The home office for Accounting has become mandatory to stop the progress of coronavirus, following the example of other sectors. Therefore, we draw on the experience of Conta Azul with the online migration of partners to support you in this transition, covering the main challenges of an accounting firm . If you've been caught off guard and don't quite know how to migrate your operation to remote work, this article can be very useful.Continue reading and structure your online accounting with our home office guide for accountants.
Home office for accountants and the fight against coronavirus The home office for accountants is a fundamental measure to combat the spread of coronavirus in the country. As of March 19, Brazil already had 621 cases of Covid-19 and 7 fatal victims , according to data from the Ministry of Health published in G1. With the advance of the pandemic, business, dreams and the livelihood of many people are at risk.
Therefore, the moment requires quick action , as March and April will be the most critical months - a period of isolation quite difficult for everyone. According to the Ministry of Health, it will take 60 to 90 days for the number of cases to stabilize in the country, according to data published in Uol. With the closing of trade and contingency measures, companies are already being affected and the climate is uncertain regarding the economy. In the case of accounting firms, the effects will be felt with the financial impacts of their clients and changes in routine.
Pandemic challenges for accountants
Far beyond the home office, the coronavirus crisis poses numerous challenges for accounting firms.See what are the main points of attention at that moment.
1. Maintain the care routine
The first challenge is to maintain your personal care with health, food and sleep, respecting routine and family life.Remember that a situation like this requires you to be well before anything - and your health is preserved .
2. Give attention to the team
At this point, you need to look at the team with double attention and care . after all, these are the people who will ensure the survival and continuity of your business.Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that they are risk-free and more united than ever.
3. Inform customers
The coronavirus' next challenge is to keep its clients informed about measures and changes in the relationship with the office.It is very likely that they are anxious and worried, not knowing how they will maintain their Accounting and financial routines.
4. Offer immediate support
This is also the time to anticipate, offering immediate help to your customers to avoid the worst.
You can ask questions like:
- Do you have cash for the month and for the next?
- Do you have supplies to maintain production / deliveries?
- Will you have customers and orders in that time?
- Can you talk to them to guarantee payments or order continuity?
6 steps to structure the home office for accountants
The home office for accountants will be an essential part of the contingency plan to halt the progress of the coronavirus, and your company needs to be prepared for this new reality. But, how to structure an office to work remotely ?This is what we will learn in a few steps.
1. Start with internal preparation
For the home office to work in your accounting office, start with internal preparation , which must include the following aspects:Organize sectors and departments: check who can already work from home and who needs more resources or process changes to act remotelyProvide the necessary technology: survey what configurations, equipment leases and Accounting installations need to be done to ensure the secure access of employees (VPN, remote access to the server and systems in the cloud , for example)Ensuring the quality of care : analyzing what needs to be changed to maintain the quality of care and customer relations. After that, you can move on to the action plan.
2. Map the key processes and those responsible
Your action plan should begin with mapping the organization's key processes .Basically, you will have to list the activities that can be done remotely and which still need to be adapted. In addition, it is important to appoint a person responsible for each key process, and then divide the professionals into two groups : those who are already 100% ready to work from home and those who still need adjustments.
3. Take care of information security
The next step is to check the risks of information security and ensure strong passwords, antivirus, secure logins and mechanisms for customer data protection (eg digital certificate). It is also important to organize permissions and access and educate the team so that you do not have to resort to IT and technical support frequently - only in the necessary accesses.
4. Create a meeting agenda
So that the team is always in touch and feedback is continuous, it is important to create a meeting agenda for the home office period.You can, for example, plan online “one-to-one” meetings between leaders and followers, departments and employees in general.The important thing is that these check-in meetings take place weekly to keep everyone aligned.
5. List the impacts of change for customers
The next step is to list the impacts that the home office will have on the routine of its clients.For example, you must record changes in the document delivery process, sending payment slips and reporting.
6. Communicate with customers
Finally, it is important that you proactively communicate with customers and explain that the company is working in a home office, even if it does not make a difference in accounting services .In addition, the service must be adapted to the needs of the period, taking into account the type of help that your client needs at that time.
Home Office Accounting Tools
To help you transition from office to home office, you can rely on a number of tools in the cloud .They do not need to be installed and can be accessed by all members, facilitating the interaction and sharing of information online. Recalling that the intention is to standardize the software to the maximum used to unify the processes.
See some of the most used tools for each function.Tools for sharing documents If the client needs to send a document to the office, it can be an opportunity to encourage him to adopt the Blue Accounting to share files in the cloud with complete security and convenience.In addition to sending any document online, the customer can use the platform to post his statement, issue invoices and various other functions that facilitate routines.If you need to share documents with other departments, you can also use tools like Google's G Suite or Dropbox , which also store files in the cloud in separate folders for each customer. Tools for organizing tasks and processes
If the difficulty of your office is in managing tasks and processes , there are complete online tools to manage each stage of teamwork.The Trello , for example, organizes projects in tables, lists and cards, allowing everyone to collaborate online and track each outstanding task, completed and under development.Already Todoist organizes tasks into checklists practical and intuitive, while Gestta is especially dedicated to the management of the accounting firm. Tools to communicate with customers and staff Another constant challenge for the home office is communication with customers and staff, which should be enough to resolve any pending issues and maintain alignment
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