Cast your minds back to the first part of 2020 and earlier. How many online meetings did we used to have? How many documents did we used to get approved or signed using software rather than paper and post?
Since this time, things have definitely changed - and us auditors have kept up!
The pandemic has made us think differently about how we can still offer the same high quality service to clients whilst keeping everyone safe.
We have modified our offices to keep safe our clients who still prefer face to face meetings, but we now hold a lot of our meetings on Teams, Zoom or Skype. This works well for our clients who (not just because of the pandemic) find it difficult to travel, who aren't local to us or those that just can't justify the time sat in the car!
A lot of our clients use cloud based software packages – Xero, Sage etc. This is invaluable to them and to us as it means as auditors, we can get a lot of the reports we need without needing client's input and we don't need to be at their offices to get them.
We have even done some stock takes using on line methods such as Teams and Whatsapp. Whilst this has certain limitations, we have found it has worked well throughout the pandemic.
We have started using a service called Rushtons Openspace on which clients can upload documents and information to us and vice versa. Clients can also approve documents on this portal and sign off accounts. Again, this minimises disruption on both sides and also means that tight deadlines aren't quite as tight anymore as there is no delay with the post!
The pandemic has showed us a new way of working and has meant that we have become even more adaptable and flexible around our client's needs. We no longer need to be sat on site at client's premises for a week or two – we can get what we need through on line meetings, cloud based accounting packages and information sharing on Rushtons Openspace. For those clients still wanting to see us in person, we can sporadically use these new ways of working but stick to the methods they are used to and prefer. We have just been able to add to our current range of services and be even more adjustable and versatile to keep up our high standards and meet our client's needs!
If you have any queries about our ways of working, do not hesitate to get in touch.