleagues as well as clients from anywhere. Consequently, these solutions are a necessity when working remotely.
As you build your remote work tech toolbox, make sure you have software for each of the following:
- Bookkeeping
- Cloud storage
- Email
- Document signing
- Practice management
- Real-time communication (Skype, Zoom, etc.)
- Timekeeping
Let your clients pay online
Naturally, when working from home, you’ll need a way to accept payments from your clients. While they could feasibly send their payments via traditional methods (such as mailing a check), there are faster and more convenient ways to get paid — specifically, online payment solutions.
One of the most significant benefits of online payments is the fact you can get paid from just about anywhere, regardless of the distance between you and your clients. In addition, rather than having to wait for a check to arrive, online payments start processing as soon as your client clicks “send.” In fact, a study showed as many as 85% of electronic invoices are paid the same week they’re sent out.
Adopting online payments also contributes to a better client experience, as your clients will appreciate the convenience of being able to pay you online. They can set up and send a payment for your invoice without needing to step outside or drive to the post office. Even those clients who prefer check payments over credit cards can still pay via eCheck.
The simplicity that online payments offer your clients will certainly foster a positive relationship with them, leading to repeat business and potential referrals, as well.
MNCPA members get their monthly program fee waived for three months.
CPACHARGE
Phone: 866-260-7474
Email: sales@cpacharge.com
Web: www.cpacharge.com/mncpa
