Accounting firm

An accounting, tax and advisory firm sells its people’s time: audits and advisory work billed by the hour or a fixed fee, and bookkeeping, payroll and monthly tax work on retainers. Kila treats it as a professional firm, where a project is an engagement.

What is special

At Mizani Associates, the demo accounting firm, the menu has a Practice section with the firm’s own pages: My day, Returns, Engagements, Records requests, Time, Deadlines, Billing, Registry, New client, Client identification and Practice reports.

• Engagements are the firm’s projects, each with a type (Tax compliance, Audit, Bookkeeping and payroll, Company secretarial or Advisory) that brings its checklist: Open a project for a client.
• Returns is a board of every client’s returns for the month, with who prepares and who reviews each: the engagement manager’s first screen.
• Billing turns the month’s work in progress into bills, which a partner approves before they are invoiced: Run the month-end billing.
• Registry logs post and files in and out, and Client identification keeps each client’s identification.
• Withholding certificates that clients owe are collected on Billing’s Tax withheld tab: Record a withholding tax certificate.

How Kila sets it up

The main screen is Clients and projects.

Rules it follows:

None. Kila's standard rules apply.

Its words:

Most businesses	Accounting firm
customer	client
sale	invoice
receipt	invoice
staff	team member

On the projects screens, a project is an engagement: Clients and engagements, New engagement.

Its set-up steps

1. Business details and KRA PIN
2. Services and rates
3. Team members and rates
4. Clients
5. First engagement and its deadlines
6. Clients’ returns on the returns board

Its home page

Each card shows only where the firm uses what it counts, and to the people whose role may see it. At Mizani Associates, the owner’s home page has Returns to file, Client requests outstanding, Registry and Withholding certificates to collect, and no court dates or properties.

• My day
• Returns to file
• Client requests outstanding
• Billing this month
• Lock-up and realisation
• Deadlines
• Registry
• Unbilled time and expenses
• Invoices due and overdue; cash received
• Withholding certificates to collect
• Over budget
• Fees billed by fee earner this month
• Team utilisation
• Retainers billing this month
• Payments waiting for confirmation
• Approvals and reviews waiting
• Licences, permits and returns due

Roles it starts with

• Engagement partner: Opens engagements, sees every engagement, signs off returns, approves draft bills, invoices and clears client identification.
• Engagement manager: Runs the engagements: the team, tasks and deadlines, reviews returns before they are filed, drafts the month’s bills and watches utilisation.
• Associate (audit, tax or advisory): Works on the engagements on their team: prepares and files returns, ticks off tasks, chases client records and logs their time.
• Bookkeeping and payroll accountant: Keeps retainer clients’ books and payrolls: requests the month’s records, prepares PAYE and the levies, and logs time against each retainer.
• Trainee accountant: Fieldwork and returns under a senior: their tasks and their own time. No fees or invoices.
• Billing and credit control: Issues the approved bills, sends statements, chases overdue clients and collects withholding tax certificates.
• Practice administrator or receptionist: Receives clients and documents: keeps the registry and the files, records new clients and their identification, and sends client requests.

Where to go next

• Professional services: everything a professional firm needs.
• Engagement partner, Engagement manager and Associate: the firm’s roles.