Run your accounting firm as one finance team

Firm leaders need a view across client portfolios

Clients need continuity of service when their accountant goes on leave. The colleague covering for them needs to know which tasks are complete, which questions are awaiting a client response and what needs attention next. If this requires working through personal notes and asking for separate instructions for each client, the handover exposes a weakness in the firm’s working arrangements. Much of the knowledge needed to continue the work sits with one person.

Knowing a client well is one of an accountant’s strengths. The firm’s role is to make that knowledge available to colleagues when needed. A client can keep a dedicated contact, with shared methods, documented agreements and a clear record of progress supporting the service. This lets the accountant responsible for the client draw on the team, while colleagues can help without having to reconstruct the client’s entire history.

Continuity of service is a promise the firm makes to its clients. Delivering it requires leaders to decide what knowledge colleagues need access to, how cover is arranged and when to involve another specialist in a more complex matter. Working as one finance team means combining clear responsibility with the ability to support each other.

The same firm-wide view is needed when allocating day-to-day work. Leaders need to see whose workload has increased, which clients require more attention than usual and where a colleague’s expertise could make the work easier. Fair management needs comparable information so leaders and their teams can recognise these differences and discuss the reasons for them.

Shared working practices strengthen the team

A useful starting point is to agree which recurring activities should follow the same principles. These might include how documents are received, how similar transactions are recorded and which checks are performed before a period is closed. The word “complete” also needs a shared meaning. For one accountant, it may mean transactions have been entered. For another, it may also mean balances have been checked and outstanding questions resolved.

PwC’s 2025 CFO Compass overview also discusses the value of a common foundation. In its discussion of group reporting, PwC recommends aligning the chart of accounts and accounting policies to improve consistency and comparability. For an accounting firm, this suggests a practical management principle. A shared foundation helps colleagues understand each other’s work and apply proven approaches to other clients where appropriate.

A common structure for the chart of accounts, agreed checks and guidance on recurring transactions can provide that foundation. Clients’ business activities, reporting needs and transactions will differ. Any justified exception should have a clear explanation, so that the next person working with the client understands the decision. Shared principles can then support the accountant’s professional judgement.

The people who use these practices every day should help develop them. When an accountant finds a better way to handle a recurring task, the team can assess where else it could be used. This turns one person’s effective method into a shared capability. It makes training new employees and covering for colleagues easier, and provides a foundation for digitalising the accounting firm.

Comparable data supports fair workload allocation

Two accountants may have the same number of clients and very different workloads. One may serve clients who submit documents regularly and whose transactions are similar from month to month. The other may have more complex transactions, frequent advisory questions or incomplete source documents to deal with. Even the same number of purchase invoices can take different amounts of time, depending on how much clarification or additional information is needed.

When assessing performance, it is also important to distinguish speed of completion from the effort required. In PwC’s 2026 CFO Compass survey, which included over 230 respondents from eight countries in South-East Europe, 61% said their organisation completed its monthly close within five working days. The report’s authors stress that elapsed days alone give an incomplete picture of efficiency, because the human effort involved also matters. The survey examines corporate finance functions. For accounting firm leaders, its observation raises a practical question about the workload required to meet a deadline.

Firm leaders should therefore consider volume, complexity, time spent and quality together. If serving a client consistently requires extra work, the cause needs to be understood. Has the agreed scope of service expanded? Is the accountant repeatedly having to request information from the client? Does the accountant need support with more complex transactions? Each cause calls for a different management decision, such as reallocating work, training, improving how the firm and client work together or reviewing the fee.

Comparisons become useful when data is collected on a consistent basis and the results are discussed with the employee. If the work takes longer in a particular month, the reasons need to be considered. Differences that persist over time deserve closer attention. This can help leaders spot excessive workloads before they affect quality and assess the profitability of serving each client. Employees need their actual contribution and the complexity of their work to be taken into account.

Shared working practices need the right tools

The authors of PwC’s 2026 report also emphasise how systems work together. They recommend a coherent set of tools, with each solution serving a clear purpose, supported by structured processes and common data principles. For an accounting firm, this means agreeing where different types of information are kept and how staff can find what they need.

An accounting practice management tool such as Uku can be used to manage tasks, deadlines and client-specific instructions. It can hold details of how each client is served, important agreements and instructions for the colleague providing cover. Comments and activity histories attached to tasks help colleagues see what has already been done and what remains outstanding.

Trigon Partner provides a standardised foundation for accounting across the firm. A common chart of accounts structure, settings and templates support consistent practices across clients. When covering for a colleague or taking on new clients, accountants can work with a familiar chart of accounts, accounting policies and methods. This makes handovers smoother and allows them to focus on the client’s specific needs. The dashboard helps firm leaders monitor accounting progress across their client base, identify work needing attention and help accountants resolve obstacles. Business owners and accountants can work with the same documents and transactions, making it easier to add missing information and resolve questions about invoices.

A practical way to assess the firm’s working arrangements is to run a trial handover for one client before a colleague goes on leave. Ask a colleague to check whether the instructions in the practice management system and the information in the accounting software explain what has been done, what is still open and what comes next. Together, note which additional explanations were needed and where that knowledge should be recorded. This exercise identifies specific improvements and clarifies what information must be available for someone else to continue the work.

Each new client should add to the firm’s experience and capabilities. For that to happen, the work should leave the team with something it can use again, such as a better method, clearer guidance or a proven configuration. This helps the firm’s capacity to deliver its services grow alongside its client portfolio. Leaders have more options for balancing workloads, accountants can draw on their colleagues and clients can be confident that the whole firm takes responsibility for the service they receive.