While the past few years of disruption has threatened some, it has brought opportunities for others. And never has this second statement been more true than in the world of accountancy. An industry perfectly placed to take advantage of new automation and data insight tools.

Those accountants willing to embrace the new have prospered. By automating their time consuming, low-value tasks they’ve been able to increase margins and double down on delivering higher value advisory work.

They’ve changed the way they’re perceived by their clients. Where once they were number crunchers to visit once or twice a year, they are now partners integral in helping a business survive and thrive.

Before we take a deep dive into the apps that forward-focused accountants are using to scale their practices, let’s take a moment to familiarise ourselves with the biggest cloud accounting platforms.

Xero, Sage, QuickBooks, and FreeAgent dominate the cloud accountancy landscape and for good reason. They offer the core features accountants need, displayed on easy-to-use dashboards, and each has their own ecosystem or marketplace. Here users can access add-ons and additional features via apps.

So, once you’ve decided which accountancy software platform you’re going to use, how do you know which of the 700+ apps currently available is going to make a difference to your clients’ businesses and help your firm grow?

Here’s our list of five apps to help you, as an accountant, reduce the amount of time you spend on low value work and improve your ability to deliver high value added services.

#1 Brightpay (for payroll)

As a company grows, payroll and the hassle that comes with tax codes, holiday pay, and the like is one of the first things that gets outsourced to an accountant.

BrightPay payroll software makes payroll easy. Whats more, it’s fully HMRC recognised, supports all RTI submissions types and includes full auto enrolment functionality.

#2 Xavier Analytics (for data cleanup)

Xavier Analytics provides accountants with a toolkit of intelligent data cleanup, bookkeeping and compliance tools. With their intuitive health check feature all members of your team will have the confidence to relay key insights and information to your clients.

#3 GoCardless (for Direct Debit payments)

With around half of UK businesses accepting Direct Debit as their primary form of payment, GoCardless has established itself as the leader in the space.

The London-based scaleup’s impressive growth is built on the simplicity of their platform. Indeed, if you’re looking to offer clients a solution for taking Direct Debit payments, you can’t go far wrong with GoCardless.

#4 Dext Prepare (for making bookkeeping more profitable)

Dext Prepare provides accountants and their clients with a suite of productivity tools. From expense reporting to preparing finances and automatically categorising codes - the platform will help you and your team maximize their time.

#5 itsettled (for improving your client’s cashflow)

Our automated credit management and debt recovery software helps you collect overdue invoices, identify bad payers and get more money into your clients’ businesses.

By using itsettled you’ll be able to scale your credit control function, quickly see the working capital position across your entire portfolio and share actionable credit management insights with your clients.

Register today for a free 7 day full-access trial.