Upgrading the admin role in your accounting firm

Traditional admin roles
Traditional administrative support roles have been becoming scarcer for years – especially since the 2008 recession. According to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics by The New Republic, although the economy added more than 10 million jobs once the company began recovering from the recession, women (who fill about three-quarters of all administrative support positions) lost a total of 1.6 million admin support jobs. While automation can’t fully replace human workers, over time, automation will be able to perform more and more of the tasks that make up an administrative professional’s job. Many of the tasks that used to be handled by the admin team have already been partially or fully automated, such as:- Processing and assembling tax returns and financial statements
- Checking on e-file acceptance status
- Sending quarterly estimate reminders
- Preparing engagement letters and other client correspondence
- Mailing invoices and tax organizers
- Scheduling appointments for partners and other professionals
- Maintaining project tracking spreadsheets
- Organizing and maintaining client files
The new admin role
Automating routine tasks doesn’t have to make the admin role redundant. Instead of letting automation happen to them, train them to take on more of a paraprofessional role. We recently worked with a firm to create a sample job description for the new admin role. Some of the essential skills, duties and responsibilities we identified during the process include:- Effectively interfacing with clients, personnel, and service providers
- Client onboarding
- Spearhead and update workflow processes, including identifying processes that can be automated
- Collaborating with engagement team members to create and automate audited financial statements, documents, analyses and audit reports
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Automate your practice
Automating data entry is not just about the technology. It’s about the outcomes it delivers for you, your firm, and your clients.
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