Small business accountants can be a key factor in the success of an organization. They play an important role in ensuring that a business is operating in accordance with local, state and federal regulations as well as developing budgets, taking care of tax issues and even providing business consulting in addition to the basics like payroll and bookkeeping.

With such a wide range of important responsibilities, small business accountants should understand the importance of staying on top of their game and keeping up with an ever-changing industry in order to ensure the success of their clients.

These tips can help all types of accountants learn to become more efficient by streamlining processes, save time, decrease the stress involved, and ultimately, help you to become the best accountant you can be.

Establish a routine and prioritize tasks

It’s important to establish a consistent routine that flows well, allowing you to focus on each task at hand. A constantly changing routine can cause you to overthink, making it difficult to concentrate and avoid becoming distracted. Get into the good habit of prioritizing tasks by taking on the most difficult first. Although it takes discipline at first, it will help you to feel more accomplished, making the rest seem easier.

Automate as much as possible

Take advantage of modern technology as much as you can by using online bill pay, signing up for paperless billing and having bills paid automatically. It not only helps to save your client money on stamps, but it will save you a ton of time by not having to deal with a mound of paperwork.

Get and stay organized

Getting and staying organized is key to saving time and handling everything efficiently. Use one location for all bills and receipts, such as a file or bin. You don’t want to let things to pile up, but it’s usually not efficient to take care of them individually. Clearly mark incoming and outgoing mail, bills that need to be paid and paperwork to be piled. Then, for example, you may want to post all the receipts and bills into accounts payable at the end of the day.

Write it down

When a task needs to be done but you can’t do it at that moment, or if you have an idea, keep a note pad and write it down immediately so that you won’t forget about it later. This also allows you to focus on the task at hand rather than drifting to the “next thing.”