CPAmerica ADVANTAGE News From Your Accounting Association
September 2022 IN THIS ISSUE: ► Creating a “powered up” firm with the Power BI Dashboard ► Preferred Provider Spotlight - QuickFee ► Upcoming Events / International Meeting ► Member News ► CPAmerica Insights - Art Winstead, CPA
Creating a “powered up” firm with the Power BI Dashboard
Interview with Rich Craig, CPA, Managing Partner, 415 Group
Earlier this year, the 415 Group implemented a new tool that so far has helped their firm productivity to skyrocket. It’s called the Power BI Dashboard and it can be integrated with various software to create one easy-to-use dashboard to meet your firm’s needs. The Power BI Dashboard is a fully customizable tool powered by Microsoft. It allows the user to Rich Craig 415 Group create a dashboard with tiles and panels selected specifically for your firm’s needs. Categories such as Year-to-Date Realization, Production, Billable Amounts, Hours Goals vs Actual, and more can be added into the canvas to allow for robust reporting at your fingertips. Rich Craig, CPA, 415 Group managing partner, explained that at their firm they were using many different programs and tools to run their day-to-day business. However, they found that the reporting elements included with those tools were “abysmal” and left much to be desired. “The goal was to get everything that moves the needle for the firm on a daily basis into one dashboard,” said Craig. “That’s where Power BI came in, it integrated all the dashboards, spreadsheets and everything else we use to see the big picture, and ultimately allowed us to run the firm more proactively.” Craig explained that the 415 Group worked with their IT director
to implement Power BI at the beginning of 2022, and they have already been seeing the many benefits. Including having the ability to gain all the information he needs to start the day in a quick 5-to-10-minute review of the dashboard. “The Hours Goal vs Actual section is one I really like. It tells how many hours, both billable and nonbillable, the staff is working each week versus the goal,” said Craig. “It also helps show which employees may have missed a timesheet submission deadline and will automatically send an email to staff members missing timesheets.” With a few clicks around the dashboard, Craig can view which team members need to submit timesheets, which clients are missing documentation, check on the accounts receivable for a client live on the phone, and even bring in QuickBooks data for a snapshot of the firm’s daily working capital. “Having all the information about the firm at our fingertips has been amazing for the way we run the firm, which is why our productivity has skyrocketed,” said Craig. “If I had this tool during the beginning of COVID, we really would’ve been able to help ourselves a lot!” 415 Group has created customized dashboards for their team members at different levels, including versions for partners, managers and staff. The eventual goal is for all 92 of their team members to have access to their own information, which gives the employees more ownership over their own roles and productivity. “The greatest impact this dashboard has had on our firm is the ability to look into the future, rather than the past, and the ability to get answers to questions in less than three clicks,” said Craig. When asked if he had any advice for firms thinking of implementing this tool, he said “be patient and be sure to spend See Powered Up, continued on page 2