In the second of Advancetrack’s FAQs, we ask our MD Vipul on your behalf: ‘How would my practice begin working with Advancetrack?’
Initially we have a fact-finding meeting. It’s effectively the first – and one of the most important – tasks. It’s vital for us at Advancetrack to know how your accounting practice works, and for whom. We are well-versed at getting down to the important details quickly! There are a whole host of questions but, essentially, we ask about the practice’s structure, processes and technology stack.
The next part of the fact-finding mission is also very important. We ask: “what problem do you think we’re going to solve for you?” This is all about getting to the heart of whatever issues or tactical aims the practice views us as being the solution for. Sometimes we can see a clear path for us to help, but on occasion, we might have to explain why another option may be best for the practice to pursue.
The issues we’re confronted with, though, usually fall into two buckets: your firm is either in the midst of having difficulties in maintaining service for the clients; or the firm has growth plans and require our flexible capacity to help them scale.
It’s ‘nicer’ to be able to methodically plan and support growth, but we understand that things aren’t always that straightforward.
If a firm’s processes and tech are in a sufficient place for us to be able to link well, then we look at the strategic needs and provide advice on whether we think an outsourcing or offshoring solution would work best. The former is structured around us completing a set amount of work on behalf of a firm in a set timeframe, whereas the latter is about the provision of dedicated offshore team members to work with that firm full-time. It is an important decision, and a decision made carefully between us and the firm’s leaders.
Whatever the route, we would always say that the next step is about communication between the firm, our technical team and us at head office. This would certainly be front-loaded to ensure that things are working smoothly.
How we manage and progress our relationship is a story for another day – but keep an eye on our blog for more FAQs. Our first FAQ, on client data and security, can be accessed by clicking here.
If you’d like to talk to us about your accounting firm, and how we could help, please get in touch.
