Contract Management for Accountants in 2021
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Contract management for accountants, whether we’re talking invoices, tax forms or engagement letters, is becoming an increasingly complicated process.
Especially with the rise of remote working, tracking and storing contracts manually has become even more of a headache. Not to mention the fact that each contract is exposed to its own host of business risks and compliance issues. That’s where contract management software can swoop in and help you out.
We’ve put together a handy list of what accountants should look for in a contract management platform to ensure your document processes are as efficient as possible. This will improve your relationships with your stakeholders, whilst keeping costs low and staying legal, secure and compliant.
Rule #1 of Contract management: Automate the contract workflow
Deals in finance are almost always time-sensitive. And as is usually the case when concerning money, clients are happier when things are finalised quickly. So automating the contract workflow will cut down on any delays.
Imagine having to personally oversee the progress of all your contracts – how laborious and time consuming! The moment one person causes a delay, the whole process is brought to a standstill.
Digitised contract management, on the other hand, offers intelligent updates, audit trails, and automated reminders. This avoids any hold-ups or unnecessary delays and streamlines the process, with maximum efficiency.
Rule #2 of Contract Management: Facilitate easy tracking
When you’re overseeing hundreds of contracts, tracking them manually is simply out of the question. Not only is it painstakingly slow, but it puts the security of the contracts and the company at risk.
Contract management software offers a central dashboard where you can see all your documents in one place, including their individual progress through the contract lifecycle. Not only is this user friendly, it will also massively reduce the time it takes you to check up on the progress of your documents.
Rule #3 of Contract Management: Streamline your contract assembly
Imagine manually making every tax form or asset agreement from scratch… By digitising the process you can trust those days are over!
Contract management software offers you the ability to create templates and use them over and over again, cutting down your time spent creating new contracts, as well as decreasing the potential for mistakes, which means maximum accuracy. You can easily go in and change templates to satisfy the latest rules and practices, ensuring your contracts are kept up to date and compliant.
Rule #4 of Contract Management: Ensure security
Documents of a sensitive nature need to be compliant with key processes, and this is difficult to ensure when the process is done manually. By using contract management software you can be sure that with SSL encryption and audit trails nothing will be tampered with. And with the pandemic throwing a spanner in the works with the rise of remote working, it is also tricky to ensure all documents are stored in one place.
But digitisation has got your back in terms of storage too – with a central contract repository you can make sure everything is stored securely. The software will also let you change admin rights, making sure only the right people in the company have access to certain information and certain documents.