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How I’d Automate a Small Accountancy Firm (Step-by-Step)
Accountants are some of the most process-driven professionals on the planet — but most of them are drowning in manual admin, missed follow-ups, and inefficient systems. The good news? Their business is *perfectly suited* for automation.
In this post, I’ll walk through exactly how I’d automate a typical small accountancy firm — from onboarding and quoting to monthly delivery and info chasing — using lean tools and minimal effort.
🔧 Step 1: Quote Management
Most accountancy firms send out annual quotes to clients — and then cross their fingers. Quotes are created in Word, emailed manually, and often forgotten.
What I’d do instead:
- Use PandaDoc or Jotform Sign to create templated quotes
- Trigger automated emails with acceptance links
- Log responses directly into a central CRM (Notion, Airtable, or Google Sheets)
💸 Step 2: Payment Setup with GoCardless
Once a client accepts the quote, don’t wait days to sort payment. Automate it.
What I’d do: auto-send a GoCardless signup link as soon as the quote is accepted. Once the payment mandate is active, it updates the CRM and notifies the team.
📆 Step 3: Build a 12-Month Delivery Timeline
Accountants often know what they’ll be doing for a client month-by-month across the year — but it’s not captured anywhere useable.
- Set up a timeline view in Notion or Airtable
- Each client gets a 12-month row with tasks per month (e.g. VAT, payroll, year-end)
- Assign owners, deadlines, and automate task creation
📨 Step 4: Info-Chasing Automation
This is where 90% of firms bleed time — manually chasing clients every month for documents, bank feeds, receipts, etc.
Instead:
- Set smart reminders 10 days before task start
- Auto-send branded client emails asking for what’s needed
- If no reply, escalate via Slack/Teams notification or SMS
📋 Step 5: Monthly Dashboard
At the start of each month, you should know exactly:
- What work starts
- Which clients have provided info
- Which payments have come in
This is all possible with simple dashboards built in Notion, Sheets, or ClickUp — no need for clunky practice management systems.
🎯 Bonus: Retention, Upsells & Cross-Sells
Once the system is running, add automation layers for things like:
- Reminders to renew contracts
- Upsell prompts for new services
- Automated reviews + referral requests
✅ Final Thoughts
Most firms *know* they’re repeating the same tasks every month — they just don’t have time to build systems to fix it. That’s where Adoptely’s GhostOps service steps in: we build smart, lightweight automation systems so you never drop the ball again.