Practice Operations
Building repeatable workflows in an accounting practice
Recurring work is where practices lose the most time — not because the work is hard, but because each job is reassembled from memory. A workflow is simply that memory written down once and reused.
Published 9 Jul 20267 min readLEDGEIN
Start with the work you repeat most
Choose the service you deliver most often. Annual accounts, GST returns, or onboarding are usually the best candidates, because a small improvement is multiplied across every client.
Write the steps as they actually happen
Describe the real sequence, including the waiting. Most delays in practice work are not processing time — they are the gaps where something sits with a client or an unassigned reviewer.
- Records requested from the client
- Records received and checked
- Preparation
- Internal review or approval
- Client sign-off
- Filing and close-out
Name an owner for every step
A step without an owner is where jobs stall. Ownership can be a role rather than a person, so the workflow still works when someone is on leave.
Keep the first version simple
A workflow with six clear steps that the team follows beats a twenty-step process nobody completes. Add detail only where a real failure keeps recurring.
Review the workflow after one full cycle. The steps that were skipped every time are usually the ones to remove.