When you think about older intranets, images of ghost towns and tumbleweeds probably come to mind. That’s because these corporate solutions were costly, one-way communication tools—in other words, expensive megaphones.

Relationships are critical to service-based businesses, and accounting is no different. The work you do and the interactions you have with clients impacts their view of your firm. If something is amiss, it could sour your relationship and cause them to leave your firm for a competitor.

Collaboration is the foundation of business success today. It’s how employees come up with great ideas, stay in touch with their coworkers and managers, and complete important projects. Underpinning modern collaboration efforts is technology, as 83% of professionals depend on it to work together seamlessly.

So you’ve landed a new client for your accounting practice and you’re ready to get started. While congratulations are in order, it’s important to do some preparation before rendering your services and sending an invoice. One key step is to create an accounting engagement letter for your client to review and sign.

Running a service-based business has a lot of moving parts: sales, marketing, talent acquisition, client retention, and more. But one of the most challenging parts is deciding how to charge for your services—even for accountants, whose work primarily involves financial information.

In a perfect world, all your new accounting clients would know exactly what they’re supposed to do and when, and who to talk to in your firm about certain items. Similarly, you would know who to contact on the client side when you have questions. Everyone would be clear about expectations from both sides.

Any savvy leader knows that putting clients first is a key component of how to grow your accounting practice. That’s why your client relation skills—and the level of service quality you offer—matter. On both these fronts, there are things you can do to up your game.

Process improvement is the modification of business processes to address changes in business needs, market demand, technology, and other factors. This practice is prevalent in organisations of all sizes across industries, including accounting firms and businesses with dedicated accounting functions.

A successful accounting function takes more than simply recording and reporting financial data. Sometimes you need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture of your business—what steps can you take to better support your accounting work?

Accounting compliance means ensuring a business’s financial reporting is accurate and in line with current laws and regulations. To ensure this accuracy, it’s important to have clear processes and procedures for recording and verifying financial transactions.