Five signs your practice has outgrown spreadsheets

Most accounting practices start with a spreadsheet: a row per client, a column per deadline. It works well, until it doesn't. Here are five signs it may be time for something more.

1. Deadlines live in more than one place#

A spreadsheet for year ends, a calendar for VAT, sticky notes for payroll. When you have to check three places to see what is due this month, something will eventually slip.

2. Chasing documents depends on memory#

If you rely on remembering who still owes bank statements, you spend time on follow ups that a simple reminder system could handle.

3. Only one person knows where things stand#

If a colleague is off and nobody can tell which returns are waiting on the client, your process lives in someone's head rather than in a shared system.

4. Onboarding a client takes too many steps#

Collecting details, setting up deadlines and requesting documents should be one short routine, not a dozen emails.

5. You avoid looking at the sheet#

When the spreadsheet becomes something you dread opening, it has stopped saving you time.

What to look for instead#

A good practice CRM keeps client records, deadlines, document requests and notes together, and shows at a glance what needs attention. That is exactly what we are building in our CRM for accounting practices, which is in development with early access open now.