At the Access Group, we have worked with many accounting firms, helping them to select the right software for accountants to enable their practice to scale and grow. We supply complete accounting practice management software, including tax software, general ledger software and data management and analytics.  

So how to grow your accounting practice? We have divided our article into easy-to-follow steps that you can use as a guide towards sustainable accounting firm growth. 

By the end of this article, you should know exactly what tools and strategies you need to implement to grow your accounting practice. 

How to grow accounting practices - what statistics are telling us 

In the Marketing & Growth edition of the Your Future Practice series, we surveyed 435 accounting firms in Australia of all sizes, and this highlighted the differences in approaches to how to grow accounting practices.  

Our survey found that one in three accounting practices (35 per cent) believe they will exceed their annual revenue target. When comparing this across practice sizes, we saw a distinct difference in the likelihood of achieving their yearly revenue targets as the practice grows. 

Many factors determine this, including:  

• Larger accountant firms are likelier to have set processes to focus their employees on revenue objectives.  
• Practices using accounting practice software are enabled to map their revenue projections better to ensure they are on target.  
• Employees at larger practices are likelier to have remuneration schedules aligned to achieving and exceeding their revenue projections. 

The insights show an opportunity for accounting practices to diagnose, optimise and organise their practice to drive growth so they can continue to support more clients in achieving their financial goals. 

Resourcing your accounting practice for growth 

A significant part of how to grow your accounting practice is resourcing effectively.  

It would help if you prepared a solid foundation for growth in your accounting practice by ensuring revenue increases without hiring new accountant firm team members. 

Upskilling and reskilling for accountants  

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is designed to encourage a growth mindset for accountants by safeguarding professional integrity and protecting the public interest.  

CPD is a type of personalised learning to help accountants boost their professional competency each year through a minimum of 20 hours per week. CPD points can help accountants and support staff handle increased workloads by refreshing or upskilling their skill sets. 

A capable and dedicated team enables you to take on more clients and have the right skills to offer various services, including business advisory services. Are you considering how to grow your accounting practice through CPD? Here are the different types of CPD activities that could help you: 

• Conventions and conferences  
• Webinars, seminars and workshops  
• Discussion group meetings  
• In-house learning  
• Tertiary and professional body courses  
• Researched/technical publications  
• Online learning  
• Reading, listening or watching media (maximum 10 hours each year)  
• Mentoring (maximum 10 hours each year) 

For further reading on CPD for accountants, please read our blog: The best free CPD resources for accountants. 

Outsourced accounting services 

If a client needs help with something outside your expertise, outsourcing this work to a qualified accountant with the requisite knowledge may be more time-efficient and straightforward.  

By doing this, you can avoid the considerable effort required to research the more niche aspects of the profession and therefore have more time to focus on how to grow your accounting practice. 

Therefore, building a network of advisors you can call upon when your client is facing an issue outside your expertise is essential. 

For more on outsourced accounting, go to accounting outsourcing vs hiring an accountant: what does your practice truly need? 

Remote and flexible working arrangements 

In a labour market where accountants are in demand, you should consider working remotely to grow your accounting practice. Remote working has become much more accepted after COVID-19, with many businesses now aware of productivity and staff morale benefits.  

Remote working gives accountant firms access to a broader talent pool and can also help practices expand quickly and efficiently without needing to acquire more office space. 

For more on this topic, refer to our article: flexible working arrangements for accounting practices. 

Streamlining accounting workflows 

Implementing accounting workflows and using workflow management software is the secret ingredient for how to grow your accounting practice.  

Accounting workflows map out steps in a clear structure for everyone in your accounting firm to follow, either in an accounting workflow chart or checklist, ensuring that what you need to do is easy to visualise and can be executed efficiently and accurately.    

Standardised accounting processes facilitate various elements of accounting practice management, such as onboarding new team members and reducing training time. As the firm expands, well-defined workflows for accountants provide a foundation for process improvement and optimisation.  

The best workflow management software for accountants will provide you with a centralised location to complete tasks, create project timelines, delegate responsibilities, and monitor progress. Accounting firm workflow management software enables the creation of a workflow for accountants easily, ensuring everyone in your team is on the same page. 

Check out our more detailed guide on accounting workflows and their role in how to grow your accounting practice: What is a workflow for accounting firms? 

Building a solid client profile 

When looking at how to grow your accounting practice, you must define who you are trying to target. Building a solid client base starts with your client profile.  

Our recent study surveying other firms in Australia highlighted that approximately 1 in 5 (22 per cent) of accounting practices in Australia had a completely defined client profile. The study also shows that practices with a wholly defined client profile are 1.5x more likely to exceed their revenue targets than those without a defined client profile. 

It may seem counterintuitive when trying to identify your "niche" when thinking about how to grow your accounting practice. However, clearly defining your ideal client profile and looking for opportunities to centre your client base around an industry, profession, or market means you are significantly more likely to meet and exceed revenue targets. 

Effective marketing strategies for accounting practices 

Developing a marketing strategy is essential to how to grow your accounting practice. 

Some popular marketing techniques you can use to reach your target market include: 

• Social media marketing to engage with new prospects and existing accounting clients, 
• Content marketing to show your expertise and talk about issues in the accounting industry through valuable content, and  
• Networking events that will provide opportunities to connect you with potential accounting clients and industry influencers, as well as stay updated on industry trends. 

Our study shows that slightly less than 46 per cent of accounting practices use digital marketing tactics, such as organic social media marketing (27 per cent) and email marketing (22 per cent). In contrast, search engine optimisation (SEO), social media marketing, Google reviews, and search engine marketing (SEM) are only leveraged by approximately 1 in 10 practices. This presents a significant opportunity for accounting practices to capitalise on the lack of competition in how to grow their accounting practice. 

Building a robust website is a good start to grow your accounting practice. Investing in a professional website for your accounting practice can highlight your expertise, services, and testimonials. It would help if you considered optimising your website for search engines that'll improve your visibility. 

Here is an article discussing the various types of marketing for accountants: How to market an accounting practice. 

Prioritise your accounting client relationships  

Focusing on the accounting client experience is essential to how to grow an accounting practice. You may even want to assess your client list to see which clients you could prioritise to ensure you deliver work to those most profitable to your accounting practice and place less strain on your time. 

How to grow your accounting practice through your client relationships means every interaction, from first contact with a new client to ongoing communication and service delivery, should be positive. 

Prioritising your accounting client relationships means focusing on the following:  

• Clear communication and transparency at every step in the accounting process, 
• Solving problems for your clients, 
• Timely and efficient service delivery, 
• Personalised services and attention, 
• Trust and accountability, 
• Ease of access to information. 

Gathering all the information you need from a client will ensure you can deliver the best and most efficient service possible. To save time and have a better client experience, ask your client to complete a checklist that will provide all the information you need before you start your job. Our blog, mastering client relationships for accounting practices, is essential reading on how to grow your accounting practice by enhancing your accounting client relationships. 

Running an accounting firm is made simple by accounting firm client management software, a cloud-based accounting software solution to help accounting practices enhance their accounting client relationships.  

Our study found that only 14 per cent of practices surveyed have accounting firm client management software that is used in its entirety. Meanwhile, an additional 31 per cent conceded they have client management software that is not used to its full potential. This study found practices that use their client management software in its entirety are 1.5x more likely to exceed their revenue targets than those without. 

Best practice accounting firm client management software logs all client data and interactions, and you will only pay for what you need, allowing you to add users and scale as your accounting practice grows. 

How to grow your accounting practice by leveraging technology 

Accounting practice management software is the starting place for how to grow your accounting practice.  

This essential tool is vital to running your accounting firm effectively. A reliable all-in-one practice management solution with all the necessary features will give you a handle on how to grow your accounting practice, including managing clients, automating work tasks, maintaining internal workflows, and using data to make forward-thinking decisions for your practice.  

Accounting software contains numerous features to enable accounting practice scalability and growth, for example:  

• With accounting client management software for accounting practices, you can enhance client relationships to build long-term advocacy and loyalty by better managing existing and new accounting clients.  
• With workflow software for accounting practices, you can create templates and processes that standardise the way your practice management system works. With process management in place, it's easy to maintain quality and consistency across your practice to ensure your clients get the best service possible. 
• It will give you complete visibility of your clients to maximise accounting practice growth through intuitive data-driven accounting practice reports and insights. Dashboards and summaries present a full picture of clients enabling you to track jobs by month, YTD or make comparisons to see how your firm is tracking. 
• You'll be able to work more efficiently with the potential for greater focus on your staff, jobs, and time management with time and billing software for accountants, which has advanced capabilities to help you plan your resources to manage scalability and productivity. You will be able to identify resource gaps ahead of time to meet accounting KPIs for practice growth. 

For more information on how to grow your accounting practice through software, read our helpful article: why do you need accounting practice management software?   

In summary 

How to grow your accounting practice takes time, effort and patience. Adopting a growth mindset will help your accounting practice in the long haul as you adapt to market changes and continuously seek opportunities for improvement. 

The Access Group provides smart and scalable solutions to help your accounting practice management as you scale towards sustainable long-term growth. With a cloud-enabled accounting practice management software solution, staff can work from anywhere, which means you can scale as you grow by hiring new staff from interstate or even abroad. 

Talk to a specialist about how to grow your accounting practice with best-in-class powerful accounting practice management software. 

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Access Accountants is the all-inclusive suite for growing accounting practices. Book a demo today.  

For larger practices, we have APS software used by 3 of the 4 top accounting firms due to its capacity to access everything you will need in one powerful cloud. Book a demo today.