In business, the few decisions you make can make a big difference in your business's level of success. For accounting firms, there are several decisions that can determine whether your firm will be one of the “successes” or one of the “failures.” So, what habits make the difference between leading companies and those that don't behave like leaders in the field of accounting? What are the secrets to a successful accounting firm?

Planets and Written Goals

You've probably heard about the importance of writing down your personal life goals. According to a 1979 study conducted by Harvard's MBA program, writing down your goals for the future will greatly influence your success throughout your life. In this study, they interviewed a number of graduates and asked: “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and plans to achieve them?“

Of those surveyed, only 3% had written down their goals and plans. 13% said they had goals but hadn't written them down. 84% of the respondents stated they didn't have any specific goals. When these students were interviewed again ten years later, the changes in their levels of success were astonishing.

On average, the 13% who had unwritten goals earned twice as much as those who didn't have goals. And the 3% who had written down their goals and objectives? On average, they were earning ten times as much compared to the 97% in their class!

So, what does this mean for your business? Simply put, writing down the goals you have for your business will be the foundation for future success; however, surprisingly, 46% of firms do not have a strategic plan or goal for their business. 

But since these goals aren't just for you, you can't write them down and leave them; your entire team needs to be on board with the goals and understand the strategy for achieving them. How can you do this? First and foremost, you need to have an inspiring vision for your business. According to a study, only 40.1% of accounting firms believed their company's vision was inspiring, and only 20.1% thought their entire team understood the firm's goals and strategies.

Including your staff members in the goal-setting process and ensuring they understand your objectives will encourage employee engagement. Numerous studies have shown the benefits of increased employee engagement, and we will discuss these specific benefits later in this guide. However, suffice it to say that engaging your employees with an inspiring vision and a clear purpose will help your business experience exponential growth and success.

The wide range of services

The most successful accounting firms don't offer just a single service; they have a diverse range of services available to their clients. Why does this make them so much more successful?

There are a number of reasons for it:

The broadest client base

If you offer a diverse package of services, you'll be targeting a more diverse client base. For example, let's say your firm offers accounting services exclusively for small businesses. Now, you're targeting only small business owners with that single service. Your clients can't refer you to friends who need tax filing services, or to larger businesses that require a range of accounting services. You're focused on just one service offered to only one type of business, and it's hard to achieve significant growth when you have such a small target clientele.

Same clients, more business

You already have a client base, so why not maximize the business you get from these clients? Firms that offer a variety of services can provide multiple services to the same client; This allows your business to maximize its potential profits while making you a convenient service provider for all your clients' accounting needs. Instead of offering only tax services to your client, you can prepare their personal tax return,  offer accounting services for the business and assist with day-to-day management. Suddenly, your earnings from a single client have multiplied many times over.

Expertise in a specific field

You might think that diversifying your services leads to lower levels of expertise – or, as the saying goes, “Jack of all trades, master of none.” However, in the court of public opinion, that simply isn't true. When clients see that you can handle every aspect of accounting, they'll view you as an expert in your field. That's why those firms at the top of the industry have such a strong reputation for what they do—because they can do it all.
Diversifying your service portfolio can help your business grow and earn a reputation as the expert in your industry. 

Customer Satisfaction Monitoring

Another habit successful accounting firms share is that they don't blindly treat client satisfaction – they carefully monitor their clients' satisfaction every step of the way. The reason for this is simple: On average, it costs five to six times more to acquire a new client than to retain an existing one. Simply put, it's more cost-effective to focus your efforts on keeping your clients happy than on marketing to new ones.

Besides being more cost-effective, keeping your customers happy can bring you additional business. In a study conducted, as much as 14% of a company's business came from customers who had been referred by existing customers. Happy consumers will also be repeat customers; people are 10% less likely to make a purchase if they have used your company before and were satisfied with the experience.

But how can you keep your customers happy if you don't know when they're dissatisfied? As a business owner, it's important that you continuously “check the temperature” of your customers. Conduct regular surveys and ask them to give you feedback online. A customer who isn't satisfied with your services or leaves a negative review is likely one foot out the door. By catching this dissatisfaction early, you can make efforts to retain the customer and keep their business.

Failing to monitor customer satisfaction is like pouring water into a bucket with a hole in the bottom. No matter how much you pour in, the water will keep leaking out. The best way to stop that metaphorical hole in your bucket is to keep your customers happy so they won't want to leave and take their business elsewhere; monitoring their satisfaction is the best way to do that.

Encouragement i work-life balance

Accounting professionals have a reputation for always being chained to their desks, especially during busy seasons. In fact, 83.1% of economists surveyed said they routinely work more than 40 hours a week. While it's sometimes necessary for employees to put in extra hours – how will you get through tax season any other way? — It's important for you to encourage all your employees to have a good work-life balance whenever possible. That's how the most successful accounting firms do it, and clearly it's working for them.

In a study of Fortune 500 Among businesses that were at the forefront of their respective fields. In this study, 49% of the companies ranked in the top three positions in their industries listed work-life balance as a top priority for their company. Doing so leads to happier, healthier employees who report higher levels of engagement in their work. Happy, engaged employees provide their business with the following benefits:

• 27% higher profits
• 50% higher sales
• Higher customer loyalty 50%
• 38% above-average productivity

You might think that keeping your employees at work longer will lead to more output, but the longer they're at their desks, the less productive they'll be. Furthermore, a good work-life balance makes it more likely that your employees will stay with your company for a long time; 27% of employees who reported a poor work-life balance said they plan to leave their companies within the next two years, while only 17% of those who reported a good work-life balance had the same plans.

More and more people entering the workforce today make sure to maintain a good balance between their professional and personal lives, especially those employees who are highly qualified for their jobs. If you want to attract the best talent, keep them around and keep them happy and productive, then you need to give them the opportunity to balance their lives around work, rather than expecting work to be their life.

Do more with less

Everyone is familiar with the saying “time is money,” but how often do you apply that concept in your business? In a competitive industry, it's important that you and all your employees learn how to work smarter, not harder, so you can get more done with the time and workforce you have. If you want your business to be highly productive, consider implementing some of the following habits used by top accounting firms:

1. Provide clear guidance on priorities; this helps employees focus first on the most important tasks.
2. Distribute workloads and tasks continuously and equally.
3. Provide ongoing support and training; this empowers employees and ensures they have the necessary skills to get things done.
4. Provide employees with the necessary resources to get things done efficiently and at a high level of quality.
5. Give employees autonomy and authority to decide how to do their work; this prevents delays in the workflow and empowers employees to take ownership of their respective tasks.

Short meetings throughout the week can help you gauge workloads and redistribute them as needed, ensuring that things get done. It also forces employees to take responsibility for what they've accomplished, because they have to report periodically on their tasks.

You should also set clear, firm deadlines for projects. According to a study conducted among college students, those who had clear deadlines performed better and more consistently than those without deadlines. You also need to make sure deadlines aren't too lenient; the same study showed that students who had too much time to complete a task performed almost as poorly as those who had no deadlines at all.

Encourage your employees to take breaks throughout the day as well. The same concept of a good work-life balance applies to the balance while employees are at work. According to some studies, the most productive people work in cycles; Ideally, employees should work for 90 minutes, then take a 15-minute break. This aligns with the body's natural energy rhythms, giving them more energy to get things done and allowing them to stay more focused on their work.

You should also use appropriate tools to reduce the time it takes you to complete the tasks. This may include items such as paperless document management systems and the scanning software. These types of tools will significantly reduce the amount of time your employees spend on time-consuming tasks like data recording and entry, giving them more time to devote to billable tasks and producing supplies for your clients.

Conclusion

Finding the formula for success can be a trial-and-error process, and very few businesses truly understand it. It takes the right employees, the right habits, the right tools, and sometimes a bit of luck to climb to the top of the accounting industry. However, we hope you can learn from those companies that seem to have unlocked the secrets of running a successful accounting firm, so you can apply these secrets to your own business and turn your firm into the next success story.

Source: E-File Cabinet.