Balancing the tasks of crunching numbers and managing client expectations reflects the average day of accounting firms. While handling financial transactions is their main function, there's always a way to streamline the operations and make the systems work for them instead of relying purely on manual labor.

As modern technology progresses, it's time to keep pace with the changes and use its solutions. Hence, it's time to use accounting practice management software to improve the day-to-day transactions of accounting firms.

What Are the Benefits of Using Accounting Practice Management Software?

Accounting practice management software reduces the firms' workload by automating repetitive accounting operations. It can also generate invoices and help organize client transactions in a centralized platform, which leads to greater client satisfaction and retention due to a faster turnaround time and display of best performance.

Firms also get a clear picture of their progress and act accordingly to meet their deadlines and KPIs, improving front and back office operations and collaboration among the accountants. This makes using accounting practice management software vital in today's modern age.

Listed below are the best accounting practice management software of 2023:

1 Firm360

Overview

Firm360 is the accounting practice management software made by accountants for accountants. It is developed by Firm Software Inc., founded by Brandon Gray, who is active in his CPA profession and is keenly aware of accounting firms' challenges. Gray and his team designed Firm360 to address these challenges and create an all-in-one solution to achieve a successful accounting practice.

As a cloud-based solution, Firm360 can save time and effort by automating project workflows and by making everything accessible in one place, including bills, reports, client portals, etc. It allows teams to work more efficiently and communicate easily among themselves and with their clients. It reduces errors caused by manual entry and improves client management by centralizing all transactions in one platform.

While Firm360 may not have been around quite as long as some of the large incumbent competitors in this space, the company consists of a world-class client success team. Their team goes above and beyond to provide a total white glove experience to its clients, keeping clients satisfied with its accounting practice management software.

They praise Firm360 for its ease of use and intuitive functions, stating that it has significantly improved their workflow speed, leading to faster response time among office operations. One user also stated that it enables them to work remotely since everything is centralized and contained in the all-in-one platform, leading to a 25% increase in productivity.

Some even expressed that they wished they switched to Firm360 sooner as it was worth the purchase, which is just a fraction of what they have earned by utilizing the software designed specifically for accounting practice.

Firm360 simplifies the business of running an accounting firm. It lets accountants and CPAs focus on their practice instead of wasting time on administrative overhead. Gray and his team deeply care about the users of their accounting practice management software. Hence, they are open to feedback to develop a product that provides a better experience for everyone in the accounting industry.

Features

Project Management

Say goodbye to post-its, color-coded folders, and towering filing cabinets. With Firm360, firms can centralize every transaction through its project management feature. It keeps everyone on the same page, organized, and focused on what actions need to be taken. Since it is cloud-based accounting practice management software, teams can work remotely and stay up to date on the firm's projects.

Supervisors can quickly delegate tasks among team members and monitor the project's status, whether under preparation, for review, processing, or not started. This helps in staying on top of deadlines and delivering the projects on time. This also improves the team's overall efficiency, leading to better client satisfaction.

Document Management

It's important to choose the right tools to efficiently organize documents, especially for an industry that must handle confidential information and maintain the privacy of its clients. Fortunately, Firm360 contains multiple levels of security to store all the paperwork for document management.

The accounting practice management software enables teams and clients to receive, access and upload documents in a secure platform. It also allows requests for e-signatures to reduce manual operations such as printing, faxing, or scanning. Going digital certainly cuts down the time for in-person transactions, which saves money for the accounting firm in the long run.

Time & Billing

Firm360 lets firms manage their time and billing efficiently through its software. It offers fast and easy time entry for in-house and remote teams and enables time-tracking. It can also generate invoices and send them via email for fast transactions. There's no need to switch tabs to deliver them. It also allows direct payment from clients via credit card or direct depository.

Advanced Reporting and Analytics

Firms in need of performance analysis can rely on Firm360 for advanced reporting and analytics. It can generate reports that enable them to track time spent on clients and track each member's billable versus non-billable time through the client realization and staff utilization report.

Firm360 also offers a bird's eye view for the manager to oversee what the client load and projects teams are working on by generating a staff workload report. It provides complete information on the project activities of the team, detailing missed deadlines, upcoming projects, workload balance, and other changes involving the project.

Moreover, the computer-generated accounts receivable (AR) report offers transparency on what is currently due to the company by customers who made payments via credit, enabling firms to enforce accountability from customers to avoid missing their dues.

Client Portal and Messaging

Firm360 streamlines client communications through its client portal and messaging. It offers an activities folder where teams can log phone calls, emails, in-person meetings, and other means of contact with the client. By having them all in one place, firms can keep track of all information necessary in line with the client's requests and concerns.

This accounting practice management software also syncs well with Gmail and Outlook to organize communications outside the platform. This ensures optimal visibility, especially for members outside the project to access the status and up-to-date correspondence with the client.

There's no need to complicate tasks and systems involved in accounting practice management. Make Firm360 do half the work through its automation, integrations, and other reliable features that streamline operations and improve collaboration among teams and client relationships. It's easy to use and is highly recommended for firms of any scale.

2 Karbon

Overview

Karbon offers more than enough solutions to qualify as one of the best accounting practice management software. It provides visibility and control,  automation and efficiency, and collaboration in one platform. It centralizes every document, task, job, communication, and even bills and reports to make everything accessible to each member of an accounting firm.

Karbon ranks among the easiest to use in the G2 review platform. With 98% service satisfaction, users commend this collaborative platform for providing visibility and efficiency in the workflows for each task, job, and client. Karbon is also accessible on mobile, enabling anyone to stay updated even outside their offices.

Features

Karbon keeps everyone aligned to meet the same goals through its project management. It compiles timelines of all activities and communications related to a job or client for easier visibility, ensuring everyone is on the same page to achieve the set objectives.  It also offers templates for consistent and effective service.

As a collaborative platform for accounting practice management, it can unite every team member in one place to maximize their efforts and finish the project on time. It can display the status of the project as well as the time allocated.  With its Global Search, team members get instant answers. It can provide the latest information about the query, sourced from the inbox, jobs, and tasks available on Karbon.

Karbon can also reveal insights through easy-to-read reports to display the firm's overall performance. It can display the overall ranking of the members or a budget overview so managers can make informed decisions where they can take action to increase revenue. Overall, it's an all-in-one solution that's convenient to use and worth purchasing.

3 Canopy

Overview

Canopy is an all-in-one accounting practice management software for firms of all scales. It is also cloud-based and secure in its platform, using 256-bit encryption to store all the sensitive information through Amazon Web Services. Canopy is also scalable to accommodate the firm's size and the number of clients it serves. Currently, it ranks third among the easiest-to-use software for accounting practice management. Also, it offers a free trial of 30 days for anyone interested.

Features

The main foundation of Canopy is its client management feature. It unites all information related to every client, including their directory, records, intra-firm communications, and even their calendars that are shared or synced to align with the firm's timeline. It also contains an AI email generator that assists in client communications. The AI can modify or revise the tone of the email and even correct the grammar or spelling with just one click.

Canopy also allows integrations with other tools like Google, Outlook, or IMAP/SMTP. It syncs every email and displays every Canopy message in a separate platform. Firms can also organize their clients by grouping them based on the similarity of the task, making it easier to perform bulk actions.

Canopy can also act as a white-label solution with its custom firm branding on its platform. This feature enables firms to change the interface of the accounting practice management software to match their branding. Moreover, this extends to the mobile application interface. However, the contents are different for the clients, as their access is limited to their transactions.

Overall, Canopy is recommended for its ease of use and mobile app accessibility.

4 TaxDome

Overview

TaxDome is an all-in-one secure cloud-based solution for accounting practice management. It can automate menial tasks and streamline client communications for tax, bookkeeping, and accounting firms. It offers a user-friendly client portal and a customizable CRM. In addition, TaxDome also works cross-platform, granting mobile users access to the features needed in accounting operations.

Features

TaxDome stores client information securely with its 256 SSL encryption. It offers unlimited cloud-based storage space to contain all the documents needed to manage financial transactions. Restrictions are embedded into documents, preventing clients from accessing sensitive data unrelated to them.

This cloud-based accounting practice management software also comes with a built-in PDF editor that allows firms to annotate, highlight, rotate, and even split or merge PDF files. This eliminates app hopping, allowing anyone to conveniently revise and attach documents directly.

TaxDome also provides customizable digital questionnaires for client onboarding, allowing firms to get the necessary information quickly. It automates the forms intuitively, only displaying questions that align with the client's answers. For example, if they are married, TaxDome follows up with an additional question regarding the client's spouse.

As an all-in-one solution, TaxDome contains all the essential features for accounting practice management like workflow automation, time tracking, invoices, payments, etc.

Overall, it is highly recommended for its native PDF editor, user-friendly interface, and mobile app compatibility with Android and iOS.

5 Mango

(Photo : Screenshot from Mango website)

Overview

Mango is an accounting practice management software containing all the tools needed to streamline and optimize operations, making it one of the top choices among CPAs, consultants, accounting professionals, and other businesses needing an efficient time and billing system that's easy to use and affordable.

Features

Mango contains a comprehensive project dashboard where firms instantly get a big picture of the project status and a detailed summary of each project according to the assigned billing partner or manager. In addition, the dashboard sorts all information automatically in the right order according to its relevance, helping users prioritize their tasks for the day.

If a task gets delegated, admins have the option to send notifications via email to the assigned billing partner for immediate action, reducing the amount of time wasted due to in-app inactivity. Admins can also restrict access to its members and clients to control the visibility of the projects.

Mango also offers integration with other programs, enabling firms to import client data and information seamlessly. With its free customizable templates, Mango can assist firms in achieving consistency in their branding or in the easy distribution of invoices or billings to the clients and firm members through duplication of templates.

Moreover, Mango offers website development with a built-in client portal where firms can customize its design, display their accounting practice and services, and receive payables at an additional price. Mango can deliver the initial design within 4-6 weeks, with one round of reviews and revisions. It can also launch the website live within 6-8 weeks after revision submissions. Overall, Mango is recommended for firms in need of a white-label solution to showcase their brand on a digital platform.

Conclusion

Take advantage of these top 5 best accounting practice management software to automate workflows and centralize all operations. Each contains all the tools that firms need to address the challenges of handling financial transactions and maintaining a harmonious relationship with their clients.

While some of them are more secure in comparison, they are all equally capable in terms of function and utility. It boils down to preference and the budget to determine which among these platforms is the best fit for your business.