I started Accountants Offsite on my own in late 2009. I'd been lucky enough to work with some large non-profit and aboriginal organizations until then. My eyes opened to the importance of managing the accounting data properly, tracking expenses against various projects and agreements accurately, and ultimately providing reporting that keeps the cash flowing in.

But this isn't just about non-profits. Understanding your accounting data is just as important to smaller owner run companies. The ability to understand the numbers better, tracking by project and agreement, by department, location, job or anything else, is just as important to them. Accounting data management may seem daunting and out of reach to some, but if you see your accounting data as information, and not just numbers, it is possible with the right tools, experience, and expertise.

I decided early to work remotely. The focus needed to be on making myself available to all my clients, all the time. I was an early adopter of DropBox, my first step toward a cloud-based accounting business. Presently, it’s QuickBooks Online, and Xero is coming online. I use tools such as Receipt Bank and Hubdock. I support integrations for storefronts. (ie: Shopify and Lightspeed) I’m also looking at Chata.ai, a unique reporting tool that allows business owners to see their data they way they want to.

Finally, I use a value billing model. I do not charge by the hour. At QuickBooks Connect 2018, (An conference open to business owners, you should go.) the emphasis was on technology: Machine learning, artificial intelligence, automated processed, all in an accounting context. Don’t call it bookkeeping any more, call it accounting data management. It happens continuously. It happens in real-time. We don’t allocate two hours on Wednesday to client X; we process your data when it comes in, as it comes in. We bill accordingly, each month the same amount, based on our estimate of the work required. Easy to budget for.

Stephen Berry, B.Com, CAFM, CPA, CGA

Founder and Chief Problem Solver