Why you should offer AP/AR services to your clients

Handling accounts payable and receivable is often a never-ending headache for every business owner, and they would love their accountants to take it off their hands. And yet, many accountants and bookkeepers refrain from offering AP and AR services to their clients.

But before we dive into what is accounts payable and receivable, if you’re not including AP/AR handling as part of your service offering, you’re missing out on an opportunity to increase revenues, grow your practice, and provide your clients more value.

Here’s why you should start now:

Your clients want you to take it off their hands and are willing to pay for it

It’s as simple as that: if there’s a demand for a service, why not offer it?

Small business owners want to dedicate their time and energy to run their business. Many of them don’t have the time nor the inclination to manage their bill pay, and would love to take it off their plate.

Many small business owners also get confused and ask whether accounts payable is an expense or just an obligation—highlighting how much they rely on expert guidance.

A holistic service will give you a competitive advantage and boost your growth 

In a competitive market, you need to harness every opportunity to offer more value to existing and potential clients. If you are already providing bookkeeping services for your clients, expanding to AP/AR management is the next logical step.

As a matter of fact, a 2019 survey showed that 37% of small businesses expect their accountants to help them with accounts payable and receivable.

This growing need shows that owners want streamlined processes and practical guidance on how to organize accounts payable invoices.

Understanding accounts payable vs accounts receivable helps clients see how you’re supporting both sides of their cash flow. By establishing yourself as a one-stop shop, covering all your clients’ financial needs, and exempting them from the hassle of AP/AR, you will be able to offer more comprehensive service packages.

If you’re not offering AP/AR as part of your services, you’re missing out on an opportunity to draw more clients and boost your firm’s growth.

An opportunity to demonstrate your expertise

Small businesses can be inefficient in handling their bill pay. Not only in the time it takes them to perform the tasks, but also in paying bills too soon, or too late, forgetting to ensure they were paid on time, and not following up on payments.

Ineffective bill pay management directly affects a business’ cash flow. Helping clients tackle accounts payable problems and solutions proves your expertise and highlights the value of structured AP/AR management.

Successfully managing AP/AR can make the difference between success and failure for your clients. You can drastically improve your clients’ cash-flow, and provide them with financial insights on how to better manage their business.

No longer the hassle that you think it is

Printing the check, signing the check, stuffing the check into the envelope, sending the check, making sure it’s delivered. Repeating the whole process again. No wonder that accounting professionals are reluctant to undertake this tedious task.

But the days of manual bill pay are gone, and with the right online solution in hand, you can manage and track AP/AR for multiple clients online, with a fraction of the time it used to take in the past. Once implemented into your workflow, technology does the heavy lifting for you.

By introducing clients to modern bill pay tools, you can also explain what online payments are and why they’re faster, safer, and easier to track than paper checks.

Modern accounts payable software for small businesses removes the bottlenecks of manual bill pay and reduces errors dramatically. Some tools even leverage AI in accounts payable to flag duplicate bills, detect fraud, and speed up approvals.

Take David Perry, The owner of Latitude Bookkeeping, as an example: It used to take him anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour and a half to pay ten bills per client. Now, with Melio, it takes him just 5-10 minutes overall to handle the same scope.

The time you invest on bill pay is the time you save on data entry

You’re already spending time entering your clients’ transactions into the accounting software. Melio’s bill pay solution integrates with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and Xero, so bills scheduled or paid via Melio are automatically updated on the accounting software side.

By offering accounts payable services, you’ll be able to charge a premium for time that you are already spending on data entry. Even if you decide to outsource accounts payable services rather than manage them internally, you can still position your firm as a full-service partner.

Offering AP/AR services is a priceless opportunity for any accounting or bookkeeping firm looking to expand their service offerings, gain more revenue prospects, improve client retention and stand out from the competition.

Melio can help you provide AP/AR services to your clients with maximum efficiency. Learn more here.