Accountants spend endless hours looking for ways to save money for their clients. Unfortunately, many fail to recognize some effective ways to cut their own operational costs. By allowing accounting entrepreneurs to offload critical tasks, a virtual assistant can drastically increase productivity and allow professionals to focus on the things that matter most.
What Exactly is a Virtual Assistant?
Essentially, a virtual assistant is a trained professional that provides executive-level support to entrepreneurs and small business owners. Using a virtual assistant can shave hours off an average workweek, especially for growing accounting practices in high demand. What's more, modern virtual assistants boast impressive expertise that allow them to perform a myriad of valuable tasks, ranging from administrative to customer relations to client outreach to market research and more.
What Can a Virtual Assistant Do?
Virtual assistants can help accountants save money and time in a number of ways, including:
Data Entry
Calendar management, including confirming appointments, scheduling meetings and more
Receptionist tasks, such as answering phones and organizing/filing paperwork
Research of every kind, including content for newsletters, blog posts and email marketing
Social media management to help establish and maintain contacts
Research and book travel
Website updates and maintenance
Client outreach, including thank you notes, phone calls, emails and more
Customer support
Event management
Direct mail campaign management
Track marketing statistics and performance
Create and send invoices
Follow up on unpaid client invoices
Track and pay business-related bills
Create reports using your accounting software
Create and send welcome packages to new clients
Maintain and update a database of client information
Schedule meetings and send reminders
Transcribe audio files
Personal errands
Track project deadlines and deliverables.
A Customizable Asset
Time is the most valuable resource for any entrepreneur. Fortunately, you can create more time by outsourcing key tasks to qualified, experienced professionals. There's no limit to how a virtual assistant can help your accounting practice. Whatever your unique needs, you can hire someone who specializes in that area. That means spending less time on daily operational tasks and more time building your business.