Improve Your Work Flow: Automate

By Ronald D. Kranzler, CPA, and Stephen Barrett, CPA, CITP
April 20, 2006
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How can your firm automate?
Automation requires a significant upfront investment of time, money and vision. Currently, the authors of this article are aware of only one existing engagement management system that allows for the programming of the functions mentioned. CaseWare’s CaseView offers a platform that can be used to create a template to fit a firm’s specific needs.

Beyond purchasing the right software, a firm will need to analyze current work flow processes, identify and correct inefficiencies and establish an agreed-upon style that best suits the firm. Upon re-evaluation of a firm’s standard policies and procedures, find a person (or a combination of people) who can program CaseView to perform the firm’s desired functions.

Experience with other CPA firms has shown the general consensus is to seek outside guidance from someone who has extensive experience in developing an automated report process. As an example, Kiesling Associates, LLP, an 80-person Midwestern firm with five offices, chose CaseWare/CaseView in their quest to go paperless and automated. Initially, they didn’t seek outside advice on how best to implement and maximize their investment in CaseWare/CaseView. “We have a fairly industry-specific niche practice,” said Steve Harms, technology manager at Kiesling, “and felt we needed to design it ourselves to make it fit our practice. We expected everyone in the firm to become as proficient with CaseView as they were with Excel, but people struggled with the template we designed for the write-up of financial statements.”

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