Seven time management ideas for accountants working from home during lockdown. Working in a practice often means having a space in which to focus as well as colleagues to keep you on track.
Remote working is different and it can be harder to manage your time when your normal routine is disrupted.
We share seven ideas to help you manage working from home.
1. Make a schedule
Whether you use your email calendar, a spreadsheet or a notebook, making a working from home schedule is step one in keeping on top of your time.
Ahead of the week, take a look at your critical tasks and block out time to deal with those. Perhaps a client’s accounts are due, or perhaps there’s a big filing deadline coming up. By assigning time to those tasks and letting colleagues know you’re unavailable during those hours you will be able to keep up with your core work with minimal distractions.
2. Keep track of deadlines
Using software with built-in key dates reminders is essential for working effectively. Our solutions pull data from HMRC and Companies House so that you never miss a deadline, plus you can set your own key dates for extra peace of mind.
3. Motivate with music
Some people are happiest working in a quiet environment, but if you find silence distracting then music is your friend. There are plenty of options online, including our BTCSoftware WFH Playlist on Spotify.
4. Take breaks
When you’re in the office, you’re more likely to take breaks to chat with colleagues, grab a coffee or tea, or even step out for a sociable lunch. Make sure you do the same at home to fight the fatigue; a study by Kim, Park and Niu (2017) found that mini-breaks support wellbeing and productivity.
5. Turn off notifications
If you’ve scheduled time to focus on client work or a particular project then it might help to mute your notifications, or set up priority notification settings during that time. It will help you maintain your momentum without unnecessary interruptions.
6. Reduce data-heavy work
Software with powerful integrations will improve your productivity by taking care of the data-heavy administrative work for you. Links between BTCSoftware modules bring bookkeeping data into Accounts Production and links through to Corporation Tax. Your client data is linked to their Self-Assessment returns – and much more.
7. Don’t be a system administrator!
Your job isn’t fixing network issues or maintaining database backups. Make use of a cloud database like Solution Cloud and let your software provider automate your backups and connectivity, so you aren’t stopped by IT issues.
How can we help?
At BTCSoftware we believe in helping practice accountants succeed, with powerful software that is fairly priced and affordable.
Our New Business experts are available to provide remote demos. You can expect:
- An initial consultation to find out what you need from our solutions
- A 30 minute tour of the software, tailored to your requirements and interests
- An honest chat about prices, with no hidden costs
- And no hard sell – we want you to be happy with your decision to join us!
You can also call the team on 0345 241 5030 or email sales@btcsoftware.co.uk
