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To succeed in accounting, you need a good mix of courage, determination and intelligent thinking.

If we push too hard or too fast, the dream collapses. You’ll get extra work from clients, but you and your team will soon find yourself overwhelmed. That’s because you don’t have the right systems in place.

The result will be too much workload, decreased efficiency and low morale. This negativity won’t just be felt by your team; customers will also consider whether they want to stay with your business.

But success won’t wait and you must act

The harsh reality is that you must push for greater success, whatever. Your business will have ambitious goals if it wants to remain competitive in today’s market. At the same time, customers need help to cope with heavier obligations and more complex regulations (e.g. BAT).

So it’s no surprise that nearly a third of the global companies we spoke with list burnout as their biggest obstacle. In the UK, according to CABA, this issue is seen as a growing concern; 43% of those questioned felt the effects.

So how can accounting firms build resilience? Part of this comes from the people and software systems in your organization (see our guide), but it can also be supported by individual mindset changes.

This is where Kaizen can have a real impact.

What is Kaizen? How a philosophy can lead to success in accounting

Kaizen is a Japanese business management philosophy. It has been tried, tested and proven in virtually every industry and profession since it transformed manufacturing after World War II. It is now considered part of the management framework known as operational excellence. Loosely translated, it means “to change for the better.”

But unlike many other headline-grabbing ideas, this is less about a disruptive transformation and more about incremental improvements.

Operational excellence focuses on:

• The customer:They are the most important thing, so how can you improve their lives?
• Continuous improvement:Improvement brings success; What working methods could be better implemented next time?
• Standardization and processes:Good ways of working need to be replicated, so what do you and your team do best?
• Empowerment: Company leaders set the goals, but can individuals and teams step up and contribute?
• Teamwork: Best practices must be shared. How can you work more closely across departments?
• Waste disposal: It’s time to eliminate unnecessary processes and unnecessary administrative tasks. How can you and your team save time and effort?

But how to get started? Let’s explore our checklist in 5 steps.

5 simple steps to adopt a positive and Kaizen mindset

ONE: Refine your daily work

Here are some quick ways to reduce waste and focus on value-driven improvement.

1. Remove unnecessary tasks and automate repetitive tasks.Strive to reduce manual accounting, reconciliation and reporting efforts with intelligent workflows. Learn everything you can about your existing software system to see how much it can help you.
2. Spot and respond to needs as they arise in real time.How quickly can you add customers with the integration? Check if your digital system has the ability to automate this and the rest of the customer experience.
3. Find out where you can make more data-driven decisions. Sometimes an organization has valuable data, but it is simply hidden. Can you find out? If so, what can you do to make even more informed decisions for your team and your customers?
4. Act with determination and confidence. Be unwavering in the face of upcoming regulations. Are there any on the horizon that you’ve been meaning to look for? If so, prepare as early as possible, update processes immediately, and ensure any new workflows are supported by a strong audit trail.

TWO: Addressing larger issues

The next essential step is to resolve the issues that persist for you and your team. How to avoid slowdowns and blockages?

• Process mapping: Check every task you perform to eachtype of work. Identify bottlenecks and areas where you want to improve workflows. Can your software system help you make improvements?
• Intelligent monitoring and KPIs: Do you have the ability to easily track progress? Can you quantify these efforts and measure them against company goals? The data you were hopefully able to find in the first “d” section can be helpful here.

THREE: Communicate excellence to customers

Clients are everything to accounting firms – and Kaizen puts them at the heart of what you do. But to what extent can you strengthen this working relationship?

• Can I easily translate financial data into impactful stories?
• Can I easily adjust what I’m presenting to meet the needs of any client…whether it’s a less financially savvy small business owner or a corporate CFO?
• Is it easy for me to provide financial updates that track business goals and campaigns?
• Do customers always receive clear advice on what they can do with the data I provide them?

FOUR: Cultivate a Kaizen Culture

How can you take all that hard work and use it to benefit your business? Share your ideas with other teams and departments.

• Encourage feedback, learning, and idea sharing among neighboring teams.
• Celebrate small victories, like saving a few minutes on a recurring task.
• Develop a mindset of experimentation, supported by tools that make change easy and reversible.

FIVE: Strengthen your approach

Ask yourself, every day:

✅ Have I eliminated or automated my team’s repetitive tasks?

✅ Do I collaborate quickly with clients or colleagues?

✅ Do I share best practices?

✅ Am I using live data to guide decisions?

✅ Have we recently tried to improve any processes, large or small?

✅ Do my reports tell a story that customers can act on?

Digital systems can make improvements easier to implement

When implemented well, digital systems drive continuous improvement each customer point of contact.

You can:

• Guide decisions and spot trends before they become problems with real-time insights.
• Adapt to the needs of your team, whether remote or in the office, with a “work from anywhere” platform.
• Transform raw data into actionable customer stories with advanced analytics.
• Stay ahead of regulatory developments with integrated, regularly updated compliance tools.

Simply put, you and your team can accomplish more, with greater capacity.

Now transform your the whole company growth journey

What can you do to make your business even more efficient?

This is where our guide to operational excellence comes in. With its help, you can turn obstacles into opportunities.

Get valuable insights from our experts in accounting, digital transformation and practice management.

Find out how you can:
✔ Build a culture of continuous improvement
✔ Streamline workflows and eliminate inefficiencies
✔ Harness the power of unified digital systems
✔ Deliver an exceptional customer experience