An article about improving accounting firm people and profitability may seem out of place in the middle of a crisis. But nothing gets better if we stand still.

And it turns out that analyzing the lessons of previous downturns – coupled with capitalizing on the abundance of accounting talent currently in the market – may plant the seeds for a winning strategy on the other side of the crisis.

Too many accounting professionals are prevented from billing their potential because of low-value, administrative work…

Tasks such as email management, calendar management and reporting tend to get in the way of much more exciting, valuable and lucrative activities.

Now, more and more accountants are delegating their admin burden to an offshore Executive Assistant (EA).

COVID-19 / Coronavirus has caused tremendous social and economic upheaval in a very short space of time.

Accountants and bookkeepers have stepped up to help businesses and individuals optimize their affairs, access government support and navigate the crisis as smoothly as possible.

It’s now normal for accounting firms to solve their capacity issues by hiring extra staff offshore. And for most firms, the logical place to start is by hiring trained accountants and CPAs to support their core accounting functions.

As technology automates many of the tasks accountants used to do (such as data entry), it becomes less of a “Wow Factor” and more of an expectation.

Yet on the flip side, the value of the human element increases. Right now we’re seeing Customer Experience (CX) become the new competitive advantage for firms aiming for outsized profitability and growth.