“I’ve been in bookkeeping for over a decade, and I have yet to see a product like this.”
In 2022, two successful CPA and advisory firms, Dental Accounting Group and The Dental Group, joined forces to provide a full-service solution for the dental industry spanning bookkeeping, tax, and advisory services. Today, Dental Accounting Group (DAG) manages the monthly books for over 140 clients and has seen substantial benefits by using Keeper, including the addition of 30 new clients and 10 hours of saved time per month.
In order to keep up with this post-merger growth, two talented accounting specialists, Heather Lansink and Caitlin Moy, were charged with overseeing the combined bookkeeping segment of the practice. Heather manages a team of eight bookkeepers, and Caitlin works as an onboarding specialist for new clients.
With new growth comes natural growing pains. The systems between the merged entities were disconnected, which led to process inconsistencies between departments, as well. Specifically, Heather and Caitlin noticed their bookkeeping team’s workflows were siloed, which made it difficult for other teammates to collaborate or quickly step in to help. For example, if a bookkeeper needed to take time off, it was up to Heather to backtrack through all of the clients’ files, identify what had been completed or was still left to do, and relay that information to whoever was taking over.
The firm had an existing tool for task management, but it still wasn’t cutting it for DAG’s bookkeeping segment. “The program was not set up for bookkeepers specifically,” said Heather. “I still found myself checking in on the status of each client on a weekly basis.”
When Heather and Caitlin were asked by one of the firm’s partners to evaluate Keeper, they were instantly impressed (even with the demo meeting occurring during the heart of a chaotic 1099 season.) Keeper’s high-level client dashboard provided the critical insight DAG’s bookkeeping managers were in search of, and eliminated the need to check in with each bookkeeper individually on the status of their work.
“I save at least a full day each month by not having to ask my team where they’re at in the close process,” said Heather. “We also love the internal chat within Keeper, because my team can ask me questions on certain transactions and I can see them directly. They don’t have to write it down, come and find me, and pull up QuickBooks to give context.”
The improvements to DAG’s task management and workflows allowed for increased capacity across the board. Since subscribing to Keeper, each bookkeeper on the team was able to add three to four clients to their workload, totaling to roughly 30 new clients across the entire bookkeeping segment. Beyond the increase of sheer client volume, DAG’s management has been able to step back while still maintaining confidence in the accuracy of client books, and plan to empower the team further with Keeper’s Preparer, Reviewer and Manager designations.
“We plan to assign these roles so that each bookkeeper will be a peer reviewer of another teammate’s work,” said Heather. “I now have more time to manage and perfect our processes rather than worrying about the tasks at hand.”
“Using Keeper for client communication has saved me 10 hours a month and multiple emails.”
In addition to solving the workflow problem, DAG was eager to upgrade their approach to client communication. Before Keeper, the bookkeeping team would email spreadsheets filled with transaction questions to their clients. Follow-ups were almost always necessary, and keeping track of those messages was tedious and took time away from the work at hand. By using Keeper’s Client Portal and setting up automated reminders, the heavy lifting was done for them, and clients were responding with very little friction.
“I’ve seen efficiency turn a corner with our bookkeepers, and they no longer struggle with getting clients to answer questions or upload documents. Since implementing the automated reminders, there has been an increase in our clients already knowing when they need to send us specific items each month,” said Heather.
DAG’s bookkeeping team now uses the Uncategorized Transaction Report to ask clients specific questions. Clients no longer have to worry about formatting issues when editing spreadsheet files, and they enjoy having the full picture of their bank records in their portal to help answer pending questions. Prior to transitioning to Keeper, roughly 30% of DAG’s bookkeeping clients had issues with responding to questions in a timely manner or utilizing communication methods that were unfamiliar to them. Today, that 30% is engaged and prompt in their responses, which they largely credit to the user-friendly nature of the Keeper Client Portal.
DAG utilized Keeper’s features to eliminate the specific issues that were hindering their team’s productivity and growth. But as they continued learning the tool alongside their Customer Success Manager (CSM), Heather and Caitlin realized that they could improve several other processes for the bookkeeping segment. The team plans to leverage Keeper to further reduce stress during the 1099 season, build out unique client properties, and complete their tax-related work months before the deadline.
When asked why Keeper is the clear choice for bookkeeping teams, Heather had this to say:
“I’ve been in bookkeeping for over a decade, and I have yet to see a product like this. Our feedback on the platform is being heard and I cannot tell you how thankful we are for that. It speaks volumes.”
