Here at Timerack, we specialize in working with companies that benefit the most from innovative time and attendance tracking solutions, such as small businesses and staffing agencies.
Some of the businesses we work with the most, however, are CPAs and accounting firms, of which we have more than 200 partners across the country.
In this guide, we’ll go into a bit more detail about CPAs themselves, time tracking for CPAs, how these services can be integrated with payroll, and the benefits they can bring to the business.
So without further ado, let’s get started!
What are CPAs?
First of all, we’re going to backtrack a little to make sure our readers are all familiar with the term CPA and what it actually means.
CPA stands for Certified Public Accountant, a title assigned by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to those who have completed the CPA exam and met the institute’s requirements.
CPAs are generally trusted financial advisors who advise people, businesses, and organizations on a range of topics, including taxes and accounting.
In order for CPAs to attract and retain clients in times of financial difficulty — when they might be tempted by cheaper accounting options — monitoring employee time and attendance is essential.
Time Tracking Software for CPAs
In the past, CPAs would have typically used manual time tracking services such as paper timesheets or physical time clocks to monitor the hour’s employees work each day.
Despite being a cheaper option, these manual timesheets rely on a large degree of trust between managers and their employees, who are required to fill in their hours manually or clock themselves in and out.
Here at Timerack, however, we provide a range of automated time tracking software for CPAs, time clock hardware, and a mobile application that can save CPAs both time and money.
Time and Labor Software
Our all-in-one time and attendance software are far more efficient than manual timesheets or time clocks. Our easy-to-use platform’s dashboard reporting tool enables you to monitor a workforce quickly and easily, accessing detailed analytics to allow you to assess employee performance and productivity. Because the software is cloud-based, it can be accessed anywhere, at any time, from any device.
Time Clock Hardware
We also offer a range of biometric time clocks that work using facial recognition technology, fingerprint sensors, and a range of other methods. This time and attendance hardware allow CPAs to eliminate buddy punching and other forms of time theft, as well as inaccurate time tracking.
If you do decide to use a biometric time and attendance solution, familiarize yourself with biometric time clock laws before doing so.
Time Clock App
The final time tracking solution we provide for CPAs is a mobile app that tracks remote working employees’ hours using geofencing and GPS technology. This solution is great for CPAs with employees on the move as it means management can verify employee locations with 100% accuracy.
HR Software
We also offer a suite of HR products to support and integrate with our time and attendance solutions. This platform allows HR departments to manage time and attendance tracking, employees’ needs, applicant tracking, onboarding, and performance reviews all in one place.
Book a free demo with Timerack to see how an automated time and attendance solution could save your business time and money.
How Can CPAs Benefit From Time and Attendance Tracking?
The benefits of automated time tracking for accountants and CPAs are endless. Let us talk you through just a few:
Profitability
One of the most important benefits of time and attendance software is that it eliminates time-consuming, manual work. As a result, your CPA can spend time on other, more important tasks. And because you’re increasing productivity, this will in turn provide value, and hopefully increase revenue per client.
Accuracy
Manual data collection comes with a risk of all manner of human errors and inaccuracies. Although these are a normal part of processing spreadsheets or timesheets by hand, if this task can be done by a computer, the results will be much more reliable. This means your CPA can avoid running the risk of late or inaccurate payroll processing.
Streamlined Services
Using cloud-based software means that several different tasks can be managed via the same, centralized system. Having all the necessary information together in one place is also important because it makes it easier for both employees and management to access the data whenever they need to.
Improves Security
Most of Timerack’s automated time and attendance solutions protect employee data via a four-digit security code, which prevents other employees or outsiders from accessing it. If you’re looking for increased security levels, however, our hardware uses facial recognition or biometric technology which means that unauthorized personnel will not be able to use these devices to clock into your workplace.
Complies With Regulations
A final benefit of automated time and attendance solutions is that they are designed to comply with federal law regulations — such as employee break and overtime laws — so that your business won’t need to worry about facing litigation.
Streamlining Payroll
For the CPAs that offer payroll services, we provide a way to integrate them with time and attendance tracking so that wage-related data can be synced in real-time, making it easier to process salaries at the end of each month.
Our simple-to-connect APIs make it easy to automatically sync time and attendance data and automate payroll calculations at the click of a button, instead of manually calculating wages from paper timesheets or spreadsheets.
Our time and attendance software currently integrate with payroll providers including Thomson Reuters ACS, Sage, Quickbooks, and many more. And if your existing payroll provider isn’t on the list, we can easily build a custom API integration to other payroll providers upon request.
Take a look at Timerack’s seamless payroll integrations that allow for bi-directional support of payroll systems.
How Integrated Payroll Can Add Value to Your CPA Business
CPAs are well-positioned to offer integrated payroll services to their clients because this adds value to their service beyond the basic tax evaluations they offer.
In fact, our data shows that CPA firms that offer both time and attendance and payroll integration services can retain clients for up to seven years longer than those that don’t.
According to a 2018 case study, more than half of small accounting firms already offer payroll processing services and 10% are planning to offer them in the future.
For small to medium-sized CPAs, offering payroll services sets them apart from the competition posed by other, larger businesses thatw may already offer this service but for a higher price.
Besides this, there are also other benefits. These include:
- High ROI: In comparison to the other work CPAs do, payroll services can often offer a high return on investment for relatively little effort.
- Ease of handling: It’s much easier for one provider to track both time and attendance and process payroll at the same time than outsourcing the job to a third party which creates more room for error.
- Trust and confidence: Clients are more likely to build up a trustworthy relationship if they are dealing with just one company or person, rather than a third party as well.
- Support available whenever needed: By integrating time and attendance tracking services with payroll software, support is available quicker than it would be if payroll was processed through a third party.
Closing Thoughts
By opting to use innovative time and attendance solutions and integrate them with payroll services, CPAs can make themselves more profitable, secure, compliant, accurate, and streamlined.
For providers, the key is to offer comprehensive, all-in-one solutions that synthesize various areas of the business into one simple, easy-to-use platform.
Here at Timerack, we’ll walk you through your new time tracking technology step-by-step via a personalized demonstration, and we’ll make sure to provide training for your whole team in order to make sure everyone understands the new software. When it comes to time tracking for CPAs, we’re the best in the business.