For accounting firms, staying cash flow positive is critical. That’s why growing market uncertainty and seasonal forces have led them to look for smarter solutions with a personal touch.

Whether it’s slow-paying clients, invoice timing, or just riding the quarterly waves of activity, balancing payments and income for ongoing cash flow can be a challenge. For CAs, these challenges compound further as their clients face pandemic pressures and unpredictable business conditions, such as the impact of sky-rocketing prices at the fuel pump.

Many accountants partner with clients to build trust and resolve finance issues, so they sometimes choose to delay their own fees to help clients get back on track. This can put their own cash flow at risk and bring uncertainty around paying, retaining and attracting key talent.

To counteract this, more accounting firms are turning to innovative payment options that have been successful within the consumer finance world. Buy Now Pay Later services such as Afterpay, Zip or Klarna have become mainstream. Even established services, such as PayPal, now offer the opportunity to pay through instalments.

Several services are already available that provide payments through instalments for accounting clients, however, only SmartFee does this without adding costs for firms or their clients. There are no upfront, monthly hosting or service fees that get added to the balance for firms or their clients, and firms can choose when to use the service or not, rather than get locked in.

“SmartFee helps alleviate the stress of payments, not only for your accounting business but for your clients as well. You get the benefit of the full invoice paid in just three business days upfront, while your clients can space out their payments over a number of instalments,” says Lauren Byrnes, Relationship and Development Manager at SmartFee.

Another way SmartFee distinguishes itself is with its personal approach. The service not only focuses on improving accounting firms’ relationships with their clients, it has extensive history within the sector.

“We really know accounting businesses inside and out,” says Byrnes. “We were set up and founded by accountants almost 20 years ago, and now more than 80% of our business comes from accountants.”

Pictured: Lauren Byrnes, SmartFee

“We were set up and founded by accountants almost 20 years ago, and now more than 80% of our business comes from accountants.”

SmartFee’s philosophy is to keep payments simple and straightforward, and proactively liaise with borrowers to avoid missed payments. Automation and digital technology helps streamline the processes and firms are kept informed so there are no surprises. While the interaction around payment processes might be lighter touch, the personal interaction with accounting clients goes above and beyond.

“We not only get a lot of recommendations from accounting businesses, but also from their customers. They really do find SmartFee a much more convenient way to pay for professional services,” says Byrnes.

To help streamline cash flow further, SmartFee also offers an additional service to help space out payments for accountant recruiter fees. This makes it easier for accounting businesses to find talent, without having to make one large payment upfront.

Using smarter payment options like SmartFee can help CAs tame their cash flow issues, helping their business to continue to thrive in challenging times.

Find out more:

You can learn more about SmartFee’s smarter way to pay by visiting https://smartfee.com.au/smartfee-caanz/