News

Liberation through automation

Posted on 09 October 2023

Free yourself from repetition with FYI  

File, file, file. Search, search, search. Lodge, lodge, lodge. Sound familiar? If the repetitive nature of manual accounting tasks is something you can do without (you can), keep reading.  

Because, while you can’t eliminate what’s repetitive, you can automate what’s manual

Changing the value of accounting  

FYI is a process automation engine developed specifically for accountants. And it can take over the low value (but high volume) tasks that take up around 60% of your time.  

What’s your client work worth to your business? If you’d rather put your effort into higher value interactions that really count (you do), FYI automations can halve the time you spend on tiresome processes.

Automate this (and this and this) 

Around 40 well-defined processes are used frequently across the average practice. What do these processes have in common? They’re repetitive, time-consuming and highly predictable – making them perfect candidates for automation.   

  •  Automatically capture and auto-file documents from external sources  
  •  Auto-create compliance meetings, tasks, emails and documents  
  • Locate client documents from multiple sources in seconds 
  •  Automate the signature process and auto-track workflows  
  •  Auto-manage the sending and unsubscribing of emails  
  • Receive automatic reminders for approvals or overdue tasks  
  •  Automate the new client onboarding process 
  •  Auto-track time accurately 

Now your team can take all this off their to do lists. Because it’s everything FYI does for you. 

The more automations you have, the more time you have to focus on what’s important.
Jason Gluer Project Manager + Shareholder
Wallace Diack

All tasks, done better 

Neither progress nor profit come from spending time on menial admin tasks. But they still need to be done.  

With FYI, you’ll spend less time on admin, be more productive and deliver exceptional client service when you automate process like these: 

  • Email marketing  
  • Client management  
  • Compliance 
  • Summary notifications  
  • Data integrity  
  • Document import & autofie 

 And more. See? With FYI, everything is automatically better. 

Automations make your life so much easier. We just want to automate more and more now.
Andrew Holdsworth Practice Manager
BBB Partners

How FYI clients are using automations 

There’s a lot you can automate with FYI. But how do existing clients use it in their practices? 

Ensure consistency 

At Cutcher & Neale, required processes no longer require head hours to execute them. Says partner Jarrod Bramble, “We use FYI automations in the background, so as soon as a document’s approved, the processes our admin team follow is now fully automated”.  

Boost productivity 

Fast growing firm All In Advisory uses FYI for efficiency gains. “The time savings we’ve had with FYI are truly around being able to locate documents – that they’re all in one spot,” says founder Aly Garrett. “All those little tasks and automations provide the greatest productivity in the long run.”

Increase ROI 

NZ practice Sidekick was looking for “a system that stacks up in terms of ROI – those quantifiable benefits,” says Julie Copland, Group Operations Manager. She found it in FYI. “We realised the automations would be a game changer for us.” Having realised their target of automating five key processes in the first three months, they quickly revised that number to 10. 

Save time
At Wallace Diack, the number of manual processes they could remove and automate was critical – and the results surprised even them. Says Jason Gluer, Project Manager and Shareholder, “When I did the numbers and 4,000 hours dropped out, I thought, ‘That can’t be right’. But it was. We’ve had it for six months – that’s crazy numbers”. 

Improve accuracy 

HB&O uses FYI automations to save time, and errors. Explains Managing Director Mark Ashfield, “Filing timesheets used to be a chore, but it’s now far more pleasurable. It’s improved the accuracy of the time recorded, and made the process more efficient so we can spend time doing other work. We’ve only just scratched the surface of what the automations can do”. 

Eliminate tasks 

Over at BBB Partners, automations have removed the tedious tasks the team used to do. Says Practice Manager Andrew Holdsworth, “What FYI really helped us with is taking away those menial tasks that just don’t need to be done by a human anymore – like filing a tax return or an engagement letter into the client’s file. FYI just does all of those little tasks for you”. 

And them some
While the UK team at Thorne Widgery take automation seriously – dedicating an hour each week to “see what things we maybe didn’t want to do as humans, and then try to work out if it’s automate-able,” says Sam King, Head of Xero at the practice. And with FYI, the possibilities are limitless. “We’re only at the tip of an iceberg with automations,” he says.

Automations unlock infinite possibilities for us.
Sam King Head of Xero
Thorne Widgery

FYI is ready when you are  

The platform comes packed with ready-to-activate automations for common processes, from onboarding new clients and monthly bookkeeping to filing tax returns.  

And when you’re ready for more, you can create your own custom automations and apply them to any repetitive, multi-step task across your practice. Whatever the team imagines, they can automate. 

Liberate your practice with FYI 

In accounting, every second counts, so free yourself from the tasks that hold you back. With FYI’s automations, they’re processes that can now be done faster, more efficiently and more consistently than ever before.  

And you can put your time into what your business really values. Your clients.  

FYI is more than a document management solution. It’s a way of re-casting all of your processes internally and automating them – it’s an absolute game-changer.
Rob Stone Director Of Operations Asia & Australia
Xero

At the risk of repeating ourselves, stop wasting time on repetitive tasks. 

To see how automation can transform your practice, get started with FYI today.