5 Top tips for better team management in a CA practice

Rome was not built in a day. A single person did not build it. Thousands of people with varying caliber worked together to make it happen gradually over a period of time. It is an architectural marvel for the world to behold. All great things take time, patience and discipline to go from good to great. Importance of teamwork is another crucial factor in building long lasting practices. A CA practice management is no exception to this rule.

A CA practice is as good as the team that drives it. An exceptionally talented CA can sink with an inefficient team while an average CA can grow to exceptional heights with good team management skills. Here are the top 5 tips for teamwork management in a CA firm.

Tip 1 – Choose good practice management software

An efficient tool allows space for increased effectiveness – decisions are prompt, meetings are to the point, actions are with a closure. In short, a tool that can channelize office matters towards constructive actions is a big plus in teamwork management. Identify, buy and use a good practice management software that has features to enable you to schedule tasks, assign resources and follow through on actions. It is an investment worth making. Ensure that the practice management software you use has a centralized storage with good security features for all client pertaining information.

Tip 2 – Go after features of practice management software

Importance of teamwork is written in golden letters in all teams. Importance of features in practice management software comes a second close. Ensure your choice of the software ensures you can analyze in detail the amount of time spent on a task. This will help you understand the efficiency of your team and also that of the tool employed. Pay specific attention to the reports your choice of software can generate. The more detailed the reports are, the better for you. You can take data backed decisions in allocating tasks, resources and learn firsthand if a resource is over burdened or under utilized.

Tip 3 – Assign to ensure work gets done

Delegation of work is an art. There is a fine line between overloading and under utilizing. Many research reports from Ivy leagues mention a task list of 3 to 5 activities is optimum for a day spanning 8 to 9 hours of work. It is an art to bunch the activities. Pick 80% high involvement tasks for a CA practice. These tasks are the ones that are a compliance mandate.

4 – Stick to a small size of a team

When it comes to the matter of sizing a team, small always counts. Smaller teams of 4 or 5 handle specific tasks even in an office set up of 1000 employees. A team size of 5 to 8 people with complementary skills achieves a lot more compared to a gargantuan team of 50 or 100. In a CA practice, since the unpredictability of outside forces like government rules, regulations, compliances is huge, having a team comprises of resources well versed in handling unpredictability helps. Such resources go a long way in ensuring the client is informed, aware and in the know. Other resources who can handle documentation, filing, pulling reports, running operational tasks can be the other component of the team.

5 – Assign clients per team

Every team should have a goal. This is an unspoken universal law of team management skills. In a CA practice, the goal is the client. The client’s satisfaction, relationship with the firm and ensuring the longevity of that relationship are the ancillary goals. When you assign a client to a team, it’s like empowering the team to run the entire account related to the client. Ownership, responsibility and team management skills ensure a happy client.

The bottom line is to choose a software that allows you to assign, ensure and pull reports along the lines of the tips mentioned above.