CCH iFirm enables remote work and improved productivity for Macpherson Peters

A true, full-cloud solution

“In starting this new venture, I needed to be able to work remotely to ensure my family would still be seeing me! This means we needed a true, full-cloud software solution. In our previous firm, we were using MYOB, which wasn’t a full-cloud solution. Price was also a factor; as a new business with significant start-up expenses, we needed to consider technology costs. We reviewed other options like Handisoft, but ultimately these weren’t 100% cloud solutions,” said Kelly Peters, Managing Director, Macpherson Peters.

After a couple of months using CCH iFirm, Macpherson Peters also added CCH iKnowConnect and CCH Learning to their system.

“Being a rural area, we can’t attend many events or conferences in person, so having access to online education was really important for us.

“It is important to reach our CPD benchmarks, as there are consequences from the registered bodies (e.g. CPA) if we don’t. Having the CCH Learning module gives me a snapshot look as to my progress and allows me to stay on track to reach these benchmarks.  The CCH Learning modules also send alerts of upcoming CPD learning webinars so I am able to focus on what is relevant to me.  Both of these features are great and provide more ways in which CCH helps me to save time” Kelly said.

Time-saving features and integrations

A key factor about CCH iFirm that appealed to Macpherson Peters was the integrated module structure, which allowed them to pick and choose what they needed in the first few months and tailor that over time. As time – or lack thereof – is an ongoing challenge for the partners, the integrations between CCH iFirm modules have delivered substantial time savings for the firm.

“The billing system in CCH iFirm Practice Manager is fantastic. I haven’t seen one as streamlined as CCH iFirm; I can jump from job to invoice and with a click of a button it’s off to the client. Automated follow-up emails go-out for overdue invoices – that would be several hours a week saved,” said Kelly.

“And from the accounts side, the data sync between the CCH iFirm Client Accounting module to the Tax module – that would easily save 1 hour or more per tax return, particularly for the company or trust returns.”

Kelly shared that each year, she is completing approximately 120 company/trust returns and saving approximately 1 hour per return with this data sync. Considering her average charge out rate is $300/hour, this equates to $36,000 worth of billable hours unlocked by using this feature of the software.

“And the bigger the company or trust – the more time you save,” Kelly added.

“This is also a process that only needs to be set up once and will roll forward with the end of year rollover, potentially only needing to be changed if there is a new account added for a specific area. The syncing of this data is a time saving game changer with the monotony of data entry.”

Dedicated support

Support has been another key stand out for Kelly both in the onboarding and implementation process and in terms of ongoing support as they’ve needed it.

“We had a dedicated consultant who was phenomenal through our implementation process. Training methods were fantastic and helped the transition process. We absolutely felt supported and have found the CCH iFirm team to be very, very responsive. With our previous software provider it might take them a week or two to get back to us. With CCH iFirm it’s just a couple of hours.

“We also had an opportunity to meet the Product Development team, and be part of their research and development process, and join beta testing for new features and products. I love being part of the creation of it – and I’ve never experienced a software company that connects directly with customers like this before. It’s a really fun process, it takes me out of my ‘boring’ world, and it helps CCH iFirm enhance their product, which in turn benefits me as a user – it’s a win-win!”

Learn more about how our CCH iFirm, CCH iKnowConnect and CCH Learning solutions can help unlock time savings and revenue opportunity for your firm.