Accountancy firms are no exception. While accountants do have a reputation for being corporate and traditional, many are taking note of the benefits of remote working policies – something commonly associated with modern and trendy start-ups.

What are the benefits of remote working policies?

Remote working policies can have countless benefits for both the business and employees.

Business benefits:

• Increased productivity
• Reduced office costs
• Improvement in staff retention
• Lower recruitment costs

Employee benefits:

• Better work/life balance
• Greater workplace happiness
• Increased flexibility
• Better health

Embracing the right tools

It’s incredibly difficult to manage a remote team of workers without the right tools. Thankfully, due to growing demand for remote-friendly programmes and services, there’s a huge choice of cloud-based management apps available.

It’s largely a case of trying out different tools to see which ones suit you best, but the key things to look for are apps that can be accessed from anywhere and make it easy to share information and documents between team members. Considering the nature of accountancy and the amount of private data you’re likely to hold, security is paramount.

Slack is one such tool that’s growing in popularity amongst accountants. Originally popular with tech companies, its benefits are becoming more widely embraced by more traditional firms. From allowing you to discuss your targets to keeping track of the progress of certain accounts, Slack allows you to control everything under one roof.

Setting targets and expectations

To maintain productivity and ensure everyone is working effectively, set expectations and targets from the outset.

Try to be specific about the work that needs doing. Rather than saying “make a start on [insert task here]”, define exactly what needs to be done and what progress needs to be made.

When you set detailed instructions, your team are more likely to remain motivated when out of office and it becomes easier to hold people accountable.

Scheduling regular catch up meetings

Although much of your communication can be managed by email and/or cloud-based collaboration tools, regular meetings are invaluable.

These can be held over Skype or other video conferencing platforms if necessary, but many will argue that the benefits of in-person meetings are difficult to replicate.