In the eyes of Acuity’s CEO and founder, Kenji Kuromoto, FreshBook’s new Collaborative Accounting platform is the key to getting everything ready to roll out advisory services. 23 years into the accounting industry, Kenji wishes he’d had a tool like it when he dabbled into bookkeeping. Read below to find out why this CEO finds it so valuable, especially for professionals who offer advisory.

Well-oiled machine

Advisory and bookkeeping can function as two separate services. However, the former cannot be executed properly without the latter being of the best quality possible. Advisors work based on pre-existing financial data. “And everybody's excited, Acuity is excited, client’s excited, and we'd get there and the underlying transactional data, the day-to-day, was not being done well. And we honestly couldn't get to the work”, recalls Kenji of past experiences.

Collaborative Accounting lays the full groundwork necessary for accountants to do their jobs to the best of their ability. There’s transparency on what each party needs and what they need it for. That way, the professional doesn’t need to take on all the extra work to correct the course previously traced, thus wasting time potentially destined to advising. It works on two ends: there are fewer distractions and more solid ground to stand on for assessment and management.

The blame game

Kenji looks back on lots of finger-pointing between clients and accountants when the information wasn’t tidy and up to date. “They'd say, ‘Why did it take so much time?’ And you'd go, ‘You didn't tell me that no one had closed the books in many months’. And they: ‘You're supposed to come in to do accounting for me, doesn't that mean you're doing everything?’ And we: ‘You asked us to do a financial model, how are you not reconciling your checking account on a regular basis?’”

FreshBooks’ new platform mitigates such awkward moments by establishing clear roles and responsibilities for each party involved. With Collaborative Accounting, everyone knows what they have to do and by when, so there are no more accusations or misunderstandings. There is true clarity, which means no side has to take on more than necessary, and, in turn, get frustrated with the other for not doing it.

E(ase)fficiency

This distribution of work makes the whole process more efficient. There is no longer a need for clients to send over tons of paperwork for the accountant to process: they can load it into the system themselves. The issue of them doing it right is, of course, a concern, but FreshBooks ensures easy procedures for every person involved and provides training and support for any problems that may arise. And just like that, the ordeal becomes more effective without upping the difficulty and complexity.

AI-ccounting

The integration of artificial intelligence into Collaborative Accounting and the trade in general is, to Kenji, an enhancement. Through it, not only can mundane tasks be taken care of by an automated system, relieving the accountant of tedious work and freeing up time to work on services like advisory, but professionals can also have a personalized assistant of their own. While still directing the thought process, you can have your tailored machine run scenarios and analyses.

The human side of accounting can make its triumphant return, perhaps in the form of advisory! “I think it's also going to drive more people into the profession once they realize they're not going to spend their day-to-day just categorizing or doing debits and credits or bank recs.”

A starting point

Collaborative Accounting is a tool by accountants for accountants. Its design is meant to empower professionals to hone their craft and become invaluable. Bringing them and their clients together is the first step. The development of top-notch, state-of-the-art advisory services requires much more than just solid accounting data. But no building can survive without a good foundation.

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