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No matter the size of your client’s organization, expense management can be a repetitive and time-consuming experience. Too often, clients and firms find themselves distracted by chasing down receipts at the end of the month rather than spending that precious time looking ahead and planning for the future. Fortunately, technology is enabling firms to cut down on manual accounting tasks and focus on delivering high-value insights from proactive spend management.
In our recent webinar, Unlocking Better Client Insights with Spend Management Services for Your CAS Practice (sign up to watch this free on-demand webinar now), leading Client Advisory Services (CAS) practitioners discussed how they’re delivering deeper insights and client value through spend management.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the discussion.
- Spend Management is a Key Service Offering for CAS Firms.
CAS is the fastest-growing practice area for accounting firms – and it’s on a steep upward trajectory. Why? Clients value the insights, cashflow analysis, and trusted business advice that firms provide. It helps them make strategic business decisions faster and with more confidence.
As the demand for trusted accounting advisors continues to grow, outsourced spend management presents an opportunity for firms to deliver deeper insights and greater value to clients. In fact, processing and correcting one expense report can cost a business $110 on average.
CAS firms can help clients not only manage spending across their businesses, but also unlock insights and strategies to proactively fuel growth.
- CAS Firms That Leverage Technology Help Clients Make Proactive Decisions.
Traditional expense management is time-consuming, inefficient, and fragmented. Businesses lack real-time visibility into how money is being spent each month.
As Logan Nichol, Director of Product at Divvy, a BILL company notes, “There are a lot of disparate ways and methodologies of spend. We never have real-time visibility into where every single dollar is spent. Time is wasted chasing receipts…and an employee must wait 30, 60, 90 days to be reimbursed for personal spend. It’s a huge problem that we know exists in the market.”
It doesn’t have to take a village to consolidate spending in one place. It just requires the right tools. CAS firms are uniquely positioned to help clients evolve their practices through game-changing technologies.
Divvy Accountant Advisor Program, in partnership with CPA.com, offers an integrated corporate card and software solution that delivers real-time insights into company-wide spending. It eliminates the need for expense reports, inefficient approval flows, and rampant out-of-policy spending.
As a result, firms are able to have strategic conversations with clients about what is happening across the entire business.
Dan Luthi, Partner at Ignite Spot Accounting Services, says Divvy is a win-win for accounting efficiency and client relationships. “We are having faster, more proactive conversations. Instead of us searching for a bank record to reconcile a bank account, we can process documentation much faster.”
- The Divvy Accountant Advisor Program Empowers Clients and Their Teams
Oftentimes, expense management requires business leaders to approve every transaction. This can cause delays and create cashflow issues, hurting both the business and advisors.
With Divvy, business managers can empower employees to control their expenses, increase spending visibility, and eliminate inefficient workflows.
“It creates a very different relationship between the employee and the employer built on trust. Employees have control over how they should be spending their resources and time,” Luthi notes.
Firms can set their clients up for success at no cost to the user, unlocking the following benefits:
- Business leaders can easily issue virtual credit cards with predefined budgets to every employee – immediately improving security and eliminating non-compliance spend.
- All transactions are synced automatically to the client's accounting software – delivering real-time visibility and reporting.
- Expense reports are no longer needed – saving hours of time for firms and clients.
- Receipts can instantly be captured through a mobile app – which means accountants will no longer have to worry about clients walking in with a shoebox full of receipts.
- If needed, reimbursements are fast, free, and easy.
Modern spend management, enabled by technology, offers a secure, controlled, and streamlined process. As a result, firms, clients, and their employees are able to collectively make better decisions and refocus their energy on business growth and improved job performance.
Are You Helping Clients Manage Spending?
Many businesses have little insight or visibility into their spending.
CAS firms have an opportunity to provide clients with the technology to transform expense management while providing financial insights and analysis. Divvy keeps accounting firms a step ahead with better forecasting and budgeting for their clients.
Watch the free webinar, Unlocking Better Client Insights with Spend Management Services for Your CAS Practice, to learn the best practices and insights from practitioners on how your firm can move from reactive expense management into proactive spend management.
