Correctly Integrating Accounting Websites Into Your Company's Day-to-Day Operations

Jan 16
10:05

2012

Ken Marshall

Ken Marshall

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The most important function of a CPA website is winning new customers. However, a forward-looking CPA website can also trim your overhead, make more efficient use of your resources, and additionally help you service customers.

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As a result of today's hard economy many CPA practices are using well designed CPA websites for their promotional strategies. CPA websites bring much more benefit than just marketing. They also can shrink your operating expenses,Correctly Integrating Accounting Websites Into Your Company's Day-to-Day Operations Articles and help you decrease staff costs as well.

One excellent way of shrinking your operating overhead is shifting from using traditional newsletters through the postal service, and switching to an email service. There are many available. They will develop and send your electronic newsletters for your firm. Beyond the expected financial benefits of saving money on of printing, postage, and the labor cost of addressing/stuffing envelopes, this also drives qualified traffic to your website.

Another great use for your website is distributing tax forms. It is very labor intensive to mail tax forms to your clients. It is also very expensive. Not only must your firm pay for postage, but the labor cost associated with this practice is not billable, either. A better idea is to create a document center on your website. This document center can contain tax forms that your clients can download.

Each year, when tax time rolls around, the traditional tax organizer mailing takes time and money. This can cost hundreds of dollars, depending upon the size of your client base. It also takes a lot of cycles for your office staff to print and collate the documents, then fill and address envelopes.

Use your CPA website to host a PDF document instead. This way your clients can download it and print it from their homes. The most sophisticated CPA websites even have their tax organizers set up as a secure form which can be submitted securely online from the site itself. This has the potential to save you and your client time and money.

Tax time is an expensive time of year. This is particularly true for postage expenses. As the April 15 deadline approaches, clients sometimes procrastinate sending their documents, which is frustrating for both you and the client. Frequently, you must resort to overnight mail so that you don't miss deadlines. A CPA website can include a secure file transfer feature, which allows your clients to submit their confidential documents quickly and safely, without the postal service expense.

Website visitors like many things about modern CPA websites. One of them is a "Where's My Refund?" feature. This feature is very easy to install. In addition to serving your clients, it also attracts prospects and website visitors as it provides details about their tax refund.

The most vital function of a CPA website is surely advertising. However, it can also reduce your expenses, win new prospects, and help you help your existing clients.