Accountants are expected to make all the deliveries within time as their work is critical and can impact the clients adversely, in case they miss any deadlines. Accountants are constantly looking for ways to increase productivity so they can cover more tasks at the same time.
Productivity not only implies the amount of work being done but also includes better quality of work and higher accuracy of data. An accountant must have a healthy routine and maintain a proper work-life balance for better results. Productivity can be increased by assessing your working methodology and improving it periodically .
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How to be more productive in your accounting job?
- Managing your e-mail box efficiently.
A study suggests that office workers spend around two hours per day managing their emails. If you write better emails, you can try to minimise the time you spend dealing with a mailbox. There are scenarios where you exchange around ten emails just to schedule a meeting with your client.
You can be more informative and share the full information in the first mail itself, such as the agenda of the meeting, your availability in recent days, the duration of the meeting, the panel details, etc. This will help you schedule the meeting by exchanging two or three emails. The time you spend on unnecessary communication can be utilised to deal with client work, train team members, plan strategy, and other essential accounting errands.
We are not suggesting that you must avoid using emails. You can unsubscribe from unwanted subscriber lists such as promotions, etc. Set up automatic replies and use templates for obvious replies. These measures will save some time for you.
- Maintain a proper work-life balance
It is quite simple to improve your productivity as an accountant. As we have already discussed, the task of an accountant requires a calm and patient mind. For this, you need to make sure that your brain is recharged and that you get enough sleep. There must be regular breaks during your day, and you must even go out for refreshments once in a while. These keep you engaged and let your brain cells develop and function smoothly.
Do not work continuously for very long hours without taking breaks because it may lead to inattentiveness. And an accountant is expected to be on his toes always.
- You can delegate tasks
You can enhance productivity as an accountant and reduce your burden by delegating tasks. If you have too much on your plate and it is becoming tiresome, you may delegate the more straightforward tasks to your employees and subordinates. In the initial days, you will have to supervise and train your employees, but eventually, you will see that they can take complete control of those simple tasks.
This will leave the window for you to focus on complex and challenging projects. You don’t need to micromanage your team; you must establish an effective communication channel and take regular follow-ups. This will help you train your employees and add confidence in them. If your employees are also occupied, consider extending the team to hiring freelancers.
- Prioritise and focus on critical tasks
If you work on multiple tasks simultaneously, it might be too overwhelming for you. Juggling between tasks can divide your attention among several tasks, and you won’t be able to focus on any of them to give accurate results. Being productive does not only require too many tasks at a time and but also include improved quality and accuracy.
Studies indicate that multitasking reduces the quality of work. You need to priortise your tasks and ignore all the shows while doing something critical. While working on accounts, you must even ignore calls and emails to make your statements with undivided attention.
- Automate the regular tasks and use tools
Nowadays, you will find a software solution for all your problems. Numerous contemporary accounting tools are available for doing the redundant task that a formula-based can be quickly done using the software. This accounting software comes with numerous templates that help you in saving some time.
Initially, you might feel that the software is expensive and the training cost is high, but in the long term, you will see the results as a team grows. You will save a lot of time that you can spend on other essential activities. You can even purchase collaborative tools that help in sharing updates and data.
Summing Up
You don’t need to stress much; if your work becomes overwhelming, you must segregate high-priority tasks and try to finish them first. A systematic working methodology can always help you in boosting your productivity. It is essential to take breaks and sometimes vacations, to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Accounting requires a lot of concentration and attention, and you may engage in activities like meditation, yoga and other physical exercises to help build a healthy mind. It would help if you tried to adopt contemporary working methodologies and tools. This reduces the time you take to perform a particular task. Assess yourself and judge where you need to work on yourself to achieve higher productivity.
