How the best accounting tech stack can help during tax season

Tax season can be a headache. And, for accountants, it’s their busiest time of year. 

Fortunately, finance professionals can use innovative apps and software solutions to build a tech stack to support organised workflows.

Here we’ll discuss how an advanced accounting tech stack can improve efficiency and accuracy, including:

• What is a tech stack (and why is it relevant to accountants)?
• The essentials you need to include in your accounting tech stack.
• How your tech stack delivers compelling benefits during tax season. 

A tech stack is a collective term referring to multiple apps or software working together – all of the applications you use in your daily business form an element of your tech stack. 

Resources like Microsoft Teams or Zoom are a growing must-have in any commercial tech stack. Still, your software can also incorporate a range of other applications.

Whether a platform, an app or a software solution, each component can automate processes, reduce manual recording and speed up each task to ensure you use technology to run your business smoothly. 

Tech stacks are incredibly relevant in the finance world, where even minor mistakes can be costly, and clients rely on their accountant for absolute accuracy – so the better your tech, the better your attention to detail.

Essentials to include in an accountancy practice tech stack

The specific programmes you need can vary, so it’s wise to reflect on the processes you perform most and where you can enhance productivity.

Let’s run through some key assets in a typical accountancy tech stack.

CRM software is a good place to start and forms the basis of your customer communications. Most CRMs work like a shared platform, so you can transfer documents, use an encrypted chat function, and communicate – think submission deadline reminders or chasing payments.

A sophisticated CRM is an excellent way to reflect professionalism. You can share large documents seamlessly without typing emails and try to get clunky attachments through a client’s firewall.

Next, your accounting programme is a core piece of software that can help – or hinder – you when performing all those manual entry jobs, producing reports, or performing analysis. 

Apps like Countingup, designed specifically for financial businesses, are built into your current account with multiple integrated features. It’s also free and enables you to:

• Connect to the client’s business current accounts to retrieve data.
• Share information securely with your clients from any location.
• View fundamental reports, including profit and loss accounts, balance sheet and trial balance.
• Identify payments and match remittances to invoices.
• Contact a knowledgeable account manager whenever you have an issue (Monday to Friday).
• Use receipt capture photography to record expenditure.

This accounting software forms the framework for a high-performance tech stack. You have all the functionality at your fingertips to avoid common bookkeeping mistakes and ensure you are on top of your client workload.

A project management software performs complex scheduling tasks with ease. It helps accountants rationalise their time on each task and collate busy calendars.

Online workspaces allow you to collaborate with team members to assign tasks, mark jobs as complete, or communicate over shared projects.

Another great reason to include workflow management software in your accountancy tech stack is to log billable hours against each account, approve work when it’s ready to submit, and have an intuitive visual interface to handle chaotic days.

We’ve mentioned a few different types of accountancy software here, but to get everything working coherently, you’ll need API software to facilitate communications between all these apps.

This software acts as an integration tool to cross-share data without spending time duplicating entries or making those common bookkeeping mistakes we’re trying to avoid!

Financial APIs are a baseline tool in building a business payment portal. While you don’t necessarily need to understand the technicalities behind the software, a great financial API allows you to receive and send payments globally, in any currency.

As we all know, tax season is a prime time for errors, with the pressure of approaching deadlines and late client paperwork.

Tech stacks for accountants reduce the time you spend on each task, automate communications, and mitigate the potential for mistakes.

Making Tax Digital (MTD) is also worth mentioning as this HMRC transition to fully digitalisation will undoubtedly make the importance of a financial tech stack even greater.

You’re aware that MTD is being rolled out in stages, instructing businesses to submit returns electronically.

The concept works well if you have an effective tech stack behind you since you can file documents at the touch of a button.

All advanced tech stack software should be MTD compatible, and you can verify with your software provider that any app you’re interested in is suitable. Generally, only legacy software solutions needing an update are likely to pose a significant issue.

Countingup makes accurate, on-time MTD compliance flawless.

Countingup is the star of our financial tech stack, providing consistent benefits to reduce admin time burdens and support clients in maintaining precise records.

This free accounting software is designed specifically for accountants working with smaller business structures. Practice clients get access to an exclusively great value business current account that takes the strain out of essential bookkeeping.

If you’re looking to receive structured client data in real-time, without continually chasing for boxes of receipts, you’ll find Countingup a breath of fresh air as a fully MTD compatible software that frees up your time to focus on running your business.

Discover more about the advantages of Countingup online.